Grief and Relief as Suspect Charged in L.A. Cold Cases

The arrest of a Texas man accused of killing four women in the Los Angeles area decades ago has brought both solace and pain to the families of two of his alleged victims.

Los Angeles and Inglewood police teamed up with Fort Worth, Texas, cops to arrest 75-year-old Billy Ray Richardson on Thursday for four homicides between 1980 and 1995, the Los Angeles Times reported. Richardson, whose apparent spouse did not immediately respond to requests for comment, faces four counts of murder in Los Angeles County Court. According to the district attorney’s office, Richardson’s own DNA betrayed him—and the prosecutor said all four of the women he killed had been raped.

Latasha Thomas, the daughter of the final victim, said she had not gotten word of the arrest of a suspect before hearing from The Daily Beast. She recalled that she was just 7 and staying in an Inglewood motel with two of her siblings and their mother, 28-year-old Trina Wilson, when Wilson left the room on New Year’s Eve of 1995.

"We were waiting for her to come back, and she never came back,” an emotional Thomas remembered.

After an uncertain amount of time—”as a kid, it felt like days”— Thomas said their uncles came and collected them, and her grandmother told them what had happened: Police had found their mother in a nearby park with her throat slashed.

Thomas said she and her sister had been in intermittent contact with authorities over the years, feeding them tiny scraps from their recollections, but had heard little news until roughly two weeks ago. That’s when police told them they were drawing a bead on a suspect, and that they should be prepared.

But Thomas, now living in San Bernardino, said she had heard nothing since. Still, she lauded detectives for not forgetting her mother.

“It’s unbelievable that after all this time that they have somebody and we can lay our suspicions to rest,” said Thomas, who was unfamiliar with Richardson’s name and long believed her mother’s killer might have been her then-boyfriend. “It’s Los Angeles, they’ve got a lot of work to do, and I try to be understanding of that. Obviously, it's always been on their hearts to figure this out, and I appreciate that.”

“My mom was a great woman—happy, loving, caring—and has been extremely missed in our family,” she added.

Carl Lenander, whose sister Kari was just 15 years old when Richardson allegedly strangled her to death in July 1980, said his family had received more frequent updates from the authorities. Lenander said his father, who had put up reward money for information in connection with Kari’s killing, had even received word before his passing in 2020 that the police had a suspect but were struggling to get a witness to cooperate.

Kari Lenander was murdered after she and a friend hitchhiked from their neighborhood of Brentwood to Hollywood, and spent the night partying with a man who had given them a ride. Her friend began to feel ill and returned home. Cops discovered the Palisades High School student’s body the next day. It is unclear if the individual who drove and drank with the two teenagers, who reportedly gave his name as “Ken,” was in fact Richardson.

Her brother particularly praised the work of LAPD cold case detective Tim Marcia, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“I remember my sister as a very free-spirited soul that loved to go to parties and concerts and had lots of friends, and was loved by many people,” Lenander, now residing in Hawaii, wrote to The Daily Beast. “While we are very glad for an arrest finally, it brings back the horrible emotions of the past. We have discussed the arrest and at this point have chosen to not attend the hearings.”

The Daily Beast was unable to reach James Cruse, who discovered the decomposing bodies of his two sisters in their apartment in the neighborhood of Palms—both sexually assaulted and shot three times in the head—only a few months before Kari Lenander’s killing.

“I want to commend the tenacious and dedicated work of those who helped solve these horrific crimes,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “I cannot imagine the pain that these families have endured. Their loss is immeasurable. We hope that together we can bring justice to the families who have endured so much and have waited years for this moment.”