Irwindale: March 2008 Archives

Here's what we know about the investigation into the missing persons case involving a former police officer who disappeared just after Christmas:

1). The "badly decomposed" body of former Pasadena police Lt. David Richter was found beneath a freeway overpass in Irwindale last Thursday.

2). There was a weapon at the scene, according to Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

3). Richter's girlfriend, Noah Beltran, personal assistant to interim Pasadena police Chief Chris Vicino, has been placed on paid administrative leave for "misleading investigators" who were searching for Richter.

4) One of Richter's cars, which had been originally reported as missing, turned up in the garage of a friend.

5) Despite the discovery of a gun at the scene, no suicide note was recovered from his body, either car or his home.

6) Investigators from Irwindale, who recovered the body have been asked to remain silent about the circumstances.

Questions of the day: Is there something more sinister than a suicide going on here? Why all the mystery?

The discovery of a missing Pasadena police lieutenant’s decomposed body is one of those head scratchers that come along every now and again on the police beat.

David Henry Richter, 55, of Arcadia was reported missing just after Christmas by his father, a Palm Springs doctor. Right after that, investigators found Richter’s 2007 Lexus abandoned on Rivergrade Road in Irwindale.

From there, bloodhounds led police to a chalky, deep pond at the bottom of a nearby gravel pit. Divers searched the pit and the Coast Guard brought in sonar equipment, all in hopes of finding Richter’s body.

He wasn’t found, and the case remained unsolved until late last week.

On Thursday a Caltrans worker picking up trash underneath an overpass where the 605 crosses Rivergrade Road discovered Richter’s body. By then it was so badly decomposed that determining how he died apparently isn’t a slam dunk.

We have learned that he was clothed. There was no note at the scene and “he had a weapon with him,” according to Ed Winter, assistant chief of the coroner’s department.

“It’s a probable suicide, but we’ve deferred the ruling pending additional stuff,” Winter said.

Among the “additional stuff” is likely an interview with Richter’s friends, particularly girlfriend Noah Beltran, a one-time assistant to interim Pasadena police Chief Chris Vicino.

Following Richter’s disappearance, Beltran was placed on paid administrative leave by the department for allegedly giving false information to Arcadia police investigators searching for her boyfriend.

No one will say what that false information was, or how long Beltran will remain on leave.

It has been reported that a second car belonging to Richter, originally thought missing, turned up in the garage of an acquaintance, Arcadia police told us in January. They did not identify the acquaintance.

As for Richter, he was born in Pasadena, grew up here, graduated from John Muir High School and pretty much went to work for the Pasadena PD right after that, according to his father, Dr. Henry Richter of Palm Springs. Investigators notified Dr. Henry Richter that his son’s body had been found, but there was no surprise.

“We didn’t expect a different outcome,” Henry said. “We emotionally said goodbye when his car was found in January and bloodhounds tracked him to the gravel pit. It was pretty clear to us then that he was gone.”

Henry does defend Beltran, whom he described as “delightful, but fragile.”

“I don’t know all the details,” he said. “What happened to her happened early on. I thought it was unfair.”

Richter will be laid to rest in a small, private ceremony, according to his dad.

“That’s what he wanted,” Henry said. “Beyond that we’re trying to sort things out. It’s not easy when a person doesn’t leave a note, a will or any trace.”

A body discovered under a freeway overpass on the 605 Freeway was identified as missing former Pasadena police Lieutenant David Richter, 55.

Richter has been missing for several months. According to the Pasadena Weekly, his girlfriend, an assistant to interim Chief Chris Vicino has been placed on administrative leave.

The coroner's office has not assigned a cause of death in the case, pending the outcome of toxicology reports.