More than a decade after her case had gone cold, an Arcadia man faces murder charges in the death of his wife.
On Sept. 1, 2001, Richard Keith Cole allegedly took Charlotte S. Cole, 50, behind a restaurant in the 50 Block of Las Tunas Drive and brutally stabbed her to death.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives arrested Cole, now 72, Sunday at a Pasadena eatery. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at Los Angeles County Jail.
Homicide Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department took the lead in the investigation, supported by Arcadia Police detectives. Although there were no initial arrests, Cole always remained a person of interest in the case, which went cold for about a decade.
Cold case detectives revisited the case last year.
After serving a search warrant at Richard Cole’s new Arcadia residence detectives arrested him on suspicion of murder April 28, 2011. However, authorities soon released him pending further investigation.
After weighing new evidence gathered in the past year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decided to charge Cole with murder.
Homicide detectives familiar with the case could not be reached late Monday afternoon. Patch will be following this story closely, however.
Check back later for more on this story.
