Bruce Rich

Case identification

• Name: Bruce Rich

Background

Bruce Rich was accused of killing his parents so that he could get out of financial debt. Bruce Rich was 51 at the time of his parents' death and 51 in court. Prosecutors believed he killed his parents for their life insurance policy and will, and tried to make their deaths look like a murder-suicide.

At the time of his parents' death, Rich was approximately $105,000 in debt. He owed $25,000 to the IRS and over $51,000 to various business creditors. He had just moved back in with his parents because of his financial problems.

Bruce Rich's parents were Irving and Blanche Rich. Their life insurance policy was worth approximately $25,000. In their will, Irving and Blanche Rich left Bruce their house, which was valued at approximately $220,000. Prosecutors said Bruce Rich had hoped that a personal injury award in a civil suit would bail him out of his debt, but the award only covered his medical expenses. Desperate, prosecutors said, Rich resorted to what he thought was his only way out of debt—killing his elderly parents.

The offence

On the morning of Dec. 23, 1995, Bruce Rich called police and told them that he had just found his parents dead in their bed. He told them that his parents had been shot and that the gun used was still in his mother's mouth. The victims were killed by Blanche Rich's own .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Both victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Prosecutors believed that Rich shot his father twice before shooting his mother four times. The prosecution believed Rich used the final shot to make the killings look like a murder-suicide. The prosecution alleged that Rich placed the gun in his mortally wounded mother's hand, then put the gun in her mouth and then pulled the trigger.

Police dismissed the murder-suicide theory. Detectives began to believe the killing was a homicide made to resemble a murder-suicide, and they began to focus on the sole benefactor of his parents' life insurance policy and will, Bruce Rich.

Investigation

Investigators were skeptical about Irving and Blanche Rich's alleged murder-suicide from almost the very beginning. The crime scene did not fit a murder-suicide. There were no signs of forced entry and nothing was removed from the premises.

A state medical examiner testified that two of the four head wounds were incapacitating, eliminating any ability she would have had to put the gun in her mouth and pull the trigger. According to the medical examiner, the victims died around 2:00 a.m., supported by the claims of a neighbor who said she heard what she thought were firecrackers around that time.

A state forensics expert found that a crown was missing from Blanche Rich's mouth and suspected that it was knocked out by one of the gunshots. That crown was discovered in one of Bruce Rich's sneakers in his bedroom.

In addition, Efren Boone, a prison cellmate, claimed Bruce Rich confessed to the murders while kept in a Dade County jail.

Bruce Rich denied any involvement in his parents' death.

Bruce Rich claimed he was at the movies watching "Casino" at the time of the killing and could not have committed the murders. The movie was over three hours long, beginning at 11:35 p.m. and ending 2:40 a.m. Rich claimed he returned to his parents' home after the movie and went straight to bed. He insisted he woke up before 7 the next morning and did not see his parents at all. Rich said he ran some errands for a few hours and found his parents dead when he returned at 10 a.m.

The prosecution did not deny that Rich bought an 11:35 pm ticket for "Casino." The prosecution argued that he left before the end of the movie, returned to his parents home (which was in a gated community) without being seen, and murdered them. The prosecution also claimed that he left the apartment complex again, unseen, and returned at around 3 a.m., making sure security guards would log him in so that he could establish a false alibi. Investigators noted that Rich quickly produced his movie ticket stub without being asked to produce an alibi.

Rich claimed that because of his parents' Jewish faith, they could not be subjected to an autopsy. Florida law allows investigators to put aside religious faith in suspected murder cases.

Arrest

• No arrest details were stated.

Trial

A 12-panel Florida jury was evenly deadlocked on Rich's punishment. By default, Rich received life without parole.

Bruce Rich's attorneys argued that the prosecution's case was entirely circumstantial. They downplayed the discovery of Blanche Rich's crown by pointing to allegedly shoddy police work and claiming that investigators contaminated the crime scene and evidence. The defense suggested the crown may have been inadvertently dropped in Rich's sneaker by investigators. The defense argued that Rich's cellmate, Boone, was a liar and had no credibility.

The defense also argued that Irving and Blanche Rich were not wealthy—or at least not wealthy enough for someone, especially their son, to want to kill them. The defense claimed Rich's parents were extremely depressed because their manufacturing business was losing money. Bruce Rich's attorneys argued that Rich was their savior because he had presented them with a manufacturing idea before their deaths that would have saved them from financial ruin.

Sentencing

Bruce Rich was sentenced to life in prison without parole on March 22, 2000. Rich could have been sentenced to death. The 12-panel Florida jury was evenly deadlocked on Rich's punishment, giving Rich life without parole by default.

Outcome

• Life in prison without parole was imposed after an evenly deadlocked jury on punishment.

Aftermath

• No additional aftermath details were stated.