Auburn man charged in 4 murders, allegedly lured victims with promises of buried gold
Dec 18, 2023, 1:24 PM
(Photo from KIRO 7)
(Photo from KIRO 7)
Richard Bradley Jr. was arrested, jailed and denied bail in 2021 for the death of Brandi Blake, 44.
According to court documents, Bradley Jr., 40, lured Blake to Auburn’s Game Farm Park with the promise of buried gold. Instead, he killed her and buried her body in a shallow grave.
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When police eventually found her body, they also found the bones of three other people nearby. The bones were a match to Emilio Maturin, 36, last seen in July 2019. Bradley Jr. was also considered a person of interest in March 2021 in the shooting deaths of Michael Goeman, 59, and his son Vance Lakey, 31.
According to court documents, Maturin’s girlfriend told detectives that she overheard Bradley telling Maturin that “he needed help digging up some buried gold in Auburn.” Maturin initially was skeptical, but allegedly went along anyway. Maturin was in the habit of taking large amounts of money with him whenever he left the house, according to the court documents, and had roughly $15,000 in cash when he left that day in his recently purchased BMW.
After additional investigations, Bradley Jr. was charged with two more counts of second-degree murder.
“We don’t have any other referrals, but if we get additional information that could lead to a charge, we would act with the same kind of urgency that we had here,” Casey McNerthey with the King County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Prosecutors stated Bradley Jr. used the same scheme to lure all four victims to their deaths. Bradley allegedly told the victims that he needed help digging up a stolen stash of gold. Prosecutors said after he killed them, he stole their cars and belongings.
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“This is somebody who, because of the danger, needs to be held without bail, and we’re thankful that the judge agreed,” McNerthey said.
Bradley is scheduled to stand trial next month in Blake’s death. He has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea on the other murder charges, according to online court records.
