A man was arrested in California for reportedly sexually assaulting and killing an elderly woman in 1984 when he was only 19 years old.
Until he was caught last month, Richard Moore lived under the name “Woody” or “Woody on Fairbanks,” according to the Sacramento News & Review.
As stated in a press release, Moore, who is now 59 years old, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, theft, and rape in the death of Madeline Garcia, who was 69 years old. Moore was charged this week, the police said on Monday.
At the scene on Atlantic and Branstetter streets in Roseville, evidence showed that Garcia’s killer dragged her into an alley and killed her with several hits.
“She was brutally attacked,” Roseville Homicide Detective James Fujitani told the Sacramento News & Review in 2020 when there was still no lead in the case. “It was such a violent attack that we found her false teeth in the gutter.”
The news source said Garcia’s body was pushed behind a dumpster and her face was beaten so badly that it was almost unrecognizable. There were blood splatters every 20 to 30 feet, which showed that the killer had tried to move her more than once and dropped her.
Garcia’s granddaughter, Sharon Garcia, told the news source, “It seemed like a murder of anger to me.” “And if it was rage, you had to wonder, ‘Did this person know her?’”
A lot of people in the area called Garcia “The Can Lady.” The news source said that she would go all over downtown Roseville every morning before dawn to pick up trash cans from trash cans. She would often do this while riding a big tricycle.
The widow, on the other hand, was not poor. Her family called her “Grandma Garcia.” She was Spanish American and worked as a housewife. She loved cooking, gardening, making crafts, and playing with the kids in the neighborhood.
Reports say that investigators from the Roseville Police Department and the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office used a family DNA sifting method on preserved bodily fluids from the 40-year-old crime scene. This led them to Moore.
Moore was caught for setting fire to a building two and a half blocks from where the woman was found, just weeks after Garcia was killed.
The detectives and agents from the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office nabbed Moore in Los Angeles on June 27. This was confirmed by the office of the district attorney. On Monday, the judge gave him a public attorney. His next court date is July 22.
There were people in Echo Park who told the news outlet that Moore was known as a nice person who liked riding his bike around the area. The news source said that Moore found a lost cat last month and tried to find its owner.
“Credit goes to the cold case team,” Fujitani told the Sacramento News & Review. He was the first officer to work on the case.
District Attorney Morgan Gire told the judge at Moore’s hearing, “He lived under the radar for years,” according to the news source. “He attacked the victim in the early morning hours, dragged her into an alley, sexually assaulted her, and then beat her to death.”
“Justice hasn’t stopped,” the district attorney said. “Today has been a long time coming.” The defendant did a terrible act in 1984… Anyone who can do that kind of crime is a threat to our community, no matter what age they are or how long it’s been since the crime. People who are dangerous enough to commit these kinds of crimes must not be free while their case is being heard.
Moore was put in jail without bail because the judge agreed.
The City of Roseville said in a news release, “In the end, improvements in forensic techniques, along with persistent investigations and teamwork, led to the identification and capture of Richard Moore.”
The oldest cousin of Garcia, Terri Middlekauf, said Moore’s arrest was “bittersweet.”
“It’s a sad and happy time,” she told the Sacramento News & Review. “I can only hope my grandkids remember me the way that I remember her.”