Bio

Richard Townes Jr. was born in 1951. He grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Townes had a troubled early life and faced many challenges as a child. The specific details about his family life and childhood experiences are not well-documented.

As a young man, Richard Townes had a history of run-ins with the law. He became involved in criminal activities early on and had multiple convictions throughout his life. By the time he was in his thirties, he was already well known to law enforcement, having amassed a significant criminal record.

In 1976, Townes was involved in a serious incident where he held a taxi driver at gunpoint for six hours. This event highlighted his violent tendencies and set a pattern for his later behavior. Over the years, he accumulated 29 felony convictions, which included various types of robbery and violent offenses.

It was during his adult life in Virginia Beach that he committed the crime for which he is most infamously known. His early experiences, combined with his criminal activities, shaped the path that ultimately led to his execution in 1996.

Murder Story

On April 14, 1985, Richard Townes Jr. committed a robbery at a convenience store in Virginia Beach, Virginia. During the crime, he shot and killed Virginia Goebel, a clerk at the store. He used a .45 caliber handgun to shoot her in the head at point-blank range. After the murder, Townes took $186.13 from the cash register.

The police investigation into Goebel's murder relied on several pieces of evidence. A state firearms expert determined that an empty shell casing found near the victim matched casings from a gun owned by Townes. Additionally, a customer named Dorothy Moore, who had been in the store shortly before the murder, recognized Townes as the man she had seen inside. She later identified him in a photo lineup and a live lineup.

Townes was arrested and subsequently charged with capital murder, robbery, and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony. During his trial, he represented himself after the court allowed him to waive his right to an attorney. On May 5, 1986, the jury found him guilty on all counts, and his sentencing hearing occurred on the same day. The jury sentenced him to death, concluding that he posed a continuing threat to society.

Following his conviction, Townes appealed multiple times, but the courts upheld his conviction and death sentence. He made several claims challenging the fairness of his trial and the death penalty imposed on him. Ultimately, Townes was executed by lethal injection in Virginia on January 23, 1996.