Bio 

Richard William Kutzner was born on November 17, 1942. He worked in the air-conditioning and repair business, and several people connected to that work later became witnesses in his criminal proceedings. One of those associates was Roy Landry, who had known Kutzner for years and had worked for him. Kutzner also performed repair-related work for others in the Houston and Montgomery County area, which later became relevant because investigators found electrical wire, plastic cable ties, and tin snips connected to his belongings.

Before the murders of Kathryn Harrison and Rita Sheron Van Huss, Kutzner had already served prison time. Prosecutors presented evidence that he had served several years in a California prison for an armed robbery committed in the late 1960s. They also showed that he had been convicted of theft of stolen property in Johnson County, Texas, in May 1984, and that he had four aggravated robbery convictions from 1985. Reports also state that he had served prison time in Michigan for armed robbery.

By 1996, Kutzner was living in Texas and was connected to people who later received stolen property from the murder scenes. His prior criminal history became important during the punishment phase of his trial, when prosecutors argued that his past convictions and the similar killing of another woman showed future dangerousness under Texas capital sentencing law.

Murder Story

The first known murder connected to Richard William Kutzner occurred on January 5, 1996. The victim was Rita Sheron Van Huss, a 54-year-old woman who managed a self-storage business in Houston, Texas. She lived in quarters attached to the business. Her husband found her body inside the living area. Van Huss had been bound at the wrists, ankles, and neck with plastic cable ties. She had been strangled, and items were missing from the property, including her purse, cash, money orders, jewelry, and office petty cash.

Investigators later found that Kutzner had been connected to the storage business before Van Huss was killed. A partially completed lease agreement dated January 5, 1996, was recovered, and Kutzner had posed as a potential customer. Evidence also showed that he later cashed a $300 money order taken from Van Huss. A $10 money order connected to Van Huss was found among items removed from Kutzner’s repossessed truck, and his fingerprint was found on it.

Seventeen days later, on January 22, 1996, Kathryn Harrison, a 59-year-old real estate business owner, was found dead in her office in Spring, Texas, near The Woodlands. A co-worker discovered her body after returning from lunch. Harrison was found face down. Her wrists had been bound with red plastic-coated electrical wire, her ankles were secured with a plastic cable tie, and another plastic cable tie had been tightened around her neck. Her purse had been turned inside out, and a computer keyboard and videocassette recorder were missing from the office.

Police quickly noticed the similarities between Harrison’s murder and the earlier killing of Van Huss. Both women worked alone in business settings, both had been robbed, and both had been bound and strangled with cable ties. Investigators recovered plastic cable ties and red electrical wire from Kutzner’s driveway, garage, and repossessed truck. The wire recovered from his belongings matched the type and manufacturer identification number of the wire used to bind Harrison. The cable ties also matched the same manufacturer as those used in the murders.

Additional evidence linked Kutzner to property taken from the crime scenes. The VCR and computer keyboard stolen from Harrison’s office were later recovered from people connected to Kutzner. Roy Landry testified that Kutzner had given him the VCR and keyboard after Harrison’s murder. Another witness testified that Kutzner later brought her the keyboard. Harrison’s office notes also contained information identifying Kutzner as someone who had posed as a potential customer before her death.

A forensic tool-mark examiner from the FBI testified that the cable ties used to bind Harrison’s ankles and strangle her had been cut with tin snips recovered from Kutzner’s belongings. Prosecutors also presented testimony from a witness who said Kutzner had previously remarked that plastic cable ties did not have serial numbers and would be useful if someone wanted to kill a person.

Kutzner was arrested on February 22, 1996. On March 7, 1996, he was indicted in Montgomery County, Texas, for the capital murder of Kathryn Harrison during the course of robbery. He pleaded not guilty. His trial focused heavily on identity, because the case was built mainly on circumstantial evidence, recovered property, forensic comparisons, and witness testimony rather than eyewitness identification of the killing itself.

On September 5, 1997, a jury convicted Kutzner of capital murder for Harrison’s death. On September 8, 1997, after a separate punishment phase, he was sentenced to death. He was also separately convicted and sentenced to death for the capital murder of Rita Sheron Van Huss. His conviction and death sentence for Harrison’s murder were affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on June 9, 1999.

Kutzner continued to deny committing the murders. Before his scheduled execution, his attorneys sought DNA testing on biological evidence, including hair evidence and fingernail scrapings connected to Harrison’s case. His July 2001 execution date was stayed while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed the DNA-testing request. In April 2002, the court ruled that he had not shown a reasonable probability that testing would prove his innocence, and the execution was later reset.

Richard William Kutzner was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on August 7, 2002. He was 59 years old. In his final statement, he denied killing Kathryn Harrison and claimed that two men who had worked for him were responsible. He also stated that DNA testing would have exonerated him. He was pronounced dead at 6:33 p.m.