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DNA links 76-year-old Texas man to 4 cold-case killings in LA area
LA County Jul 15, 2022
Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash
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A 76-year-old man who was allegedly linked by DNA evidence to the cold-case killings of a 15-year-old girl and three young women in Los Angeles and Inglewood dating back as far as 1980 was behind bars Friday in Texas.
Billy Ray Richardson was arrested Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, after being charged with murdering Beverly Cruse, Debra Cruse and Kari Lenander in Los Angeles in 1980 and Trina Wilson in Inglewood in 1995, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Investigative and forensic work over decades connected these murders through DNA and linked them to suspect Billy Ray Richardson,” police said.
Richardson was charged Thursday with four counts of murder, along with the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, murder during the commission of a rape and murder during the commission of a burglary, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Richardson is charged with the March 6, 1980, killings of 25-year-old Beverly Cruse and 22-year-old Debra Cruse, who were each shot in the head three times in an apartment in the 3200 block of Overland Avenue in Palms, along with the July 26, 1980, killing of the 15-year-old Lenander, who was strangled in the 3700 block of Victoria Avenue, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
He is also facing a murder charge for the Dec. 31, 1995, slaying of Wilson, 28, whose throat had been slashed in North Park in Inglewood, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Richardson’s identification as the suspect in the killings and his subsequent arrest was the result of a collaborative investigation involving the LAPD, Inglewood Police Department, FBI, Fort Worth Police Department and investigators from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, according to the LAPD.
Richardson is awaiting extradition from Fort Worth to Los Angeles. An arraignment date has not yet been set.
In a statement announcing the charges, District Attorney George Gascón said he wanted to commend “the tenacious and dedicated work of those who helped solve these crimes.”
“I cannot imagine the pain that these families have endured. Their loss is immeasurable,” the county’s top prosecutor added. “We hope that together we can bring justice to the families who have endured so much and have waited years for this moment.”
