Overview
- Richard Werstine, 56, was arrested without incident at a Panama City dog park on April 29 after fingerprint scans confirmed his identity.
- Investigators say he carried a fake ID, confessed to being on the run for decades, and said he entered Panama illegally in 2005.
- Werstine has been returned to the United States and is awaiting transfer to Wayne County, Michigan, to face the long-pending murder charge.
- Authorities accuse Werstine of killing his 23-year-old roommate, Rodney "Rawn Beauty" Barger of the Detroit band Cold as Life, in 1993, then skipping his 1994 court date after an initial arrest.
- The U.S. Marshals’ Detroit team reopened the case in May 2022 and, using modern tools and partners in Panama along with Diplomatic Security Service and Homeland Security Investigations, traced him as Barger's family expressed relief and hope for closure.