Arrest in 1982 Round Lake Beach murder case
Victoria Richmond said she was holding back tears of joy when she was told a 70-year-old Tennessee man had been arrested and charged Tuesday with her husband’s murder nearly 29 years ago.
Robert “Bobby” Bostic was arrested by the Roane County sheriff’s office in Tennessee in the 1982 murder of Carlton Richmond in Round Lake Beach, Deputy Police Chief Rich Chiarello said.
From her Kenosha home Wednesday, Victoria Richmond said she long ago dealt with the trauma associated with being widowed with two small children — one a special-needs child — and was happy Round Lake Beach police finally cracked the case.
“Surprisingly, yes, I am very happy,” she said. “I’ve worked through the grief years ago. But I was very relieved when I heard they finally had someone in custody.”
Bostic is in custody in Tennessee in lieu of $2.5 million bail. He has waived extradition and may return to Lake County by the end of the week, Chiarello said.
“Hats go off to detective Gary Lunn, as well as officers who worked the case back in 1982 for doing thorough police work and bringing this case to a close,” Chiarello said.
On June 25, 1982, police were called to a garage on the 800 block of Oakwood Drive for the shooting of the 31-year-old Richmond.
A lengthy investigation revealed Bostic and Richmond were members of a motorcycle club that used the garage as a “clubhouse.” Multiple people were at the location when the shooting occurred, but no charges were ever filed.
Since the murder, investigators and Lake County prosecutors periodically evaluated the “cold case” looking for additional information and cooperative witnesses, Chiarello said.
“Since then, witnesses were reinterviewed, and the case was re-evaluated by the police department and the Lake County state’s attorney’s office,” he said.
Round Lake Beach police investigators appeared this week before Lake County Circuit Judge Raymond Collins regarding changes in testimony from one or more of the witnesses. New testimony alleges Bostic and Richmond had a discussion that resulted in Bostic shooting Richmond, Chiarello said.
An arrest warrant was issued for Bostic on one count of first-degree murder.
Victoria Richmond said she and another relative went to police about five years ago and asked for an update of the investigation.
What she’s learned over the years is, on the day of the shooting, her husband had met a member of the now-defunct motorcycle group “The Wheelmen,” and he was invited to the garage for drinks.
She said she didn’t know what happened that resulted in a gun being drawn and fired.
“I think detective Lunn and the rest of the Round Lake Beach Police Department went above and beyond their duty to help bring this to a close,” Victoria Richmond said.
Mary Bostic, who has been married to Robert Bostic for 47 years, said she was shocked by the charges.
“He never brought anything up to me about anything like this,” she said by telephone from her home in Tennessee. “I didn’t even know he was in a motorcycle club or anything.”
She said investigators brought them to the police station in Tennessee, walked her husband upstairs, then later came down and said he was charged with murder.
“Both of my children and I are very upset by this,” Mary Bostic said. “He never brought any of this up at all.”