Phoenix girl's disappearance nearly 20 years ago leads to arrest of stepdad on murder charge

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Phoenix cold case detectives investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl nearly two decades ago have arrested her stepfather on a murder charge.

Alissa Turney was 17 when she vanished in 2001, Maricopa County, Ariz., prosecutors said Thursday.

On that day, she poked her head into her boyfriend’s woodworking class at Paradise Valley High School and said her stepfather was taking her out of school early, they said. She has never been seen or heard from again.

An indictment charges Michael Roy Turney, 72, with second-degree murder in her death, even though her body has not been found.

Alissa Turney, 17. (Maricopa County Prosecutor's Office)

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"It's overwhelming, but in a good way," said county attorney Allister Adel, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. "This family has longed for her and to have answers for so long.”

Turney, who adopted Alissa years earlier, was the one who reported her missing, the station reported. Her mother died before she disappeared.

In 2008, a police search of Turney’s home turned up weapons and explosive devices, according to the station. They also accused him of plotting to bomb a union hall.

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At the time, police said Turney was also under investigation in connection with Alissa's disappearance, Fox 10 reported.

In 2010, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the bomb plot. He was released in 2017.

“I’m shaking and I’m crying. We did it, you guys. He’s been arrested,” Alissa’s sister, Sarah Turney, tweeted, the station reported.

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“Never give up hope that you can get justice,” she said. “It took almost 20 years but we did it.”