An unsolved Missouri murder case from 26 years ago is no longer cold. A man was arrested this week in South Carolina on suspicion of killing Candice Richie in Columbia.
A Boone County grand jury indicted Sentrell Wilson in the renewed cold case investigation from 2000.
Richie’s brother is Rep. Mark Sharp, D-Kansas City, who spoke Wednesday while the House was in session.
“After 26 years, the man we long-suspected of murdering my sister was arrested,” he said.
Sharp made the comments the same day 26 years ago that his sister was found dead.
“Neighbors reported a smell coming from her apartment. That was how her body was discovered. The man responsible had left her there for days,” he said.
Sharp said he remembers the long and silent ride with his parents from Kansas City to Columbia.
“I remember not fully understanding what was happening; only that something terrible had happened,” he said.
Sharp said he was in eighth grade when his sister was killed. She was a senior at the University of Missouri.
“An arrest does not erase 26 years of grief. It does not remove the images. It does not restore the life that she should have lived. But it does affirm something important – time does not erase truth. Cold cases are never really cold to families. They live in anniversaries like today. They live in memories that do not fade. They live in the quiet determination to keep pushing,” said Sharp.
That pushing included Sharp asking for his sister’s cold case to be reopened last year, only to learn that the Columbia Police Department had already reopened the case about six months earlier.
“Candice, your little brother never stopped believing,” said Sharp. “We never stopped saying your name, and we never stopped fighting for you. Twenty-six years ago, our nightmare became real, but today, justice has taken a major step forward.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office, the Columbia Police Department, the FBI and Pennsylvania and South Carolina law enforcement assisted in the arrest in South Carolina.
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