Defendant pleads not guilty to charges stemming from 39 years ago

 

Wiping away the tears that were flowing down her face, Stephanie Stasiak sat in front the courtroom of District Court Judge Stacey Rentfrow Wednesday, recalling the day she received a phone call from a distant relative that turned her world upside down.

When she was a teenager living with her mom in Edwardsburg, Stasiak received a call from Raymond Richmond — the cousin of her father, Robert Stasiak — who told the girl that he was the man responsible for claiming the life of the elder Stasiak when she was just a toddler, she said.

While Richmond didn’t tell her a lot about the incident during that fateful call, she said she remembered that he did say he killed her father during a fight, after her dad had gotten rid of some of the drugs owned by the other man.

“I don’t remember much after that,” she said. “It was just a lot to swallow.”

The now 40-year-old woman’s testimony served as the emotional climax of a hearing before the Cass County judge that afternoon, as Richmond — sitting just a few feet away from Stasiak — learned that his case would be advancing to the courtroom of Circuit Court Judge Michael Dodge.

Richmond, 56, of South Bend, pleaded not guilty to the charge of open murder Wednesday, during a pre-trial examination before Rentfrow. Richmond is accused of murdering his cousin, Robert Stasiak, nearly 40 years ago, at the victim’s parents home in Edwardsburg Nov. 2, 1977.

Stasiak, who was 25 at the time of his death, was initially believed to have committed suicide by authorities at the time of the incident. However, Edwardsburg Police Chief Tim Kozal reopened the case in 2014, with the new investigation culminating in Richmond’s arrest in May.

Stephanie Stasiak was one of several witnesses who testified during the hearing Wednesday, which was meant to establish whether or not the prosecutor’s office had probable cause to continue the case against the South Bend man.

During her cross-examination by Richmond’s attorney, Paul Jancha, the woman said she couldn’t recall the specifics of when or how her conversation took place. While she said it was her first time ever talking to Richmond, she said she had met the man twice in the years after the phone call, and was sure he was the man she spoke to that day, she said.

Also testifying was retired Michigan State Police firearm examiner Raymond Kenny, who did some lab work for the case during the initial police investigation decades ago.

Kenny said that his report concluded that Stasiak was shot once by a .22 caliber rifle, recovered at the scene, and, based off the gunpowder residue found on his shirt, the barrel of the gun was no farther than 12 feet away, though it did not make direct contact with his body.

Richmond’s next hearing, before Judge Michael Dodge, will be determined at a later date.