Murder Case Dropped After Key Witness Disappears

A murder charge against a man accused of strangling an 18-year-old woman was dropped Monday because the key witness, the dead woman’s boyfriend, has disappeared.

Van Nuys Municipal Judge Robert H. Wallerstein dismissed the charge against Richard Heywood Jordan, 40, when the witness, Richard Hurst, failed to show up for a preliminary hearing Monday. Hurst, 20, also had failed to appear at a hearing two weeks ago.

“An essential witness can’t be located, and we can’t do the preliminary hearing without him,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. David R. Disco. “We’re not happy about it.”

Disco said the case could be refiled against Jordan if Hurst is found.

“We’re going to look for him--we have some leads,” said Detective Pat Anguiano of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Jordan, a graphic artist, was charged in the slaying of Jacquie Raye Graham, whose body was found July 20 near a baseball field in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area.

Last Seen July 19

Police said Hurst told them he last saw Graham on July 19. According to Hurst, Graham decided to turn to prostitution to help pay a $40 debt. It had been Graham’s first time as a prostitute, he told authorities.

Graham had accompanied him from Seattle to Southern California to start a new life, Hurst said. They were sitting at a bus stop at Sepulveda Boulevard and Vanowen Street when Graham’s first customer picked her up in his car, police said Hurst told them.

When she failed to return hours later, Hurst reported her missing and gave police a license plate number, which was traced to Jordan. Jordan, of Sherman Oaks, has been in custody since his July 21 arrest.

Anguiano said he last spoke to Hurst on Oct. 22. Hurst, who had been living with his mother in Oxnard, had promised he would testify at the preliminary hearing, the detective said.

Jordan had attended all previous court hearings in the case, authorities said. Anguiano said Hurst even hitchhiked to Van Nuys the evening before one of the court hearings. He also had talked with Anguiano by telephone each week, the detective said.

Although police have searched for Hurst in the Oxnard area, where he occasionally worked odd jobs, he is believed to have left California, Anguiano said. The detective refused to elaborate.

Howard Waco, Jordan’s attorney, said that even if Hurst had testified at the preliminary hearing, the case would have been thrown out. Waco said there was no physical evidence linking Jordan to Graham’s killing.