Cracking a cold case

Suzie Harrison

It took years of work and included several bad leads, but Det. Paul

Litchenberg and Sgt. Jason Kravetz finally got their man.

After 21 years a suspect has been booked for a murder that took

place at the Inn at Laguna in December of 1983.

James Paul Snider is being held on $1 million bail for the murder

of Santa Maria resident Ronald Jay Murphy. His arraignment is set for

Monday.

Litchenberg, who had been working on the case for three years, and

Kravetz, who had worked the case years ago, went to Michigan earlier

this month to question Snider after a DNA match had been made.

Three prior suspects had not panned out, so news of a DNA match

was heartening.

“I always knew there was somebody out there, but no one had been

identified,” Litchenberg said.

They were sure they had found the right suspect a couple of years

ago.

They went to Florida in December 2002 to question a serial killer.

He was notorious for finding his victims in gay bars, hitting them

over the head with toilet tank covers and robbing them.

The suspect’s name was Glen Register and he had gone on a killing

spree in Colorado and Florida and fit the profile perfectly.

“He [Register] matched the composite to a tee. Everything matched

but the DNA,” Litchenberg said.

Then, Kravetz said, a Michigan lab called Litchenberg.

“They were able to pull strains from a few items put in the

nationwide database and called and said, ‘we have a match,’” Kravetz

said. “From that point we started a background investigation of the

suspect and went to Michigan to continue the investigation.”

Litchenberg said that Michigan is one of the only states that

started to take DNA from all felons and has been doing so since 2001.

“[Snider] is a convicted bank robber who served 10 years,” Kravetz

said.

He was arrested in the western part of the Michigan -- Holland --

where he was living with his family.

“The interrogation went very fast, he came in and ended up

confessing 20 minutes into it,” Litchenberg said.

Kravetz said they had planned on it being a very long interview,

but Snider’s conscience seemed to have gotten the best of him.

“We didn’t even get to the meat of it 20 minutes into it, not even

close,” Kravetz said. “He slumped and let it all out.”

After he admitted to the crime, he was arrested and transferred to

the county jail. The next day Litchenberg got a warrant faxed to the

jail from the Orange County district attorney.

Everything was done on videotape at the jail and sent to the

court. Snider waived extradition.

Snider said that he did use the toilet tank cover and hit the

victim in the back of the head. Litchenberg said the suspect showed

little remorse in relating the story. Snider apparently had always

wondered what happened and thought perhaps the victim was still

alive.

Kravetz and Litchenberg said Snider is very astute as far as the

law. He defended himself when he was previously charged with robbery.

Though the suspect and victim met at a well-known gay bar in

Laguna Beach, there is no evidence that any sex took place in the

hotel room where Murphy was murdered.

“The only evidence is of some sort of altercation, a violent

struggle,” Kravetz said. “The physical evidence was blood and some

fingerprints, no bodily fluid. The motive was robbery.”

“He just did it for robbery. He had no money and the victim did, a

lot of it,” Litchenberg said.

Even if they could show it was motivated by hate, Snider still

couldn’t be charged with a hate crime. The police have to go by the

laws in 1983 when there was no hate crime legislation.

The trip home came with some interesting moments for the officers.

“We had to drive him to O’Hare Airport from Holland, the trip was

supposed to take about two and a half hours, but due to construction

it was four hours,” Kravetz said.

They had to return their rental car with a shackled prisoner in

tow.

“It was rush hour on a Friday afternoon, the Chicago police were

going to escort [us] but we were far behind,” Kravetz said.

He said along with their luggage, the duo had to bring a murderer

with chains around his waist and arms aboard the plane with the

general public.

To add to the strangeness of the moment, Snider told them during

the transport that they were the nicest cops he had ever met. If he

had to be arrested by two guys, he’d choose them.

“I don’t know what is going to happen now,” Litchenberg said. “He

might plead out or he might take whatever offer they give him.”

Kravetz said it was an awesome feeling to have solved this cold

case, particularly in regard to the family’s grief.

“We felt that the reaction we received from Murphy’s family -- it

meant more than anything,” Kravetz said.

Now the Laguna Beach Police Department is down to six cold case

homicides and a few sexual assaults.