Police make arrest in 1998 Phoenix cold case www.privateofficer.com

Phoenix AZ April 12 2012 A man was arrested in California last week on suspicion of shooting a Phoenix man to death in 1998, Phoenix police officials announced Tuesday. Raymond E. Rivera, 45, is suspected of shooting Habib Raies, 62, on the morning of June 9 while Raies was working in his family market near Buckeye Road and 16th Avenue, according to police. Officials said the case went cold because of a lack of witnesses and suspect information.
The case was re-opened in 2009 and worked by members of the Phoenix Police Department’s Cold Case Homicide Squad after they received a grant to solve cold cases with DNA. Rivera was identified as a suspect after they processed the forensic evidence, police said. Rivera was interviewed by detectives and booked into a California jail on suspicion of homicide and armed robbery, police said. He will be extradited back to Arizona. In a news conference held by the Phoenix Police Department on Tuesday afternoon, Raies’ family remembered him as a well-liked and compassionate man. They expressed their gratitude to police for reopening the case, and they said they always had faith that their father’s killer would face justice.
source-azcentral.com