NewsWest 9
ODESSA - After almost 19 years, a suspect in a brutal murder in Odessa is behind bars thanks to DNA testing that was not possible back when the crime was committed.
U.S. Marshals arrested 52-year old Leroy Alaniz at his home on south Sam Houston late Monday afternoon.
He has been charged with capital murder.
Odessa Police say Alaniz was one of the people responsible for the beating death of Larry Alan Willsey during an armed robbery on the west side of Odessa.
That robbery happened in October of 1991 at the Party House Lounge on West County Road.
During which Willsey was brutally beaten with a baseball bat and died later from his injuries.
The break in the case came from the DPS Crime Lab and the improvements in DNA testing, which investigators say identified Alaniz as one of the of suspects.