Followup: Neighbor charged in Fairmount Springs attack

Court documents reveal more information about the arrest reported here last week in connection with the attack on a 65-year-old Fairmount Springs woman two months ago – an attack so alarming, it led to a community meeting with a city councilmember in attendance. A neighbor of the victim, 48-year-old Monty Richardson, is charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, and unlawful imprisonment. “The victim in this case easily could have died,” prosecutors write, asking for $250,000 bail and detailing the vicious attack Richardson is charged with carrying out.

Prosecutors allege that Richardson got into the victim’s home on May 8th by using a key found in a “hiding spot” outside, dragged her out of her bedroom – where she was “preparing to go to sleep” – and carried her into her basement, attacking her there. He is accused of tying her up, trying to strangle her with power cords, and “repeatedly beat(ing) her to the point that she lost consciousness.” She had told police she remembered her attacker also hitting her and jumping on her. Her injuries are described as including more than 20 broken bones, as well as neck and eye injuries related to the strangulation attempt, and broken/damaged teeth.

When she regained consciousness, according to court documents, her attacker was gone. In a bizarre twist, the neighbor’s home to which she fled – from which 911 was called – turned out to be his, but he wasn’t there. Police say a detective questioned Richardson three days after the attack, at which time, they say, he was wearing clothing similar to that which the victim had described her attacker wearing. Richardson denied having been in the victim’s home, but claimed he was in the alley near the home on the morning of the attack, trying “to have sex with a female he had met at a known drug house,” and that he fumbled with the victim’s back door. (Prosecutors say Richardson’s criminal history includes a drug conviction, and that he is in treatment “for drug issues.”) They also took a DNA sample.

More than a month later, the test results came back, on both the sample and evidence from the crime scene. Prosecutors say those results linked him to the attack and sought an arrest warrant; he was arrested last Thursday. The court documents do not describe or imply any motive for the attack. Richardson has been in jail since last Thursday evening, with bail listed as the quarter-million-dollar sum prosecutors had requested. Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe says Richardson is due in court to answer the charges on July 14th.

mgarden July 6, 2011 (9:26 am)

Thanks to SPD for their diligence in this matter; glad to hear that the victim is recovering. I sure hope this guy gets put away for a long, long time.

Westie July 6, 2011 (9:34 am)

Glad they got this animal. Scary to think he’s been living so close. I hope the lady is recovering. Just so awful.
WSB, do you know how the bail think works? I thought they could go through a bail bondsman that only has to put up a small % of the bail amount to get him out. Could he make bail and be out until July 14th?

WSB July 6, 2011 (9:43 am)

It was explained in a previous discussion of an earlier case that it’s 10 percent of the amount, plus “collateral” to cover the rest, in order to have a bail-bondsperson get you out. So theoretically, yes, if someone puts up $25K and collateral, he could post bond and get out – and if he did, unless something new happened, he would then likely be out until and unless convicted and sent to prison. Having sat through a lot of court hearings, I can say that this is considered pretty high for someone with no history of convictions involving violence. By the way, I meant to mention, our story about the arrest did bring a comment from someone saying that the victim is indeed recovering – TR

Resident3 July 6, 2011 (11:29 am)

How do we get a look at his mugshot?

WSB July 6, 2011 (11:57 am)

Resident3, mugshots are not public record unless a person served time in the state prison system, which does release photos to the media on request. The one conviction on his record is from more than a decade ago and it is not clear if he served state prison time but I’m asking – TR

35this35mph July 6, 2011 (11:41 am)

Holy #*@! From the PI’s story:

According to charging documents, the woman suffered 20 broken ribs, a broken back, hearing loss and heart damage, as well as scrapes, bruises and damage to her teeth.

WSB July 6, 2011 (11:56 am)

I don’t know that the clinical phrase in the court documents translated to “heart damage” but our story includes most of what you mention. Seemed kind of enough to say more than 20 broken bones, though I added a few other details. Some court documents are just a little too graphic to excerpt in full, unless we were running a gory “true-crime” site. – TR

Enginerd July 6, 2011 (12:11 pm)

Post Deleted
Thanks for the throrough work Tracy!

WSB July 6, 2011 (12:17 pm)

Enginerd, that is NOT the same person. There are several Monty Richardsons in the state system, believe it or not, and please trust that I have already looked, both in the state system and in the municipal system (where he has a red-light ticket from earlier this year and that’s the only thing that came up). Monty Ray Richardson is the suspect in this case, and his DOB is in 1962. – TR
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(added later) – thanks to Enginerd for amending the comment to which I referred here. P.S. My note does NOT refer to the other comment with a document about a CPS case – we had come across that as well and that one DOES appear to be the same person.

Kevin July 6, 2011 (12:13 pm)

Here is a link to a court filing made by Monty Richardson that will shed excellent light on this reprehensible individual.http://www.courts.wa.gov/content/Briefs/A01/628089%20appellant's%20reply.pdf

Emily July 6, 2011 (12:44 pm)

This happened across the street from my sister and I am so thankful her neighbor is recovering and my family wasn’t physically harmed. About his appearance, I don’t have a photo but have spoken with him in the past. He is Caucasian, tall (about 6ft +), heavy stature, and has long light brown hair that he wears in a ponytail. He was evicted shortly after the attack based on pure speculation, I believe. Such an awful crime to happen in such a pleasant neighborhood. Just makes me sick…

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and those in the neighborhood.

Westie July 6, 2011 (12:45 pm)

@ Kevin, wow…just wow.

bell July 6, 2011 (2:24 pm)

Remember, still innocent until proven guilty. It took a while to arrest him and there were other suspects. Odd the victim was not able to recognize someone who was a well known neighbor. Again, innocent until proven.

One More Opinion July 6, 2011 (2:41 pm)

I read something that said he was “disguised”. Anyway, with the violence that took place, the attacker obviously spent some time making sure she didn’t get a good look at his face. I’m grateful she is alive and has good friends to lean on and that SPD took their time to hopefully put the right person in custody.

csw July 6, 2011 (4:45 pm)

$250,000 bail isn’t nearly enough! This was a brutal attack. For a 65 year old woman to have suffered that many broken bones, she many never recover, not to mention the emotional stress and fear. The US need MUCH harsher penalties for serious crimes. That is what it’s going to take to get the crime down in this country.

Chuck July 7, 2011 (2:40 am)

As someone who knows the person who was attacked, I want to report that she is doing well. She is making great progress healing and her spirits are high, as they always have been and are returning to a pre-attack level. Time and the good will of her neighbors, friends, and the community will eventually allow the emotional aspect to this event heal as well. I know she is greatly relieved by this arrest.

Cowpie July 7, 2011 (7:26 am)

Hang him…………..

Ww July 26, 2011 (5:22 pm)

This is a guy who has had drug & alcohol abuse problems for decades. According to record he has been in and out of rehab & counseling. He is just charming and manipulative enough to stay on the edge of the law. Now he’s using church as a shield? Wow. Maybe he is “friendly, polite & courteous” when he is not high, but he is out of his mind when he’s partying. There is absolutely no doubt he did it.

Justice-requires-due-process August 1, 2011 (5:20 pm)

It’s natural to feel outrage over so barbaric an attack, and to want to punish whoever is responsible. But should we allow ourselves the easy comfort of translating that outrage into a call for vengeance against someone who has only been *accused* of the crime?

Please remember that so far we’ve heard only from one party to due process, the police, and that their statements will naturally have been restricted to those that support their accusation against Richardson. Does anyone honestly believe this is a sufficient basis for comments like, “Hang him!”, ” and “There is absolutely no doubt he did it”?

Please stop and think about the question: Would you want “innocent until proven guilty” upheld should you or a loved one ever go through the nightmare of being erroneously charged with a horrific crime? If so, you can’t escape the conclusion that you’re morally obligated to honor the principle for others, as well.

Another prejudicial factor is at work in this case besides our natural outrage at the brutality of the attack: It takes considerable effort to avoid the easy satisfaction of assuming guilt in anyone we see as unsympathetic. It’s hard to prevent the strong disapproval that most of us feel over this suspect’s apparent drug use from from coloring our judgment when we consider any accusation against him at all, no matter how serious.

But it should certainly give us all pause that Richardson evidently has no history of any kind of violence. People can speculate that “he turns into an animal under the influence” all they like, but that assertion belies the we’ve been given so far: Since he has apparently had a long struggle with drug and alcohol addiction it seems likely that any tendency to violence would have manifested itself in a barroom brawl, at least.

But there’s no claim of any such thing in his history, as far as we’ve been told, nothing in his behavior that would lead any reasonable person to suppose that he’s ever even shoved another person during a conflict or argument. Irrespective of everything else we’ve been told so far, I find it very hard to believe that anyone, drug user or not, who has no record of ever having struck or shoved another person while under the influence or otherwise would be at all likely to perpetrate so very brutal and apparently personal an attack.

Similarly, the police say DNA evidence puts Richardson in the victim’s home. Perhaps it does, and that will certainly be carefully examined at trial.

But has anyone even considered the possibility that he might have been in the home of his older next-door neighbor previously, perhaps to assist with some project or other, or simply to have visited socially? It’s certainly a plausible question: I’ve been in the homes of three of my own immediate neighbors on many occasions, both socially and in the case of one of the three, an older person who lives alone, at least a dozen times in the past five years or so, usually just to help with some project or other.

I suggest this as just one example that might be be relevant to the suspect’s guilt or innocence, of course; there are probably other considerations or facts in his favor that we’ve been told nothing about so far. So in respect for the principles on which justice depends, please do try to wait until all the evidence has been presented in a fair venue by both the police *and* the defense, before forming a conclusion.

Especially please refrain from broadcasting what are obviously personal opinions like “There is absolutely no doubt he did it” as if they were statements of fact in this public forum. I don’t know whether Richardson is guilty or innocent – none of us do. But to make such a claim publicly, based only on statements made by the police to support their accusation is just not responsible citizenship.

There’s a reason we insist on “innocent until proven guilty”, there’s a reason remarks like this are considered libelous, and there’s a reason you’d want the same consideration for yourself if you’re ever charged with a crime. But more important is the simple fact that you know it’s the right thing to do.

C August 5, 2011 (10:59 am)

Aug 5, 2011. Originally posted on July 26, slightly amended here for safety sake. Ww’s comment above was in response to this.
I suppose I should comment on some of this, being landlady and all.
To Emily, yes, he was evicted at what seemed to be immediately after the attack, but not because of the attack. It was because of being informed that Wednesday after the attack by neighbors of his being on drugs and confirmation of this with the tenants that evening. I told them he had to leave immediately, though I affirmed a couple days later with his wife that she and their and child could stay as long as they wanted. They decided not to, not feeling it was safe for them. He was evicted only because of the drug use. That is behavior that could not be tolerated. I did not think that he would be involved in the assault on our neighbor (and do not think now that he was), though I did consider that he may have given access into the neighborhood to druggies, who some thought might be involved.
Being evicted was perhaps the best thing for him, as it provided the additional leverage for him to voluntarily go into rehab, and his pastor was able to get him into a good program where he was doing very well, until his arrest.
To All: Monty was always friendly, respectful, polite and courteous to me. I saw no indication that he was otherwise to anyone. Doing violence to someone just didn’t seem to be in his nature. A short while prior to the attack, I saw him for some reason at the rental and he seemed just like he ever was. Yes, he may have had some difficulties to deal with but I didn’t see any indication that he would hurt a person. For all indications, he seemed to a good father and devoted to his wife. This was a man who, on Halloween, was standing on the corner by our busy cross street courteously slowing down the traffic, keeping your children safer. I’m not saying he is a saint, but not the monster some make him to be.
This is the man who, when I went to the rental house a couple mornings after evicting him to talk with his wife, and he was there gathering up some items to take to the drug rehab, was so sad and contrite that he couldn’t even look at me and could only say… “C, …I messed up.” And, no, I don’t think that was any admission of guilt regarding the attack, but because of the whole drug circumstances and of having allowed drug people into our neighborhood.
That Wednesday after the attack, neighbors close to my rental house had been noticing some unusual behavior for some time and finally alerted me to his drug use. I must apologize for being so involved in my own things that I did not pay closer attention — so that he could have had the help he needed sooner, not because I think he had anything to do with the attack. To say I didn’t know he was on drugs is no excuse. As landlady, I should have known. However, I still don’t think he was involved in the assault.
This is a man who, just shortly before, had asked his pastor and elders in his church to come to his house (the second house from the corner, the same as the house of the attack) and pray a prayer of blessing and protection over it because he was afraid of harm coming to his family.
And there are many other parts of the story that may unfold, bit by bit, but that may not ever be known.
Please, let’s try to see the whole picture as clearly as we can.
Comment by C. — July 26, 11 12:28 pm #

C August 5, 2011 (11:11 am)

In answer to Ww, who responded to my original post, it should be clear in what I wrote that Monty is not “using the church as a shield.” Those are my statements, not his. You may even say he is the worst person in the world, but that doesn’t mean that he did this assault. He is a suspect of convenience for all involved.