The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → 2001 Arcadia Homicide Suspect Arrested by LASD Homicide & Arcadia PD
Arcadia Weekly Nov 08, 2012
by
share with
Richard Cole, 72 -Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Charlotte S. Cole, a resident of Arcadia, was 50 years old when she was stabbed multiple times and brutally murdered behind a restaurant on the 50 block of Las Tunas Drive in the City of Arcadia, on September 1, 2001.
Homicide Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were called in and took the lead in the investigation with Arcadia Police Detectives.
Although there were no initial arrests, Charlotte’s then husband, Richard Keith Cole, was a person of interest in the case. The case remained open, but went cold for about a decade.
Cold Case Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department worked in conjunction with Arcadia Police Detectives and revisited the case in 2011, serving a search warrant at Richard Keith Cole’s new residence in Arcadia. Evidence was gathered and Cole was initially arrested for the murder on April 28, 2011, but was soon released pending further investigation.
Over the course of the past year, additional evidence was gathered, leading to charges being filed against Richard Keith Cole by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for the murder of his former wife, Charlotte S. Cole.
A murder warrant with a bail of one million dollars was issued for Suspect Cole’s arrest.
Sunday, November 4, 2012, at about noon, Suspect Cole, now 72 years old, was found at a restaurant in the City of Pasadena and was taken into custody by Sheriff’s Detectives. Suspect Cole was transported to a local hospital for medical clearance and was then booked at the Arcadia City Jail on the warrant, with plans to transfer him to the Los Angeles County jail.
