Suspected Washington state serial killer seemingly motivated by both money and murder, lured victims with buried treasure.
Washington state prosecutors have brought new murder charges against Richard Bradley Jr., ahead of his upcoming murder trial.
Suspected serial killer in Washington State lured victims with gold
The prosecutors claim that Bradley enticed his four victims to their deaths under the pretense of needing their help to dig up buried gold.
Bradley, 40, had previously been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Brandi Blake in 2021.
Blake’s body was discovered buried in an Auburn, Washington park in May of the same year, a month after she went missing.
She had just won $20,000 while gambling and regularly carried a lot of cash around.
Suspected Washington State serial killer has four known victims
Bradley was charged with the additional murders of a father and son in 2021, as well as the 2019 death of a man whose remains were found near Blake’s grave.
According to Prosecutor Thomas Ban II, Bradley used the same scheme to lure all four of the victims.
He would deceive them by asking for their assistance in uncovering a trove of stolen gold in a remote area.
Once they were lured to a wooded area, Bradley would kill them and steal their cars and personal belongings.
Strangely enough, despite allegedly luring his victims with the prospect of treasure, all of them were well off or had financial windfalls prior to their deaths.
Emilio Maturin was 36 at the time and was known for carrying large amounts of money on him.
Maturin’s girlfriend reported him missing two weeks after he was last seen and told police that she overheard Bradley asking her boyfriend for help in digging up buried gold in Auburn, which is an hour and a half away from Seattle.
Maturin was reportedly skittish about helping Bradley, but when he committed to the dig, he went with about $15,000 cash and drove to the meet-up in his new BMW.
Suspected serial killer foiled by victim’s girlfriend
Maturin’s girlfriend was able to trace his cellphone to Game Farm Park in Auburn.
Hours later, the police found an unregistered BMW parked near an open field close by.
They waited for the driver to return, but when they tried to speak to him, he fled.
Bradley was later apprehended on foot and charged with eluding the police.
In March 2021, the bodies of Michael Goeman, 59, and his son Vance Lakey, 31, were discovered in the same park.
Prior to his death, Goeman had received a significant inheritance.
The trial for Blake’s murder is scheduled to begin next month, and Bradley has not yet entered a plea on the new murder charges, according to the Seattle Times.
