Fugitive in 1993 Detroit Band Murder Is Found in Panama

A three-decade manhunt for a Detroit murder suspect ended at a dog park in Panama. US officials say 56-year-old Richard Werstine, wanted in the 1993 killing of his roommate, Detroit musician Rodney "Rawn Beauty" Barger, was arrested April 29 in Panama City. He allegedly had falsified identification on him, but was fingerprinted to confirm his identity; the Detroit News reports Werstine allegedly later admitted both who he was and that he'd entered Panama illegally in 2005. US Marshals brought him back to the US on Saturday; he's to face charges in Wayne County, Mich.

Werstine was first arrested days after Barger, frontman for the Detroit hardcore band Cold as Life, was shot to death in his sleep on Sept. 15, 1993, but he never showed up for trial, prompting a 1994 arrest warrant. In a 2023 piece, Revolver magazine described Barger as a "fabled wild-man" whose "talents as a belligerent vocalist and underclass poet remain obvious."

The Marshals' Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team took over the case in 2022 and says Werstine had been arrested multiple times over the years under aliases, but his true identity did not emerge in those instances. Leads over the past year pointed them toward Panama. His capture, a US marshal said, is meant to underscore that fugitives "have no place you can hide."