Arrest Made in 26-year-old Cold Case Murder of the Maurins

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man in Alaska suspected of being responsible for one of the county’s most notorious unsolved murders.

Investigators from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office arrested Rick Riffe, 53, King Salmon, Alaska, on Sunday for murder of the elderly couple Wilhelmina “Minnie” and Edward “Ed” Maurin that occurred more than 26 years ago.

The bodies of Minnie, 83, and Ed, 81, were discovered Christmas Eve 1985 in a wooded area on Stearns Hill Road, west of Adna.

Rick and his brother John, both originally from Mossyrock, allegedly abducted the Ethel couple from their home several days earlier, forced them to withdraw money from the bank, then later shot and killed the couple in their car, according to court documents.

They then allegedly dragged their bodies about 100 yards off the road, and dumped them.

“At my mother’s funeral, I put my hand on her casket and I said, ‘I won’t ever give up as long as I live,’” Dennis Hadaller, Minnie’s son, told The Chronicle on Monday.

While authorities suspected Rick and John for more than two decades, private investigators and detectives at the sheriff’s office recently gained enough information to move forward with an arrest.

“We’ve known for over two decades that Rick and John Riffe have been responsible,” said Lewis County Sheriff Steve Mansfield Monday afternoon at a press conference.

Rick was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and robbery in the first degree, as well as first-degree burglary, according to court documents.

His brother John would have faced the same charges but two days after the probable cause statement was signed, investigators learned John had died of a longstanding medical condition, said Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney Jonathan Meyer.

The Riffe brothers, now in their 50s, were in their early- to mid-20s at the time of the murder.

The prosecutor’s office will not seek the death penalty for Rick, who also appears to be suffering from serious health issues, Meyer said.

“We have not charged the death penalty yet and given his poor health, it’d be counterproductive,” he said.

A Generation Passed

Through the decades of waiting for an arrest, the family remained hopeful and determined that someone would be brought to justice.

“It has been 26 years and seven months,” Hadaller said. “I thought about it at least three or four times a day.”

The family’s determination and patience was an important factor in the eventual arrest, Mansfield said.

“This case haunted the Maurin family, the sheriff’s office and the community,” Mansfield said.

In particular, one of the Maurin’s four surviving children, Hadaller, was crucial in keeping the case moving, Mansfield said. Hadaller funded the investigation when the sheriff’s office did not have the resources to work on it.

Hadaller, now 84, is around the age his mother was at the time of her death.

“I met with Denny shortly after taking office to assure him that the case was just as important to me as it was to him,” Meyer said.

During the early 2000s, Hadaller, a former Lewis County commissioner, announced he was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest. Hadaller also hired private investigators more than a decade ago to investigate the murders. The investigators were key in solving the case, Mansfield said.

“Closure will never come, but at least the guilty one was caught,” Hadaller said.

The case has been strong since the early 1990s, Mansfield said, but for undisclosed reasons, the prosecutor at the time did not want to prosecute it.

“I can’t speak for what other prosecutors have or have not done,” Meyer said.

So much time has passed between the homicide and the arrests that one of the suspects and some of the witnesses have already died, Mansfield said.

Hiding in Rural Alaska

The Riffe brothers left Washington shortly after the murders and moved to Alaska in 1987. It was in their house, outside of King Salmon, Alaska, a rural community with less than 400 people, that the detectives, along with Alaska state troopers, contacted Rick on Sunday.

Mansfield said there was no fight, but also said that Rick seemed “more than surprised” at their arrival.

Rick and his brother had lived in the isolated community working in the hunting and fishing industry, Mansfield said.

In King Salmon, Rick had worked as a truck driver and crane operators for at least one company, Bristol Bay Contractors. He left the job several years ago, according to George Steinberg, who has worked for the company about 15 years.

When told Monday of the arrest and allegations against Rick, Steinberg said he was "kind of surprised" and said it was the first he had heard about it.

"He was just a regular guy," he said, according to The Associated Press. "Hard working."

More Witnesses Possible

Part of the delay in the arrest during the investigation was due to threats made against witnesses, Mansfield said.

“I want to thank all the citizens who came forward under the threat of death,” Hadaller said during the press conference.

The prosecutor and sheriff’s office are asking for any other possible witnesses to come forward to help with the prosecution of Rick, emphasizing that the brothers are no longer a threat.

“One of them is dead,” Mansfield said. “The other will be in my jail shortly.”

While the sheriff’s office hopes more witnesses will come forward, even if none come forward, Mansfield said the case was “rock solid.”

Rick will be extradited to Lewis County to stand trial as soon as possible, Meyer said.