Richard Paul White

Background

Richard Paul White admitted strangling a woman three years ago and led police to her grave in southern Colorado. Relatives had to deal with her children’s pain.

Torrey Marie Foster was 25 years old. White helped authorities find Foster’s body as part of an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to the murders of two women found buried in the backyard of his former Denver home. The agreement included White’s help in locating Foster’s remains, and prosecutors did not charge him with Foster’s death.

White helped locate the remains near his father’s home in Mesita near the New Mexico border in September 2004. Foster’s identity was a mystery until the Denver District Attorney’s Office released a sketch that was recognized by Denver homicide Detective Jon Priest, who remembered Foster as a witness in one of his cases. The District Attorney’s Office used DNA from Foster’s 9-year-old daughter to confirm the woman’s identity. Human skeletal remains found at a site where convicted serial killer Richard Paul White led police were identified as those of Torrey Marie Foster, according to police.

The Foster family knew the remains could be hers. Foster left behind an 11-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl.

Della Cardoza, 61, was Foster’s grandmother and was caring for the children. Cardoza stated that Foster’s son and daughter did not want to start school in Denver. Cardoza said her granddaughter was inconsolable and wanted her mommy. Cardoza also worried for both children, whom Foster had entrusted to her care while in cosmetology school.

White was described as 32 in the accounts that discussed the victim identification and sentencing. White was also described as 31 at the time of some plea proceedings and as 32 at sentencing and identification.

Defense attorney Sharlene Reynolds said White was psychotic and suffered for years from untreated mental illness. She said he was the victim of “horrendous” childhood abuse. Reynolds said at times White wanted the death penalty, and she said he “just couldn’t deal with the magnitude of what he had done to these victims and their families.”

White’s father apologized for his son. He said:

“The English language does not contain the words to express the sorrow we feel,” he said.
“I know how horrified and remorseful he is. My son's not sane. I love him more than I can say but when these things happened he was delusional. He believed things that were not true.”

Turpin’s sister, Destiny Martinez, did not accept the apology. She said:

“There is not enough mental illness in the world to make someone do something like that.”

Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter said mitigating factors outweighed aggravating factors in the case, making it tough to convince a jury that White deserved the death penalty. Ritter said:

“He had a childhood riddled with sexual and physical abuse,”

Seattle attorney Todd Maybrown said not seeking the death penalty in a serial-killer case could hamper efforts to get the death penalty in future, less egregious murder cases. Maybrown said:

“When you are just hunting people and killing them, it's hard to imagine anything worse,”

Assistant Adams County District Attorney Steve Bernard said Colorado did not have a standard requiring proportional comparisons across death-sentence cases. Bernard said:

“Colorado doesn't have such a law.”

Maybrown said future death-penalty cases would rehash White’s case. He said:

“This prosecutor will have to compare every case,”

Maybrown also said prosecutors would have to explain why they would seek the death penalty in a robbery-homicide case when it wasn’t a serial killer case. He said:

“Prosecutors will have to explain why they would seek the death penalty in a robbery-homicide case when it wasn't a serial killer case, Maybrown said.”

Timeline

• January 2002 — White picked up a tall, “dark-skinned” woman who was blind in her right eye and drove her to his house at 2885 Albion St., where he strangled her.
• May 2004 — A Denver grand jury indicted White on 33 felony counts.
• June 22, 2004 — White was advised of a 53-count indictment.
• Sept. 7, 2003 — White fatally shot co-worker Jason Reichardt, 27.
• Sept. 16, 2004 — White pleaded guilty in Denver District Court to the murders of Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, and Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, and pleaded guilty to using a weapon to sexually assault three other women.
• Sept. 29, 2004 — Authorities uncovered what they believed were human remains with the help of professed serial killer Richard Paul White, who led detectives in search of one of the women he said he killed.
• Dec. 2, 3:30 pm (year not specified) — White’s official sentencing for the Aurora murder was scheduled to occur.
• Dec. 28, 2004 — A judge issued another life sentence to White, described as his third life sentence for fatally shooting Jason Reichardt on Sept. 7, 2003.
• Nov. 29, 2004 — White’s sentencing was discussed as scheduled for this date.
• Sept. 7, 2004 — White entered a plea bargain in Arapahoe County for life in prison without parole for the Sept. 7, 2003 shooting death of Jason Reichardt.
• Sept. 28 (year not specified) — The remains of one victim White described were found in Costilla County.
• September 2004 — White helped locate the remains near his father’s home in Mesita near the New Mexico border.
• September 2003 — White was captured.
• September 17, 2004 — White faced a life term, with prosecutors not seeking the death penalty after he agreed to help locate bodies of three women.
• August 17, 2005 — A serial killer’s victim was identified.
• September 16, 2004 — White pleaded guilty in Denver District Court.

The offence

White admitted strangling a woman in 2002 after picking her up at a bus stop near Colfax Avenue in Denver.

In November 2003, White was sentenced to life in prison for strangling Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, and Victoria Lyn Tur pin, 32, whose bodies were found in his former backyard.

White received an additional 144 years for raping and torturing three of his surviving victims.

White taunted women he brought to his home at 2885 Albion St., telling them about bodies buried in his back yard and warning the women that they were likely to end up there too. Prosecutor Kerri Lombardi said he made a sport of hunting for, raping, torturing and killing women who spent hours and days begging for their lives. Lombardi said:

“He made a sport of hunting for, raping, torturing and killing these women, who spent hours and days begging for their lives. He enjoyed this game of human torture he created.”

Lombardi said White stuck the barrel of a gun in their mouths and threatened to shoot them during the rapes. Lombardi also said:

“He has terrorized countless other women,” Lombardi said.
“Richard White is a predator,” she said.

After hours of torture, Lombardi said White used cords or belts to strangle the women.

The indictment and plea discussions described additional sexual assaults and attempted murder allegations. White faced charges including first-degree murder, sex assault, kidnapping, and one count of attempted first-degree murder among other charges, and he was accused of attacking three other women in addition to the two whose bodies were found buried.

White pleaded guilty to using a weapon to sexually assault three other women described as prostitutes, and the two murder convictions were mandatory life sentences without parole, with additional prison time for the sexual assault charges.

White claimed to have killed three other prostitutes he picked up on Colfax Avenue. White told investigators about the five women he said he killed, and he said he dumped bodies in Costilla and Otero counties.

Investigation

Authorities sought help identifying remains.

A sketch of Foster was recognized by Denver homicide Detective Jon Priest, who remembered Foster as a witness in one of his cases.

Foster’s identity was confirmed using DNA from Foster’s 9-year-old daughter.

Authorities searched for bodies after White’s plea agreement included cooperation. Authorities on Tuesday uncovered what may have been human remains with the help of professed serial killer Richard Paul White, who led detectives in search of one of the women he said he killed. Costilla County Sheriff Roger Benton confirmed that White and Colorado Bureau of Investigation officials searched for the body.

Investigators found remains they believed were human. The skeletal remains were sent to a pathologist for analysis. Benton described the search process as including White being kept in a van with tinted windows while deputies searched a sagebrush-covered area near Mesita. Benton said:

“They were walking in a straight line, and when they got to a certain point, they walked in a circle,” Benton said.
“It seemed like they were close to something.”

Last year, Benton and his deputies searched for about five days for a body White said he buried there, but they came up empty.

Prosecutors in Denver would not seek the death penalty against White for strangling two women after he agreed to help find the bodies of three other women he said he killed. White pleaded guilty in Denver District Court on Sept. 16 to murders of Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, and Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, whose bodies were exhumed from the backyard of White’s former home at 2885 Albion St. White also pleaded guilty to using a weapon to sexually assault three other women.

Denver prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty, and prosecutors in Costilla and Otero counties also agreed not to seek the death penalty against White.

Investigators sought whether White would be charged with Foster’s killing. Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the district attorney, did not immediately return a call regarding whether charges would be brought.

A Denver grand jury indicted White on 33 felony counts in May.

White had told investigators about remains near his father’s home in Mesita and also about bodies he said he dumped near La Junta in Otero County. It was not known when White would travel to help find those bodies.

Authorities noted it was unclear whether White would be charged with Foster’s killing at the time of the identification of Foster’s remains.

White described a victim as dark-skinned, tall, slender and blind in her right eye and said she was staying at a motel on East Colfax Avenue when he picked her up. The remains of one of the victims had been found Sept. 28 in Costilla County, and White’s description was used for the unidentified remains at that stage. Another described victim’s remains had not been identified.

Arrest

Two days after killing Reichardt, White was arrested by a Douglas County SWAT team.

White was captured in September 2003.

Trial

White pleaded guilty in September to avoid facing the death penalty and agreed to help authorities find his other victims.

16 to the murders of Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, and Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, and pleaded guilty to using a weapon to sexually assault three other women.

White pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Arapahoe County in connection with the death of co-worker Jason Reichardt, 27, and received life without parole in exchange for pleading guilty to the murder of Reichardt.

White pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the shooting death of his friend Jason Reichardt. Investigators said White told his sister he accidentally shot Reichardt last year while trying to steal Reichardt’s truck.

During interrogation for Reichardt’s death, White confessed to killing five prostitutes and dumping their bodies, and he later guided authorities to additional locations.

Sentencing

In November 2003, White was sentenced to life in prison for strangling Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, and Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, whose bodies were found in his former backyard. White also received an additional 144 years for raping and torturing three of his surviving victims.

White received life in prison without parole for the Sept. 7, 2003 shooting death of co-worker Jason Reichardt, 27, through a plea in Arapahoe County. White agreed to plead guilty and avoid facing the death penalty for this murder.

Before issuing another life sentence described as the third life sentence for fatally shooting Jason Reichardt, Judge Gerald Rafferty wanted White to know what he thought about White’s claim that killing his buddy was accidental. Judge Rafferty said:

“I am familiar with guns,” Judge Gerald Rafferty said.
“I have never heard of anyone pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger to demonstrate the safety was on.”

Rafferty also made it clear at White’s sentencing hearing that his third life sentence was extraordinary. Rafferty said:

“I think it is fair to note that a great deal of mercy has been displayed to you,” Rafferty said...

White declined to speak about Reichardt. White said:

“I don't wish to say anything,”

After another sentencing hearing, Denver District Judge R. Michael Mullins said:

“Mr. White will not see the light of day as a free man ever again,”

At the same sentencing proceeding, Effie Laub and other family members spoke as described, and White mouthed “I'm sorry.”

White stared back, nodded and mouthed the words “I'm sorry.” The family members sobbed while speaking.

White made no other statement as he was sentenced to two life prison terms for the murders of Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27, and Victoria Turpin, 34, whose bodies were buried in his back yard, and he was also sentenced to 144 years in prison for sexual assaults on three other women who survived.

The record also described a Nov. 30, 2004 sentencing hearing, where family members looked him straight in the eye and sobbed. The account described White mouthing “I'm sorry” and making no other statement as he was sentenced.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Torrey Marie Foster’s remains were identified as those of a 25-year-old mother whose family had already suspected they could be hers. White led police to the graveside location as part of his cooperation.

White’s cooperation meant he was not charged with Foster’s death.

White was serving three life terms in prison without parole for killings of two women whose bodies were buried in a Denver back yard (Victoria Lyn Turpin, 32, and Annaletia Maria Gonzales, 27), for killing his former roommate, Jason Reichardt, 27, and for raping and torturing three other women who survived, receiving 144 additional years.

White had told authorities he killed five women and buried their bodies around the state, and he had guided investigators to some of the sites.

Authorities did not recover bodies identified as dumped near La Junta in Otero County, as described in the provided material. Authorities also noted no bodies had been found in Costilla or Otero county despite extensive searches at one stage.

Other details

White’s house address in the narratives was 2885 Albion St.

Foster was studying cosmetology with hopes of a new life.

In one account, White helped authorities locate Foster’s remains near Mesita in Costilla County, and the remains were found near Mesita.

A victim mentioned as blind in her right eye was described as having “dark, crimped hair,” “perfect teeth,” and “a bad scar on her forearm,” and as having children.

White said he knew he was fated to kill her because he had a tattoo of a similar woman.

White picked up Reichardt when he was out of work and had tried to find him a job, according to the narrative describing their relationship.

Reichardt’s father, Bill, stood at the prosecutor’s table flanked by his son and wife and said White was not his son’s friend, only one of the many people Jason helped. Reichardt said:

“His kindness cost him his life,”
“A day does not go by that we do not miss him.”