Earl Richmond Jr. (November 6, 1961 – May 6, 2005) was an American
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
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who committed four murders, including those of two children, in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
in 1991. Before the murders, Richmond served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
as a drill sergeant, stationed at Fort Dix in New Jersey, where he committed two known rapes. Following his arrest for murder, he was
sentenced to death
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
Earl Richmond Jr. was born on November 6, 1961, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Ultimately, not much is known about his childhood and adolescent years, but he entered the military in his early adult years. Between 1988 and 1990, Richmond served as a drill sergeant at Fort Dix in
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.
Crimes
Military crimes
During his service in the army, multiple women were sexually assaulted in the immediate area. The first of which occurred on April 15, 1989, when a female Air Force trainee was sexually assaulted at gunpoint at a bus stop. Days later, a 17-year-old girl was raped in her motel room just outside of Fort Dix. A man named Richard Stevens was arrested and convicted of the first assault by a federal court, but his conviction was overturned three years later after it was proven that Stevens was most likely innocent. In 1990, Richmond was sanctioned over misconduct and subsequently discharged.
On April 5, 1991, Richmond entered the home of 24-year-old Lisa Ann Nadeau, an Army Specialist based out of Fort Dix, as well as a payroll clerk, from
Plainfield, Connecticut
Plainfield is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. The town comprises four villages: Plainfield (south, ZIP code 06374), Moosup (northeast, 06354), Wauregan (northwest, 06387), an ...
. Richmond tied up, strangled, stabbed, and beat Nadeau to death with a hammer. He was not suspected in her murder, but afterward, Richmond traveled to North Carolina.
Murder of the Hayes family
Richmond began staying with 27-year-old Helisa Hayes and her two children, 8-year-old Philip and 7-year-old Darien. Richmond was a family friend of Hayes, as he had dated one of Hayes' sisters, and was a friend of Hayes' ex-husband, Wayne. On November 2, after apparently getting into an argument, Richmond dragged Hayes into the bedroom where he raped her. Afterward, he forced Philip into the bathroom where he stabbed him 40 times with a pair of scissors, and strangled him with an electrical cord before he strangled Darien with a wire from a curling iron. The bodies were discovered on November 4 by Hayes' father. Police initially focused on Wayne Hayes, Helisa's ex-husband.
Arrest and convictions
It was not until April 1992 that Richmond would become a suspect, and he was brought into the police station for an interview on April 3. During which, he denied involvement. At the same time, a DNA test was brought forward, which confirmed Richmond's involvement. Upon learning this, Richmond confessed to the murders. At the same time, DNA testing also connected Richmond to the two unsolved rapes that occurred in at Ford Dix in 1989, as well as the murder of Nadeau. Richmond confessed to each of the murders and told officers he intentionally left behind evidence because he wanted to get caught. Richmond was tried in federal court for Nadeau's murder since it occurred on a military base. He was convicted in May 1993 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In May 1995, Richmond was convicted of the Hayes' murders and sentenced to death.
Central Prison
Central Prison is a prison operated by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in Raleigh, North Carolina. The prison, west of Downtown Raleigh, is on of land and is bounded by a double wire fence with a razor ribbon on top. The Departm ...
in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...
. He declined a
last meal
A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be.
Contemporary restrictions in the United States
In the United States, most states gi ...
. Richmond's last words were "I'd like to extend my deepest apologies to all the victims' families and their loved ones. I'd like to say that I'm not a man that shies away from his responsibilities. I'd like to say that I hope that now, through my death, that y'all can move forward with your lives. Thank you and God bless you."
See also
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Capital punishment in North Carolina Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Despite remaining a legal penalty, there have been no executions in North Carolina since 2006. A series of lawsuits filed in state courts questioning the fairness and humani ...
List of people executed in North Carolina
The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of North Carolina since 1984.
There have been a total of 43 executions in North Carolina, under the current statute, since it was adopted in 1977. All of the people executed were convict ...
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List of people executed in the United States in 2005
This is a list of people executed in the United States in 2005. Sixty people were executed in the United States in 2005. Nineteen of them were in the state of Texas. One ( Frances Elaine Newton) was female. The states of Connecticut and Maryland ca ...