The son of a man stabbed to death 45 years ago during a botched burglary in Alameda expressed bittersweet relief Tuesday at the news that detectives had used DNA technology to close the case.
“It’s been a long, hard road,” said Richard Bischel Jr., at a press conference in Alameda. “But I’m glad we have a final resolution to this.”
Bischel spoke a day after Alameda police announced a break in the 45-year-old cold case killing of his father, Richard Bischel Sr. Officials said the closure came thanks to the efforts of a trio of retired police officers who recently worked on the case.
Authorities identified Richard Curley Bernard as the killer of Richard Bischel Sr., who was 43 when he was killed in 1977. Bernard is now dead, authorities said, though they did not specify when he had died.
On March 16, 1977, officers responded to Bischel Sr.’s home after an attempted burglary while the man was home with his young son. Bischel, who was found suffering from multiple stab wounds, was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
In April 2021, two retired Alameda police sergeants and a retired officer formed a cold-case unit to review evidence in still-open homicide cases, hoping to draw new leads from advances in forensic technology.
Blood on Bernard’s jacket provided a key clue to the case.
Forty-five years ago, all that detectives knew was that the blood belonged to a human. The technology at the time wasn’t good enough to know whose blood it was.
After reviewing evidence at the Richmond-based Serological Research Institute (SERI) lab, the unit identified Bernard as Bischel’s killer.
“We appreciate the diligent work of the Alameda Police Department in solving this 45-year-old case,” Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Mark Melton said in a statement Monday.
Bernard was connected to more than 100 burglaries from 1973 to 1977, Alameda police said. He was imprisoned for burglaries and at least two rapes, and paroled in 1983 to Texas. He was fatally shot in 1989.
“The suspect is deceased, but the family of the victim now knows the identity of the perpetrator, and that law enforcement never stopped looking for him.”
Staff writer George Kelly contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com