Army Veteran Admits to 1982 Killing of Kindergartner

Robert John Lanoue, 72, a member of the U.S. Army, has admitted to kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and killing Anne Pham, who was five years old, in 1982. 

This crime has been a mystery in the quiet Monterey County town of Seaside for many years. 

Anne was going to school on January 21, 1982, when she was taken. She is one of ten siblings. After two days, her body was found at Fort Ord, where Lanoue was stationed at the time. 

Even though it was initially looked into, the case went cold for almost 40 years. The Monterey County District Attorney's Office Cold Case Task Force and the Seaside Police Department looked into it again in 2020, and Lanoue's DNA was found. He lived close to the Pham family when the murder happened. 

Lanoue, a Nevada registered sex offender, admitted that he picked up Anne in his car but at first said he had been unable to remember the killing. He said he was guilty of first-degree murder, theft, and sex crimes against a child this week. He could get 25 years to life in prison plus an extra 31 years. 

He will be officially convicted on March 20.