By: Jojo Zhan

On July 14, Billy Ray Richardson, age 75, was arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, with the help of DNA evidence, for the murders of three women and one teenager, their deaths dating back to 1980 and 1995.

Richardson murdered Kari Lenander, Beverly Cruse, and her sister, Debra Cruse, in 1980 in Los Angeles, and in Tina Wilson in 1995 in Inglewood.

Los Angeles cold case detectives reopened an inspection on Lenander’s murder in 2001. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, her body was found July 26, 1980, in a neighborhood in South Los Angeles. She was 15 years old when killed. Officials said Lenander had been a victim of sexually motivated crime along with the other women Richardson murdered.

A $50,000 reward for details assisting the identification, arrest and sentence of anyone accountable for Lenander’s murder was authorized by the Los Angeles City Council in 2012. It was announced in a news conference where Detective Tim Marcia of the Los Angeles Police Department stated investigators had “significant leads” about the murder. “ But we need a name.”

In a 2010 profile, Detective Marcia informed The Los Angeles Times Magazine, the night Lenander was murdered, she and 15 year old Tony Garfield were getting ready for a party while drinking tequila at Garfield’s house, alone. After the party, the two girls had hitchhiked on their way home.

A white man picked them up, said his name was Ken, and that he was visiting from Canada. Lenander and Garfield were then separated at around 10 p.m. when Garfield was dropped off at home while Lenander wanted to “keep partying” with Ken. Lenander’s body was found about five hours later.

It had been long presumed the suspect was a white man but a DNA profile in the mid-2000s determined the killer’s race was actually Black. Detective Marcia said that this was a big break in the case.

“That information limited the direction I needed to go,” Detective Marcia told the magazine. “Instead of having one big, whole pie, I got it down to a quarter of the pie.”

A few months before Lenander’s murder, the bodies of 25-year-old Beverly Cruse and 22-year-old Debra Cruse were found on March 5, 1980, naked.

A few months before Lenander’s murder, the bodies of 25-year-old Beverly Cruse and 22-year-old Debra Cruse were found on March 5, 1980, naked. Their brother found the bodies in a West Los Angeles apartment.

“The prosecutor’s office said the women had been shot in the head.” Said Jesus Jiménez, a reporter for the New York Times.

On December 31, 1995, more than fifteen years later, Wilson’s body was found near Inglewood park, according to city records.

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