PHOENIX – A man who was extradited from Mexico to stand trial in the cold case murder of a Phoenix teenager was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week, authorities announced.

Sergio Reyes, 39, learned his fate more than 21 years after 15-year-old Elena Lasswell was beaten and strangled to death at her home near 23rd Avenue and Thomas Road.

Lasswell was seen alive for the last time going into her bedroom with a boy and shutting the door, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO).

She was found dead in her room the next day. The autopsy determined that her cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head.

How did police solve cold case from 2004?

In 2013, the Phoenix Police Department cracked the cold case by using familial DNA evidence to link Reye

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