The Portland Police Department is asking for the public’s help to solve several open homicide cases, including the 2010 shooting death of Darien Richardson, the anniversary of which was Sunday.
Richardson was sleeping in the Rackleff Street apartment she shared with Cory Girard on Jan. 8 when, around 1:30 a.m., a masked intruder broke in and shot at them.
Richardson was hit in the hand and upper thigh and died on Feb. 28, 2010, from a pulmonary embolism stemming from her injuries. Girard was shot in the arm.
Her murder remains unsolved, and her family is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible, Portland police said in a news release Sunday.
Darien Richardson Photo supplied by Portland Police Department
“Darien is not forgotten,” Police Chief Frank Clark said in a statement. “One of our most crucial and awesome responsibilities is investigating the death of another human being. Our detectives will continue to review and seek new information that might bring those responsible for such violence to justice. On the anniversary of her death, if anyone has any information that might help Darien and her family, please give us a call.”
Anyone with information that can help solve this or other open cases may call Portland police at 207-874-8575.
Earlier this past weekend, Portland police also asked for help investigating the 2017 death of Bryan “Kage” Garcia, who was found unresponsive in his car on Chadwick Street just after 2 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2017, making Saturday the fourth anniversary of his passing.
Police are withholding the cause of his death, but say they have determined he was the victim of a homicide. Police also said they believe Garcia was “involved in selling drugs” and that this may have related to his death, but they did not say why.
Bryan Garcia Photo supplied by Portland Police Department
At the time of his death, a friend of Garcia’s told WGME-13 News that he was a “beautiful person” who “didn’t have any enemies.”
Garcia was a singer and rapper with a contagious smile who loved motorcycles, the friend said.
Garcia’s death remains an active investigation as well. A police spokesman this weekend did not respond to questions about Garcia’s age or place of residence at the time of his death.
In total, the Portland Police Department has 14 open homicide cases since 1985, the details of which it keeps on its website. On the anniversaries of the victims’ deaths, authorities continue to ask for the public’s help to seek justice.
Portland police aren’t the only group in Maine to seek assistance in an open case lately. This past weekend, the family of Kimberly Moreau, who went missing in Jay in 1986, offered a new $5,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.
Moreau, then 17, was last seen around 11 p.m. on May 10, 1986, as she left her family home in Jay. She told two family members that she was going for a ride and would be back in an hour. She did not say if anyone else would be with her.
Kimberly Moreau of Jay has been missing for nearly 35 years. Picasa
Dozens of police-led searches through the area, some as recently as 2019, have failed to find Moreau or her body.
On Saturday, three months before the 35th anniversary, her father said he was re-upping a reward first offered in the early 2000s.
“With everything happening with COVID, which leaves people needing money, and people getting older who were around back then, I thought this would be a good time to offer one again,” Richard Moreau told the Lewiston Sun Journal. “I figured right now, the value of money is worth a heck of a lot more now than it was then.”
Moreau said that if his daughter died accidentally and someone had knowledge of it, “the statute of limitations has expired.”
“If someone knows something and it was accidental, they could turn around, give me my daughter’s location and walk away with $5,000,” he said.
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