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Murder suspect caught in Texas

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A 11-day manhunt for a Jonesboro man suspected of murdering former Fayette County Commissioner Charlie Mask ended Monday in Rockwall, Texas, just east of Dallas.

A Rockwall officer stopped Thomas Allen Richie, 33, Monday afternoon for a traffic violation and although Richie used a fake name, the officer was alerted to the fact that Richie was wanted for murder, said Sgt. Dwayne Prosser of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

“It was good old-fashioned police work,” Prosser said.

Had local detectives not entered all of Richie’s known aliases into the national computer system on the alert that he was wanted for murder, Richie might have slipped away despite the contact with the Rockwall police officer.

Detectives were beginning to file extradition paperwork in the case so Richie could be transported back here to face the murder charge, Prosser said.

Detectives had previously traced Richie to Richardson, Texas at a Denny’s restaurant where his twin brother Rodney had called to warn him that police were on his trail, police said. Rodney Richie was arrested last week on a felony charge of attempting to hinder the apprehension of a criminal and giving a false name to a police officer, police said.

Thomas Richie’s stepmother, Glenda Welch of Wylie, Texas, was also arrested for attempting to hinder the apprehension of a criminal, police said. Welch lived one county over from where Thomas Richie was ultimately caught by the Rockwall officer, police said.

Mask and Thomas Allen Richie had a “relationship” and Richie lived until recently in Mask’s downtown Fayetteville home before he moved into the trailer owned by Mask, police said.

Mask was found dead in a motor home on his McBride Road property Thursday, Sept. 9, after persons renting a nearby home from him reported an unusual odor, police said.

Mask may have been robbed, although Jordan indicated there may be more to Thomas Richie’s motivation for the killing. Jordan declined to speculate further except to reference the state Mask’s body was found in: On a bed, naked except for a pair of socks.