NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. -- Seventeen years after they first closed the case on a local murder investigation, former detectives from the North Tonawanda Police Department are revisiting details regarding Richard Matt's life of crime in Western New York.
Matt was convicted of murdering and dismembering William Rickerson in 1997, and recently made headlines after escaping from Dannemora State Correctional Facility in June. Five of the original seven investigators on the Rickerson case hosted a public Q&A at the North Tonawanda History Museum on Saturday morning. While their presentation focused primarily on the details of the 1997 murder, the men also took time to note how the prison escape affected them.
"Could he go after the rest of my detectives and me? Yes. We all took precautions. We all had loaded weapons on our house because you never know with a killer like Richard Matt," said Gabriel DiBernardo, Retired NTPD Chief of Detectives.
After the presentation, organizers were presented with a photograph of the 1997 team of detectives which will hang in the police area of the history museum.