Killer’s Burial Plan Angers Victim’s Parents

The parents of an 11-year-old girl murdered by convicted killer Darrell Rich said they were horrified to learn that their daughter’s killer could be buried about 100 feet from her grave.

Sharon and David Tidwell of Cottonwood learned about Rich’s burial plans Sunday. Rich was convicted in 1980 of four murders and five sexual assaults, including the rape and murder of Sharon Tidwell’s daughter, Annette Selix. Rich is scheduled to be executed March 15 at San Quentin State Prison.

Cemetery officials told the Redding Record Searchlight that they are making plans to receive Rich’s body.

“I wish I could tell you that the rumor is not true,” said Arnold Brinton, manager of the Cottonwood Cemetery District. Cottonwood is about 170 miles north of San Francisco.

Rich’s mother, Lillie Rich, paid for the plot years before she died in 1998, he said.

The Tidwells want the cemetery to find another place for the convicted serial killer but the cemetery is bound by law to bury him there, Brinton said.

The 45-year-old man would be buried along with his mother in the same plot, which is designed for two caskets. The headstone bears Lillie Rich’s name and the name Darrell “Young Elk” Rich.

Robert Hunt, an attorney representing Cottonwood Cemetery, began looking Monday for ways to prevent Rich from being buried at the cemetery. But he and a cemetery board member said they doubt it can be stopped.

“It’s like someone going home after being released from prison,” said Wes Martin, chairman of the board that governs the cemetery.

The Tidwells said they might take matters into their own hands if Rich’s body is brought to the cemetery. Friends and family would try to physically stop the burial from taking place, David Tidwell said.

Shasta County Dist. Atty. McGregor Scott said Sunday that his office would do everything in its power to prevent the burial.