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Vallis L. Slaughter, of Jersey City, is being held in Hudson County pending his extradition to Pennsylvania, said the District Attorney's Office on Monday, March 25.
Investigators believe he killed 34-year-old Julio A. Torres on March 24, 2012. Torres was shot while sitting in his car in the parking lot of the West Reading Diner after a confrontation with suspects, the DA's Office said.
Jomaine Case was eventually convicted in connection with the shooting but the gunman himself was never identified during the initial investigation, prosecutors said.
Video evidence showed Case and the shooter were holding Styrofoam cups just before the killing, and both cups were collected for DNA analysis in 2012, authorities said. Detectives had also found a cell phone photo of the suspected shooter during the initial investigation.
In 2023, as part of a cold case initiative launched by the DA's Office, investigators using facial recognition software determined that the 2012 suspect photo showed Vallis Slaughter. Slaughter was found to be living with his mother on Fulton Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey, and police began surveilling the home.
After Slaughter was seen tossing a cigarette butt on the street, detectives recovered it and sent it to Pennsylvania State Police for DNA analysis, authorities said.
Testing showed Slaughter's DNA matched a sample found on one of the Styrofoam cups recovered from the murder scene in 2012, according to prosecutors.
Slaughter, 39, was arrested by Jersey City police early on Wednesday, March 20, the DA's Office said. He is charged with murder and related counts and has yet to be arraigned in a Berks County court.
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