FL FL - Erica Richardson, 33, Valrico, 8 Dec 1997

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http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/08/case-closed-bod.html


Authorities: Body found in Louisiana river believed to be Valrico woman's killer

TAMPA -- More than a decade after a 33-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in her Valrico home, investigators with the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office announced this morning that DNA samples taken from Erica Richardson's home matched that of a body found floating in a Louisiana river.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that the body found floating in the river was that of John Feiga, Richardson's estranged boyfriend and a longtime suspect in the case.
The ordeal began on Dec. 8, 1997, when Richardson, a Tampa native and manager of a Wal-Mart pharmacy, was found stabbed to death in her Valrico home.
After her body was discovered, Richardson's car and Feiga went missing. Two weeks later, Richardson's 1992 Honda Accord was found in a hospital parking lot in Lafayette, La., about 60 miles from Feiga's hometown. Authorities never found Feiga.
For years, Hillsborough sheriff's investigators sought new leads. The crime was featured on national television crime programs like America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries.

In June of this year, the Sheriff's Office cold case unit, along with officials from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI joined to find Feiga.
Investigators took foreign blood samples found in the Valrico home and entered them into an FBI database.
At almost the same time, a Louisiana State University laboratory was entering DNA samples from unidentified human remains.
On July 7, a match was found between the blood found in Valrico and a body found floating in a river in Louisiana in 1998.
That person was Feiga, killed in an unsolved homicide.
At a 10 a.m. news conference, Imogene Richardson, Erica's mother, expressed relief that the man suspected of killing her daughter was dead.
"Erica was my baby, the only girl I had," she said. "I thank God to know that he is gone. That he will never be able to roam the earth. That he will never be able to take another life."
Justin George, Times staff writer


Posted by tampabaycom at 11:24:47 AM on August 8, 2008

Here is the Doenetwork link

http://doenetwork.org/cases/230umla.html

How bizzare, he was suspected of killing his girlfriend, fleeing to Louisiana and then was murdered a couple months later.
 
This is totally weird. I feel like I should be sad for this lost life now that they've indentified him. But I'm not and I feel guilty for it. I'm glad it was him.

I hope her family feels a little peace now.

:(
fran
 
That sucks though among all the UIDs it was a murderer that was id'd there are so many who truly deserve their name on their grave. But well apparently it's a great relief for his victim's family so that's good for that.
 
It looks like Karma struck again. I'm glad her murder case has been solved. His may never be solved.
 
I just wonder whether people may have assumed that he was the killer based on his jealousy, probable violent background, possible involvement in criminal activitiy, etc. I know it's unlikely but it's made more likely by him being the victim of a crime later on - could he have been more useful to the real attacker if he was kept alive for six weeks or so after the murder and then killed when he was no longer useful?
 

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