Charles "Pete" Richter Jr.

 

Once again I am talking about a case that I learned about on Fear thy Neighbor. If you are a regular reader then you know that I get into these spurts where I will focus on a type of crime. Even still I think these types of crimes are the most interesting to me. I know that the television show dramatizes things and not everything is fully based on fact. Because of that I generally try to dig a bit deeper for these cases. Even still finding clear answers is not always easy.

Neighbor crimes are interesting to me because they are not stranger killings. But then again, they aren't intimate killings either. They are also crimes in which there is generally a trail of legal documentation of some kind, whether authorities were helpful or not. Most of these crimes turn into he said/she said, or a variation of that as neighbors accuse each other of doing things, most of the time without any proof. Then things continue and continue and neither side feel that authorities are of any help and then things turn deadly.

The animosity between the Richter family and the Xander family was actually said to have begun even before the Richter's officially moved into the quiet neighborhood in Stevensville Maryland. Charles Richter, aka Pete, and his wife Barbara had their home built in the neighborhood, next to the home owned by Mark and Diane Xander. In 2011 it was said that the two households had been living next to each other for about fourteen years. It was also said that while their home was being built it had been vandalized costing an additional $20,000 to the Richters and that at least Charles believed that the Xanders, or their children, they had two sons, were responsible but that authorities had done nothing about it. Reality is that there apparently was no proof as to who was involved in the vandalism.

Now, how the couple got to the point of moving to Stevensville is a bit cloudy. They would call this home their retirement home and it was said that Charles had retired from the Baltimore police department. However this seems odd to me. In 2012 Charles was sixty-seven years old. He had worked for the Baltimore department from 1965 to 1978. This would mean that he “retired” at the age of thirty-three after only working for them for about thirteen years. I could not find anything that spoke of his time with the police department or why he no longer worked for them. It was said that beyond a few minor things like trespassing, that he had not had a criminal history at the time that his relationship with Mark Xander climaxed. But, there were also comments made that Diane Xander was attempting to have a bill passed that would not allow someone who had their permit to carry a weapon revoked to at some point later be allowed to get a gun permit. She was interviewed several times in which she talked about this law and stated that it could have saved her husband. She has been quoted as saying, “To me, when you carry a firearm that takes a lot of responsibility and respect. If you lose that you shouldn't get it back.” And yet, I found nothing in my research that Charles Richter had at some point had his right to carry a firearm revoked. It leaves the question as to whether his right to carry a firearm and his early “retirement” from the police force were connected.

While the Richters and the Xanders lived next door to each other and shared a property line, the Xanders were far from the only neighbors that had issues with at least Charles Richter. I got the impression that Charles' wife, Barbara, was not the one causing any issues with the neighbors but she also backed or attempted to back her husband when push came to shove. One neighbor was quoted as saying, referring to Charles, “He's sued just about everyone on this street. He's drug everybody on this street into court, including me. A couple of people moved because of him.” Apparently Charles would call the police because kids were playing in the street or things were too noisy or things landed on his property. As I mentioned, per usual in these sorts of cases the police could or would do very little either because it just seemed something minor or because they could not simply go on the word of one person. This caused Charles to start carrying a video camera around with him taping his neighbors. This of course cause even more hostility between Charles and his neighbors. He would claim that he learned this was the best way to “protect” himself when it came to authorities.

For his part Charles was angry with the authorities for failing to do anything when he reported things, no matter what the alleged issue was. He even tried running for sheriff in the county, twice. He failed both times.

In 2001 the Xander house caught fire. Other neighbors woke the family and alerted them so there were not any injuries but the house was a total loss. Authorities would later claim that the cause of the fire was mulch that had combusted but neighbors were suspicious. They were even more suspicious when not long later another house on the block caught fire and it too was blamed on the mulch. The second fire did not completely destroy the house but the Xanders chose to re-build.

Richter and the Xanders had previous issues over the Xanders' dog. He would claim the dog crossed the property line and would contain the dog and call the authorities. The Xanders also claimed that Richter had learned the special whistle that Mark Xander used to with their dog. It was claimed that the dog always listened to this whistle and it was believed that Richter would use it to lure the dog to his property.

On April 3, 2011 Mark Xander went outside, with his dog at his side, to trim some bushes that were near the property line that he shared with Charles Richter. Authorities would receive a 911 call from Richter who would report that he and his neighbor had gotten into an altercation. It is unclear whether he reported at that time that he had shot Mark Xander or if he did not give details until authorities arrived. When they did officers would find Mark Xander face down on his own property dead from a gunshot wound to the back. Mark Xander still held a pair of hedge trimmers in his hands. They would find Richter sitting outside his home holding a .22 caliber Derringer.

Now, I am not a gun expert by any means and often times when I have questions about guns when I am blogging I would ask my husband about them. However, for a funny reason I know what a Derringer is and what it looks like. Depending on your age, you will probably know what I am talking about. Back in the 1980's television movies were a big thing. They made them about anything and everything, including songs. One particular movie was made based on the song, The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. There was always a joke because he walked around with a Derringer. It is a very little gun that only holds two bullets. It is easy to conceal a Derringer and I highly suspect that few people knew that Charles Richter was carrying a firearm. Considering Diane Xander's quest for the law that has been dubbed “Mark's Law” I am left to wonder if Richter purposely carried the Derringer knowing it could be hidden well if he was not to be carrying a firearm.

Richter would tell authorities that the Xanders' dog had come onto his property and that he had grabbed a hold of the dog intending to contain it in his garage and call the authorities. Richter claimed that Mark followed him into and attacked him from behind. Richter would say that the two men struggled over his video camera because Xander “was trying to get the camera from him.” At some point Richter shot Xander and he had stumbled back over to his own property. He would also tell authorities that the whole incident was on video.

Charles Richter was taken to the police station to be questioned and a search warrant was issued for his home. Inside his garage authorities would find a picture of the Xander home after it burnt. The phrases “The Lord works in mysterious ways” and “ What goes around comes around” were written on the picture. They also found evidence of child pornography in his home. This is something that he was charged with but I found no other information about later. I can only assume that the child pornography charge seemed minor compared to being charged with murder.

While at the police station on the evening of the shooting, Richter complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital. He was released two days later where he was taken back to the police station and at that time was arrested and charged in the shooting of Mark Xander. There were several charges against him that seemingly were the same. I was a bit confused but from my understanding the jury would get to decide which of the charges he could be found innocent or guilty. He was charged with first degree murder, second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, first degree assault and the use of a handgun in the commission of a felony or crime of violence.

At his trial Richter would claim that the shooting of Mark Xander was self defense. He would still claim the story that Xander attacked him. I was not able to fully determine if his wife Barbara testified at his trial about the actual shooting but there was some talk of her. Apparently at some point (it could have been in testimony) she completely backed Richter saying she witnessed the shooting but the prosecutor would say she “told a different story right after the shooting” although I could not determine what that story was. It was also said that while several witnesses proclaimed that Richter was the one who “started” things with the neighbors, Richter and his wife would claim they were “tormented” by the neighbors.

Prosecutors would claim there was no way that Richter's story rang true. Of course that could have maybe been differently if there had actually been a video of the event as Richter initially claimed to the responding officers. The only mention I found of a video, beyond ones that had been recorded prior to that April day was a reference to the fact that there was a twenty minute video that Richter took after the shooting where he told the story of the alleged altercation and was claiming self defense.

One of the biggest things that tell investigators that a case may not be a self defense case is when the victim is shot from the back. When a victim is shot in back it shows that the victim was no longer “coming” towards the other person and indicates that the person is no longer in danger as the person has turned away from them. Investigators were also puzzled immediately as to how if Mark Xander was struggling with Richter that his body was found still holding hedge clippers. But, most importantly there was not a trail of blood from where Richter says he shot Mark Xander to where Mark was found laying. In fact, medical experts would testify that the damage from the bullet would not have allowed him to travel as it was almost immediately fatal.

On May 18, 2012, after deliberating for three hours, the jury returned with their verdict. While they found Richter not guilty on the first degree charge, they did find him guilty on the charge of second degree murder and the charge that involved the use of a handgun. On June 26, 2012 Charles Richter was sentenced to twenty years for murder and five years for the gun charge, to be ran consecutively. He has attempted to appeal his case but it has failed.

My research stated that Diane Xander still lives in her home with many of the same neighbors. The Richter home is up for sale and it was indicated that it now sits empty.

Periodically I receive comments on blogs by people who are related or personally know some of the people involved. I have even had jury members come and comment. They often provide insight that I have no way of finding. This is a case in which I hope to see these types of comments. There seemed to be some holes I just could not fill or figure out.