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Police arrest suspect in 1982 slaying of California teen

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Police in Northern California have arrested a suspect in connection with the slaying of a teenager after she attended a neighbor's party 34 years ago.

Vacaville Police Chief John Carli announced Wednesday that 51-year-old Marvin Ray Markle was arrested Tuesday in connection with the 1982 killing of 14-year-old De Anna Lynn Johnson. A longtime suspect in the case, Markle was 17 years old at the time of the slaying.

Markle is serving a sentence of 80 years to life for the 2001 killing of Shirley Pratt in Butte County.

De Anna attended a party on Nov. 15, 1982, at a neighbor's home in Vacaville, but she didn't return home. Her battered body was found the next day along railroad tracks.

Markle attended the same party and was questioned in the case, which soon went cold.

Detectives again zeroed in on him after he was arrested in 2014 for Pratt's slaying.

Vacaville Police Detective Matt Lydon tells the FOX 40 TV station that investigators have been piecing the case together for three decades.

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