Crime & Justice

Suspect Nabbed 37 Years After Teen Vanished From California Bus Depot

BREAKTHROUGH

Raymond Lewis Stafford was arrested in Texas this week and booked on charges of murder with special circumstances.

A mugshot of Raymond Lewis Stafford next to a picture of 15-year-old Susan Robin Bender. Stafford was arrested Tuesday more than three decades after Bender vanished in California.
Van Zandt County Jail/Modesto Police Department

A Texas man was arrested Tuesday more than three decades after a 15-year-old girl vanished in California, according to the Modesto Police Department. The Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Department in Texas apprehended Raymond Lewis Stafford at his home on an arrest warrant obtained by Modesto authorities last week. Stafford has now been booked into the Van Zandt County jail on charges of murder with special circumstances. On April 25, 1986, Susan Robin Bender disappeared and was reportedly last seen getting into a green van at the Greyhound bus depot in Modesto. It is not known how police were able to identify Stafford as a potential suspect, but the investigation was reopened in 2021 in hopes of using new technology to crack the cold case.

Modesto Police Department Makes Arrest in 1986 Missing Person Case Modesto, CA - August 17, 2023 On August 10, 2023,...

Posted by Modesto Police Department on Thursday, August 17, 2023
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