DNA tests helped find out the unsolved murders, some in the 1980s, of three women and a teenager in California that led to the arrest of a 75-year-old man in Texas, authorities said Friday.
Detectives from the Los Angeles and Inglewood, California police departments traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, to arrest the man, Billy Ray Richardson, whom police linked to the murders of Kari Lenander, Beverly Cruse and her sister, Debra Cruse. in 1980 in Los Angeles, as well as Trina Wilson in 1995 in Inglewood. All the victims had been raped, prosecutors said.
DNA tests helped link the crimes to Mr. Richardson, although authorities did not explain what new evidence had brought him. It was unclear whether Mr. Richardson had been known to some of the victims.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Mr. Richardson was charged Thursday with four counts of murder and related charges. He was in a Tarrant County, Texas, jail on Friday afternoon, awaiting extradition to Los Angeles. The date of the appearance had not been set.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said Friday in a statement that he was grateful for those whose work had led to his arrest.
“I can’t imagine the pain these families have suffered,” he said. “Their loss is immeasurable. We hope that together we can do justice to the families who have suffered so much and who have waited years for this moment.”
Attempts to reach the surviving relatives of the victims on Friday were unsuccessful.
In 2001, Los Angeles cold case detectives reopened an investigation into the murder of Ms. Lenander, who was 15 when she was murdered. His body was found in a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles on July 26, 1980, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Officials said she was murdered and was the victim of a sexual offense.
In 2012, Los Angeles City Council approved a $ 50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for his murder.
At a news conference in 2012, when the reward was announced, Detective Tim Marcia of the Los Angeles Police Department said investigators had some “important clues” about the murder. “But we need a name,” he said.
On the night of Mrs. Lenander’s murder, she and her best friend, 15-year-old Toni Garfield, were alone at Mrs. Garfield’s house preparing for a party and drinking tequila, Detective Marcia told The Los Angeles Times Magazine in 2010. Profile. The girls decided to go dancing and hitchhiked on the way back.
They were picked up by a white man, who said his name was Ken and was visiting from Canada. Ms. Garfield was left at home, but Ms. Lenander said she would “continue to party” with Ken, the magazine reported. The girls separated around 10 p.m., and Mrs. Lenander’s body was found about five hours later.
Detective Marcia said there was a major break in the case in the mid-2000s after a DNA profile determined the suspect’s race. The girls had long been believed to have been picked up by a white man, but a test done in a private lab indicated their killer was black. It was not clear what role this test played in the identification of Mr. Richardson, who is black.
“This information limited the direction I needed to go,” Detective Marcia told the magazine. “Instead of having a big, whole cake, I cut it to a quarter of the cake.”
A few months before Mrs. Lenander’s murder, the naked bodies of Beverly Cruse, 25, and Debra Cruse, 22, were found on March 5, 1980 by her brother in an apartment in West Los Angeles, reported The Los Angeles Times.
Mr Cruse told police he went to the apartment because he had not heard from his sisters for several days. Prosecutors said the women had been shot in the head.
More than 15 years later, Mrs. Wilson was found near an Inglewood park on December 31, 1995, according to city records. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear on Friday.
In 2012, Inglewood City Council passed a resolution offering $ 25,000 for information that could lead to the identification, arrest and conviction of those responsible for Mrs. Wilson’s murder.
Vimal Patel contributed to the report and Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.