“I told him to stop and he did everything I asked him to do. It wasn’t until I got close enough and saw his blue eyes,” Samms said. Richards’ description noted his “piercing” blue eyes.
Samms found a gun on the suspect when he was captured.
The arrest ended a search that stretched from Boulder, Colorado to La Cañada for the man who was wanted on several charges stemming from a kidnapping in Colorado in January. Boulder County Sheriff’s Department had requested assistance from local law enforcement after Richards had made threats against a La Cañada family.
The story unfolded on Easter morning when a Glendale Police Department unit was on patrol and noticed a vehicle matching one owned by Richards in the 1900 block of Tondolea Lane in La Cañada.
“Glendale Police just happened to be in the area,” said Lt. Greg Sisneros of the Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station.
The red Volkswagen Paseo was parked a few houses down from a vacant home owned by Julie Pernecky and Brad Lefebvre. Officers suspected Richards was in the vacant home.
“The home has been empty for about six months,” Lefebvre said. “The electricity and water are on but the gas has been shut off.” Lefebvre said that he had been at the house last week but only to check the pool.
“I never went inside,” he said.
“He was planning on going [Sunday],” Pernecky added.
But when the couple approached the neighborhood, they found a massive force of service vehicles and helicopters flying overhead.
