A former Virginia police officer has been sentenced to 150 years in prison for gunning down his wife and stepdaughter and shooting at police officers who responded to the scene for his hours-long standoff.
Richard Crowder, 60, pleaded guilty in February to the deaths of Diane Crowder, 53, and Carrie Czaksz, 35, in July 2022, WWBT reported. He was sentenced to 50 years for each of those charges, along with 50 more years for opening fire on responding police officers. The three sentences will be served consecutively.
Crowder, who worked for the Henrico Police Department from 1986 until his retirement in 2014, made an Alford plea for the trying to kill his former colleagues, meaning he doesn’t technically admit guilt but is still sentenced as if he were found guilty.
“We were hoping for at least 70 years, and we got 150, so he will die there, and he deserves to for what he did to our family,” said Michelle Burke, Diane Crowder’s first cousin.
Diane Crowder was moving out of the home she shared with the murderer when the shooting took place. She and her daughter were outside, and movers were inside, when Richard Crowder showed up and killed them.
“Diane Crowder was in the process of leaving her husband, the defendant, and moving out of their home. She had employed the help of her family, to include her daughter, Carrie Szaksz,” Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor previously said about the case. “During the move, with employees of the moving company upstairs and other family members outside the home, Richard Crowder opened fire on the two women, striking them each numerous times and killing them.”
Crowder barricaded himself inside the house and shot at first responders after killing his wife and stepdaughter.
Crowder spoke in court, apologizing and crying, but the family of his wife and stepdaughter didn’t buy it.
“You know, I’m human so part of me for a second was like, I felt bad, but then I’m like, ‘He knew what he was doing.’ He’d been wanting to do this to her for so long. He abused her for a very long time,” Burke said.
“Honestly, I don’t think those were real tears. I don’t think he has any remorse for what he did. After seeing him at several court dates, he doesn’t seem like he really cares, and for him to sit there and look at us all and cry and apologize, I mean maybe he does feel bad about it, but it doesn’t bring them back. It doesn’t matter,” Kaitlyn Welch, a distant cousin, said.
The judge also ordered Crowder to have no contact with his wife’s family, including the son he shared with her.
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[Featured image: Richard Crowder/Henrico Police Department]
