OFF THE WIRE
By Ruth Fuller
Four witnesses have told investigators Robert Bostic was the gunman who killed Carlton Richmond at a motorcycle group’s clubhouse in Round Lake Beach nearly 30 years ago, prosecutors said in court today.
A Lake County judge this morning kept Bostic’s bond at $2.5 million, the figure set in the arrest warrant charging him with murdering 31-year-old Carlton Richmond in a garage on June 25, 1982.
Bostic, now of Kingston, Tenn., was identified as the suspect early in the investigation, but witnesses from the party in the 800 block of Oakwood Drive were reluctant to talk with investigators until recently, police and prosecutors said.
Police said Bostic and Richmond had a “discussion” at the party, and the witnesses who are now cooperating said Bostic pulled a handgun and shot Richmond, Steve Scheller of the Lake County state’s attorney’s office said in court today.
Bostic, arrested on the warrant Tuesday in Tennessee, compiled a lengthy record of arrests for violent crimes in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Scheller said. Court records show Bostic was convicted in 1977 of aggravated battery in Lake County.
Lake County Judge Raymond Collins asked Bostic in court if he thought he would be able to hire a lawyer.
“I don’t know, maybe,” Bostic said. “My brother is going to check into it.”
Collins set a hearing on the status of Bostic’s legal representation for Feb. 2 2011
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-prosecutors-4-witnesses-id-1982-slaying-suspect-20110127,0,4152825.story