Posted on 03/26/2026 4:31:09 AM PDT by TheDon
FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — Nearly four decades after a Northern Arizona University student was murdered outside of her apartment in Flagstaff, police have cracked the case and made an arrest.
Flagstaff police announced that James Arthur Runnels Jr. was taken into custody for the murder of Ina Claire Langstaff.
Police say on Nov. 7, 1987, Langstaff was found stabbed to death outside of her apartment in Flagstaff’s Old Town neighborhood. Despite an extensive investigation into the 24-year-old student’s murder, the case went unsolved for almost 40 years.
Evidence collected from the original crime scene was re-examined, and several items were submitted for advanced forensic DNA testing through the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Northern Regional Crime Lab and Bode Technology.
Investigators got a lead in the case in 2025 after the advanced forensic testing led to detectives identifying Runnels Jr. as the suspect involved.
On March 19, a Coconino County grand jury indicted Runnels Jr. on one count of first-degree murder. Detectives say at the time of the murder, Runnels Jr. lived in Flagstaff, but he currently resides in Glendale.
“The Flagstaff Police Department remains steadfast in its commitment to seeking justice for victims and their families, regardless of how much time has passed,” the department shared in a statement.
“Ina’s family has waited nearly four decades for answers,” Coconino County Attorney Ammon Baker said. “Our office, in partnership with the Flagstaff Police Department, has work diligently to follow the evidence and take this important step toward justice for Ms. Langstaff, her family and our community.”
Ooohhhh. This’ll ruffle some fur.
say it ain’t so!
Man, this “kill a white girl” game has been going on for quite a while.
It is highly likely there are a huge number of unknown victims associated with the perpetrator.
Fortunately, he was kept in prison for many years, limiting the damage he could do to society.
How many lives could have been saved if the victim had stopped the original assault with a bullet?
1987 was before Arizona passed their Concealed Carry law.
Yep.
Same ol’, same ol’… same as it ever is.
I suspect Nancy Grace will be on Hannity tonight. /sarc
plus Hannity gets to take over the Gutfeld slot with “Breaking News”. /sarc
Those dang evangelical youths playing games again.. /s .
Im sure his sister will start a go fund me page to save this innocent man and buy him a 150k Cadillac suv.
Another beautiful White woman.
More info about the victim and investigation.
One of these...”people” killed my totally innocent cousin in 1979. This has been going on for a long time and it’s just getting worse. We don’t have the intestinal fortitude to do what’s necessary to stop it because God forbid we would look like a racist. Interesting fact:
“A recent X thread (and similar discussions) highlighted NYPD public shooting offender data for January–September 2025 in New York City. It noted that, among incidents with identified perpetrators, there were 356 shootings involving Black suspects versus only 2 involving White suspects.”
I would say there is a 50/50 chance the whites were misidentified.
There have been remarkable results in unsolved cases through DNA. Unfortunately it’s costly and not many labs can do the analysis.
Won’t see this on any mainstream new outlet...
1987 was before Arizona passed their Concealed Carry law.
Yes, 1987 was the very beginning of the trend in "shall issue" handgun permit laws that changed the self-defense landscape. Florida was among the first, and the studies of its drop in violent crime propelled the movement in other state legislatures. Some states had already taken tentative steps to deal with specific problems (Louisiana had already passed a "Shoot the Burglar" law, and a companion "Shoot the Carjacker" law), but broader change was still gathering momentum. Forty years ago, things were a lot different.
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