Richard was shot and killed by Clarence Coleman who was convicted of his homicide. His body has never been recovered.

According to witnesses, Coleman and Jerome Davis admitted beating Richard at a brothel, robbing him and stuffing him in the trunk of his car. They drove him from Youngstown to a secluded spot along the Monongahela River near McKeesport, where Coleman shot him. It is believed his body washed away by a flood in early November 1985.