Details remain vague with arrest in nearly 32-year South Lake Tahoe murder of Richard Swanson

Authorities have arrested a Carmichael, Calif., man suspected in the 1980 South Lake Tahoe gas station robbery and murder of 16-year-old Richard Swanson.
After nearly 32 years, On March 28, Andrew Sanford, 50, was arrested and booked in the Sacramento County Jail for the alleged murder of Swanson. The robbery and homicide happened on Aug. 14, 1980 in South Lake Tahoe at what was then the Shell Gas Station located at the “Y” on the corner of Lake Tahoe Blvd and Emerald Bay Road. Details of the case have been kept tightly under wraps.

South Lake Tahoe Police Lt. David Stevenson said the arrest was part of an ongoing investigation by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, The California Department of Justice, and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.

South Lake Tahoe Police have been in contact with Richard’s parents, Ron and Sharon Swanson, who have provided the following statement: “We want to thank the investigators, South Lake Tahoe Police Department and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office for pursuing this case and making this arrest possible. We have waited for over thirty one years for this day, but we never gave up hope. It has been a long wait, but God told us to be patient and justice would come.”

This arrest is an important step in the criminal justice process, and specific details related to the crime and the investigation are not being released at this time, Stevenson said. The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office is in charge of the prosecution, according to the press statement.

On August 14, 1980 Richard Swanson, who was 16, was murdered during a robbery at a "Y" gas station. His body was bound and gagged, his death resulted from suffocation.

It was December 2006, when Swanson's parents went unannounced to the South Lake Tahoe City Council, asking local authorities to step up their investigation so they could have family closure. The council at that time responded, providing money and support staff through the South Lake Tahoe Police Department to re-activate the case.

Financial support was also provided through Secret Witness, which has remained active at South Lake Tahoe since 1980. It was through the Swanson family that the Secret Witness program developed and has received continued support through the law enforcement and business community.

Ron and Sharon Swanson have since praised law enforcement for keeping the case going. Though the leads have been few and far between, the Secret Witness program remained committed to solving the crime.
A $10,000 reward was offered through Secret Witness for information that would help solve the case and lead to the arrest and conviction.

The case particularly hits home for former South Lake Tahoe City Councilwoman Kathay Lovell, who remembers the Swansons making an unannounced visit to the council in December 2006 meeting.

Speaking with the family before the meeting, Lovell recalls the Swansons demeanor as both "sad and frustrated" because the case had not been solved and no new information had come to light since the murder.

Lovell said of arrest that it had been the commitment of the City Council and Police Chief Terry Daniels to see that the investigation be opened up.

"Had the Swansons not come and asked for additional resources, I don't know if this arrest would have happened," she said. "The South Lake Tahoe Police Department should get all the credit for this. They never gave up."

Former Tahoe Daily Tribune crime reporter William Ferchland, who had frequently written
about this and other high profile cases, said he was astonished when he read an arrest had finally been made.

"I remember reporting on Richard Swanson and feared a suspect would never be arrested," said Ferchland. "It was a brutal murder. Richard basically suffocated on his duct tape bind while tied up."

Ferchland was encouraged that Richard's parents, whom he met and walked with while they were visiting their son's tombstone at the Happy Homestead Cemetery, may finally have some closure.

"After Jaycee Duggard being found, and a suspect being arrested in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if authorities soon discover the identity of the Zodiac killer," said Ferchland, a recent graduate of San Francisco Law School. "In my mind, on the stories I reported on, Jaycee, Richard Swanson, and the Zodiac killer were the biggest mysteries, the coldest of the cold cases in South Lake Tahoe."

"While it's encouraging that a suspect has been arrested in Mr. Swanson's murder, I do want to reserve judgment of Mr. Sanford and let the court process unfold," said Ferchland. "I'll be sure to follow the developments, and I'm very interested to learn the evidence against him that led to his arrest."