The body of a California teenager who disappeared 37 years ago may be buried in Yosemite National Park, court documents reportedly reveal.
The suspect behind the apparent disappearance and slaying of 15-year-old Susan Bender allegedly told a woman she was living with at the time that she killed a “woman” and buried her body at a campsite near the Big Oak Flat entrance to the state park, according to the paper. court acquired by the Modesto Bee and other outlets.
Raymond Lewis Stafford, who was arrested earlier this month in connection with the cold case, allegedly made the disclosure shortly after Bender disappeared in 1986, according to court documents. He allegedly did not identify the woman.
He also told the woman, who was a Stafford employee at the time, that he strangled the unnamed victim for about 45 minutes with a cord or wire, the outlet reported.
Stafford, now in his mid-70s, was charged with Bender’s murder after he was last seen in a green van at a Modesto bus depot in April 1986. Although investigators found possible evidence at the time linking Stafford to the teenager’s disappearance, he was not arrested.
Stafford, who owns a security company, rented a green van the day Bender disappeared and returned it the next day, authorities said.
His body was never found.
Susan Bender, 15, disappeared in 1986. Modesto Police Department
After the case gained new attention in 2020, Stafford was arrested in Texas and will soon be sent to Stanislaus County, the Modesto Bee reported.
“All the ugliness has reopened,” Bender’s mother, Patricia Chupco, told the outlet this week.
“I’m glad (the case) is coming to an end, but it’s not over for me.”
Chupco reportedly said she briefly worked for Stafford and went on several coffee dates with him. She believes that when Stafford called her home once, her daughter answered and a relationship was established.
Stafford ran for local office about a year before Bender disappeared, billing himself as the “guy next door,” according to Bee archives. But he lost amid legal trouble, including an arrest for soliciting an undercover female deputy for prostitution.
A detective most recently investigating the cold case interviewed Stafford, who denied knowing Bender or his mother before his arrest, the Bee reported, citing court papers.
He allegedly only answered “OK” and “fine” when confronted with the evidence against him during a prison interview in Texas.
He was jailed for violating his sex offender registry, the newspaper reported.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
