5-year-old walking to school kidnapped, killed in 1982, CA cops say. Man pleads guilty
Five-year-old Anne Pham assured her mother she could walk to her California elementary school alone in 1982.
Her mother used to walk her to Highland Elementary School in Seaside every day, her older brother, Kheu Van Pham, told the Monterey Peninsula Herald in 1982, according to a news clipping shared by the Seaside Police Department.
One day, though, her brother said she told her mother: “Stay home, mom. I can walk myself,” the newspaper reported.
But on Jan. 21, 1982, Anne never made it to her kindergarten class, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said in a Feb. 20 news release.
She vanished on her walk to school, prosecutors said.
Two days later, Anne was found dead at the Fort Ord Army base, prosecutors said.
“We are bitter and very, very sad,” her 23-year-old brother told the Monterey Peninsula Herald. “We hope the government will help us find out what really happened to her.”
But for decades, there were no answers.
Her slaying went unsolved until DNA evidence helped crack the case, leading to the arrest of Robert John Lanoue, of Nevada, in 2022, prosecutors said.
Now, the 72-year-old man has pleaded guilty to multiple charges in Anne’s death, prosecutors said.
‘Unsolved for more than 40 years’
Anne’s body showed signs she had been “sexually assaulted and strangled to death,” prosecutors said.
Despite investigation, prosecutors said there were no arrests in her case.
“Pham’s murder went unsolved for more than 40 years,” prosecutors said.
In 2009, Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges came across Anne’s case while looking through evidence from different unsolved cases, he told The New York Times in 2022.
“Disgusted” by the state of the evidence in Anne’s case, he “vowed to do something about it,” he told the newspaper.
Then, in 2020, he was approached by the district attorney’s office, which was looking for cases that were “extremely complex and sensitive,” Borges told the newspaper.
“Without hesitation, I said, ‘Annie Pham,’” Borges told the Times.
Genetic genealogy to ID
Investigators with the district attorney’s office and Seaside police reopened her case in 2020 and set their sights on DNA testing in hopes of bringing closure to her case, prosecutors said.
A single pubic hair found on Anne’s body was sent to Astrea Forensics, where researchers created a DNA profile that could be “used to search genetic genealogical databases,” prosecutors said.
Genetic genealogy uses DNA testing coupled with “traditional genealogical methods” to create “family history profiles,” according to the Library of Congress. With genealogical DNA testing, researchers can determine if and how people are biologically related.
After the profile was created, “a forensic genetic genealogist with Parabon NanoLabs identified ‘Lanoue’ as a possible last name of the suspect,” according to prosecutors.
From there, investigators “identified Robert John Lanoue as the likely suspect,” prosecutors said.
‘We’re going to take Annie to school today’
The day charges against Lanoue were announced nearly three years ago, Borges told his team, “We’re going to take Annie to school today,” The New York Times reported.
The team loaded a large cardboard photo of her in a car and headed to Anne’s elementary school, he told the newspaper.
“She didn’t make it to school that day,’’ Borges said, the newspaper reported, “but the day this case was filed, the day a suspect was arrested, she did.”
Lanoue in 1982
After Lanoue’s arrest, Borges told People, “This guy was never on the radar.”
“Never. This guy was totally hidden in plain view, just right there,” Borges told the magazine.
In 1982, Lanoue, 29, was in the Army and stationed at Fort Ord, prosecutors said.
He lived 0.1 miles away from Anne’s home, according to prosecutors.
“You could throw a rock from his house to hers, no problem,” Borges told People. “He had to go and drive by her house every day when he left his home.”
One of his children attended the same school as Anne; however, there are no signs the families knew one another, prosecutors said.
Lanoue eventually moved from the area, Borges told People.
He was a registered sex offender in Nevada and “spent an ‘extensive period of time’ in jail,” Seaside police told the Monterey County Weekly.
Interview in 2022
During an interview with an investigator in July 2022, Lanoue said he picked Anne up while she was on her way to school, prosecutors said.
He told investigators he did not remember killing her but said “he may have blocked it out of his memory to protect himself,” prosecutors said.
“He admitted that he had a history of sexually assaulting young girls,” prosecutors said.
Lanoue pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and committing a forcible lewd act on a child under 14, forcible rape and forcible sodomy, according to prosecutors.
He is scheduled to appear in court March 20 for sentencing and is expected to receive a prison sentence of 25 years to life, plus an additional 31 years, prosecutors said.
‘It’s all done sweetheart’
“I wish you were here,” Borges wrote in a note to Anne on Facebook. “We all wanted to see who you would’ve become. Your sweet and innocent life was taken so soon.”
Borges told Anne she deserved a “long and vibrant life.”
“I never forgot reading your case file many years ago,” Borges said. “We never forgot about you.”
When he was approached by the district attorney’s office, Borges told Anne he “knew good things would come.”
“We caught him in 2022, Anne,” Borges wrote.
Now, that Lanoue has pleaded guilty, Borges wrote, “he can never hurt another child again.”
“Your picture was once very conflicting for me. I could not tell if you were smiling at me or asking for help,” Borges wrote. “Today your picture is clear to me. I see your beautiful little smile. We can all see it now. You are finally at peace. Rest well. It’s all done sweetheart.”
Seaside is about a 70-mile drive south from San Jose.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 12:27 PM with the headline "5-year-old walking to school kidnapped, killed in 1982, CA cops say. Man pleads guilty."
