Suspect arrested in 1987 killing of 6-year-old boy after cold-case breakthrough

By Gray News staff

Gray News) - Authorities in California said they’ve made an arrest in the decades-old murder of a 6-year-old.

Fred Cain III was arrested in Oregon earlier this month and will face murder, kidnapping and sodomy charges in Jeremy Stoner’s death.

Jeremy, who lived in Vallejo, was kidnapped from his home in 1987. His body was found a few days later in Sacramento County.

Police originally arrested another man, Shawn Melton, for the boy’s slaying, charging him with the murder, but a jury couldn’t reach a verdict in two trials.

Melton was eventually exonerated through DNA technology, though he didn’t live to see the day. He died in 2000, KOVR reported.

The same technology that exonerated Melton identified Cain as a suspect.

“I feel that DNA is such a powerful tool in these cases, and it’s such an important tool because it can not only solve only crimes like we believe it’s solving this one, but it can also exonerate somebody who is innocent,” said Solano County District Attorney Krishna Adams.