Post by Graveyardbride on Nov 28, 2015 9:48:08 GMT -5
Medievalist Dungeon Master Guilty of Wife's Murder
WINCHESTER, Ontario, Canada – When they played Dungeons & Dragons, Howard Richmond was the dungeon master – impresario and game boss, responsible for crafting the rules of a thrilling and dangerous fantasy world. And it was just such a world he tried to create to cover up the sudden, brutal stabbing of his young wife Melissa, 28, in the dead of night on July 25, 2013.
From the first day of the two-month trial, he admitted he had wielded the knife and screwdriver that ravaged her body. But the dungeon master rolled the dice on a “not criminally responsible” defense, dreaming up a world of trauma and triggers that he hoped would cloak him from justice.
On Thursday he lost that gambit, as a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. It took the men and women eight days to reach their verdict.
"Your horrendous act has devastated a family, and destroyed her mother," parents Ray and Millie Evans said in a victim-impact statement read out by Det. Chris Benson. “Melissa could light up a room – her infections smile, her giddy laugh, to hear her voice again as she comes through the door ... all distant memories.”
Richmond took the news with his customary stoicism, frozen in place, his hands clenched at his sides. Given the chance to speak – to apologize, perhaps – he remained silent.
Melissa was but a teenager when she met her killer – "18, sir," Richmond told defense lawyer Jason Gilbert while testifying in his own defense. She was supposedly his buddy’s love interest, but Howard and Melissa "just sort of hit it off," Richmond said.
He indoctrinated her into the strange secret world known as the Society for Creative Anachronism – a group for medievalists – and as their friendship blossomed, so did their obvious attraction. They were married in secret in May 2005 before a Kemptville justice of the peace. It was something of a marriage of convenience – he wanted her to have access to his benefits – but it was founded on love and they had a proper, public ceremony in a Kingston officer’s mess hall in June 2006. "It was a medieval theme (above), sir," Richmond said. The plain-spoken man summed up their relationship in three simple sentences. "We had a good sex life. We had a place to live. She got a job right away," he told the court.
But all was not well with Richmond. Though he struggled with dyslexia as a child, he grew to become a talented military mapper and his career took him to ugly conflict zones. In 1992, a girl was gunned down before his eyes in Croatia. Though he would continue to go on tours of duty – including three stints in Afghanistan – the child’s death haunted him and he was sent on medical leave in December 2011, never to return.
It was post-traumatic stress disorder. As he grew withdrawn and reclusive, Melissa suffered. She was his “rock,” Richmond said, but she had needs of her own and she took comfort in the companionship of a married friend, Jeff Thornton. Richmond always said he knew they were close. He said he welcomed the fact Melissa had someone she could talk to while he worked on his own mental health. He steadfastly denied knowing of any infidelity. In fact, in the week before her death, Richmond said he and Melissa had grown closer.
But Melissa’s mother testified the young bride showed up unannounced less than a week before she died: She was going to leave Richmond. Was it then that thoughts of murder crept into Richmond’s head? Had he discovered the dozens of sexually explicit messages his wife and Thornton exchanged?
Richmond always claimed he and his wife were meeting the night of her death for a sexual liaison, a rape fantasy where Richmond played a “bad man” armed with a knife, something they’d done before. Whatever the reality, Melissa left their rural Winchester home late on July 24, 2013, got gas and headed for the South Keys mall. Richmond slipped into black clothes and followed about 10 minutes behind. In the darkened mall, just after midnight, he claimed a loud noise triggered a PTSD flashback to Croatia and suddenly Melissa was dead at his feet. Two doctors supported his story at trial, but the jury didn’t believe them – perhaps because of the care he took to stash the bloody clothes and weapons in his basement rafters.
He reported Melissa missing the next day, but when police found her car at South Keys, they also unearthed security footage showing Richmond’s truck arriving at the scene. They had their man. And Crown prosecutors Suzanne Schriek and Peter Napier had their conviction, despite the vigorous and passionate defense of lawyers Gilbert and Joseph Addelman.
Judge Douglas Rutherford sentenced Richmond to life in prison. He will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.
"You will be forever known as a murderer," Melissa’s parents said in their statement. "Every time your cell door slams shut, may it be a reminder to you of what you did." No escape for the dungeon master.
Source: Tony Spears, Sun Publications, November 26, 2015.
