Police arrest Indiana man in 38-year-old Michigan cold case
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – An Indiana man has been arrested in a 1977 Michigan murder that police initially classified as a suicide.
Police arrested Raymond Robert Richmond, 57, in South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday. He’ll face charges in Michigan, which could include murder and felony firearm, in the death of 25-year-old Robert Stasiak.
Authorities believe Richmond fatally shot Stasiak, his cousin, in Edwardsburg, Michigan, in November 1977.
At a press conference Thursday in Cassopolis, Michigan, Ontwa Township Edwardsburg Police Chief Tim Kozal said some of Stasiak’s family members seemed surprised when he called to tell them Richmond had been arrested.
“I told them in the beginning that this is going to be a marathon,” he said. “We’re finally getting close to that finish line.”
None of Stasiak’s family members were present at the press conference, but Kozal said some of them still live in or near the Edwardsburg area.
Edwardsburg police declined to release details of the murder, including a possible motive, and what led them to suspect Richmond now.
In 2015, the death investigation was reopened by Ontwa Township Edwardsburg Police Department, and Stasiak’s body was exhumed so an autopsy could be performed.
Richmond is being held at the St. Joseph County Jail in Indiana and is awaiting extradition to Michigan, the South Bend Tribune reported.
Richmond, who was 18 at the time of Stasiak’s death, could face life in prison if convicted.