Police make arrest in 1999 murder of Vancouver teen 1999, police, following, suspected, arrested

tiffiant

Police make arrest in 1999 murder of Vancouver teen



VANCOUVER -- A man long suspected by Vancouver police in the murder of an 18-year-old woman has been arrested outside of Los Angeles following a decade-long search by police.

Ninderjit Singh, 33, was arrested by officers from the Department of Homeland Security, Santa Monica Police and El Monte Police Department for the 1999 murder of Poonam Randhawa.

Vancouver police said Tuesday they had long believed Singh was responsible for Randhawa's death. He had boarded a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles hours after Randhawa was shot to death and dumped in a back alley in Vancouver.

He was featured on the TV show America's Most Wanted, but continually escaped capture.

Insp. Brad Desmarais said Singh was located after police officers who had been working on the case for over 10 years "became aware of a name that Ninderjit Shingh possibly assumed as his false identity."

Officers discovered he was working as a long-haul trucker living in Riverside County. He had put on a beard and carried so much weight that he didn't resemble photographs available at the time of the murder.

Using the California Highway Patrol, the officers had Singh's truck stopped and he was given a traffic ticket. A fingerprint from his license matched an earlier one and he was arrested within hours as he was trying to leave his home with his wife and two children.

Desmarais said the woman claimed she didn't know her husband's true identity or that he was wanted for murder. When he was arrested Singh admitted his real identity and said he was aware that Vancouver police were looking for him.

He is being held in Los Angeles on a provisional arrest warrant and will face an extradition hearing Wednesday.

Vancouver Deputy Chief Warren Lemke beamed as he made the announcement Tuesday that Singh had been arrested.

"Police always suspected that the killer was Ninderjit Singh, a man she knew who had apparently been stalking her for years. Her murder would launch one of the longest police hunts in the VPD's history," he said.

"Today I get to make an announcement from this podium and I can't remember when any announcement has ever given me this much pleasure. We got him. After years of searching, near misses and heart-breaking attempts, we got him."

Desmarais said the police department likely spent in excess of $500,000 so far on the long investigation.

tiffiant

Ninderjit Singh, who was wanted for the 1999 shooting death of his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend Poonam Randhawa in Vancouver, is shown after his arrest in this handout photo from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau and released Reuters August 23, 2011. Singh was arrested near his home in San Jacinto, California and is being held on a provisional warrant before his extradition.