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Murder suspect had “relationship” with victim, detective says

The Jonesboro man suspected of killing former Fayette County Commissioner Charlie Mask last Tuesday had a relationship with him, police confirmed Monday afternoon.

Mask’s body, which was naked except for a pair of socks, was found face-up on a bed in a motor home parked behind a home that he owned at 622 McBride Road and rented out to others, said Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

Mask, 74, died after he was struck in the head twice with a concrete block, Jordan said.

A murder warrant has been issued for Thomas Allen Richie, 33, of 254 Concord Lane, Jonesboro. Richie is believed to be hitchhiking his way to a friend’s place in North Carolina, and he has a twin brother, Rodney, who looks like him and also lives in the Jonesboro area but is not suspected of any foul play, Jordan said.

Richie previously had lived with Mask at a home Mask owned in downtown Fayetteville at 560 West Lanier Avenue, Jordan said. But after a dispute between Richie and two other men who also shared the house with Mask, Richie moved out of the house and into the motor home, Jordan said.

The two men were friends of Mask’s, not of Richie’s, Jordan said.
Detectives believe robbery was a motive, Jordan added, as Mask’s wallet was found at the murder scene.

The murder weapon, a concrete block, was found on the bed under a pillow near Mask’s head, Jordan said.

Richie is being hunted by the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Marshal’s Department, Jordan said, but he declined commenting on whether or not detectives had been dispatched from Fayette to North Carolina to take part in the manhunt.

Mask’s body was discovered Thursday after persons renting the home on McBride Road reported a strange odor coming from the motor home, Jordan said, speculating Mask had been dead for two days. The persons who rented the home from Mask also told police that Mask would often “meet people” at the motor home from time to time, Jordan said, declining to go into further details saying such would be “speculation.”

“ We have evidence that he appears to have been robbed,” Jordan said. “The condition of his lack of clothing brings up other speculation as to what other motives might have been here, but that’s really all I need to say.”
Jordan admitted that he was not surprised by Mask’s death. He also said police have been called to Mask’s home on several other occasions for thefts committed by persons who Mask allowed into his home despite him not knowing them very well, Jordan said.

“ I have suspected for some time that this may happen one day,” Jordan said. “Is it bizarre? Yes. Is it a surprise to me? No.”

Jordan said no further details were available about what supposedly transpired between Richie and Mask before the killing.

Richie was also charged with stealing Mask’s 2000 Ford Ranger pickup after the killings. The truck was found in Atlanta where it had been abandoned at a business near where some of Richie’s family lives, Jordan said.

From the beginning of the investigation, Richie was tabbed as the chief suspect in the murder “for several reasons” Jordan said, declining to go into exactly what led them to target Richie.

Richie does have a “lengthy” criminal record, but Jordan refused to go into details of the previous accusations against Richie except to say they were not violent in nature.

In July, Mask’s home on McBride Road burned down in what was deemed a fire with “suspicious” origins. Arson charges were never filed in the case, however.

Fire officials said Mask was in Fayetteville when the fire broke out. At first firemen believed a woman who lived in the basement of the home was there, but it was later determined that she was incarcerated at the Spalding County Jail, fire officials said.

There is no indication that Richie was responsible for the fire, Jordan said.
The home burned almost completely to the ground and was believed to have started about seven hours before it was reported to a 911 operator, officials said.

Mask was accused in February 2003 of touching another man’s genitals without permission, according to a police report released by the sheriff’s department. No criminal charges were ultimately filed in connection with that case, Jordan said.

The victim in that case was living in Mask’s home at the time, the report stated.