Richard "Rick" DeVecchi (1961– December 17, 1998) was an American worker for a

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

trucking Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

business. He and his family were originally from

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

, which is in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

Murder

Rick DeVecchi and his family had just gotten to the Berkeley Warehouse on the morning of Thursday, December 17, 1998. Just after 7:10 am that morning, a fellow employee at the business witnessed a stranger going through the back of Rick's

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

. Just before 7:15 am, Richard and the fellow employee went out to investigate the situation. By that time, however, the stranger had already gotten into his

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

, a 1970s or early 1980s tan or white colored

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

. According to the Berkeley

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

and to four witnesses, that Thursday morning, the stranger was driving slowly at first. However, he began accelerating and driving faster, at which point he then hit Richard DeVecchi. The suspect continued driving after he hit Rick. Rick's father Dick got on the telephone and dialed

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...

just after witnessing the incident. Richard was taken to a nearby

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

just after the crime. Three days after the incident, Richard succumbed to his injuries; the incident was then considered a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

by the Berkeley police. The suspect in the homicide was later described by local police as an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

male. According to the Berkeley police and several witnesses that had seen the hit and run that morning, the

license plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificati ...

s on the Cadillac had the letters "CUS".

Later years

The killing of Rick DeVecchi was later shown on the

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

''; it was profiled several times on the show in the years following the incident. The murder suspect has not been arrested as of 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeVecchi, Rick 1998 in California 1998 murders in the United States Deaths by person in California December 1998 crimes December 1998 events in the United States Male murder victims Murders by motor vehicle People murdered in California Road incident deaths in California 20th century in Berkeley, California Unsolved murders in the United States

Murder

Later years

See also

References