The Miramar Police Department announced an arrest this week in a four-decade-old cold case homicide that took advances in DNA technology to crack the case.
Ronald E. Richards, who is currently incarcerated in Ohio for separate crimes, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sex and murder after he was charged with murdering Evelyn Marie Fisher-Bamforth on January 22, 1980.
Richards, 75, lived in a mobile home park just 12 houses away from Fisher-Bamforth. He had previously been a person of interest in the case, but there was never enough evidence to make an arrest. According to the police, this has changed due to technological advances.
“Thanks to advances in DNA technology and the diligence and hard work of Detective Jonathan Zeller, Ronald Eugene Richards was charged with sex and murder,” Miramar Police Department spokeswoman Tania Rues said, according to WSVN. “We are one step closer [obtaining] Justice for Evelyn.”
Richards was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to 50 years in March 1980 for a separate murder and sexual assault outside Volusia County, according to Florida Department of Corrections records. He is currently incarcerated in Ohio on separate charges.
The Fisher-Bamforth killing is the oldest cold case in the history of the Miramar Police Department.
