The suspect in the 1993 murder of a Detroit rock musician has been brought back to Michigan, weeks after a dogged search finally led to his arrest in Panama, officials said.
Richard Werstine, 56, was transported to Michigan on Thursday, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning on the warrant issued in 1994, when he failed to appear for his trial.
Werstine was charged in September 1993 with second-degree murder and felony firearm in the killing of Rodney Barger.
Barger was Werstine’s roommate and played in the Detroit rock band Cold as Life, which built a reputation as Detroit’s “scariest hardcore band,” according to hard rock and metal magazine Revolver.
Werstine and Barger, 23, had gotten into a heated argument at their westside Detroit home on Sept. 15, 1993, police said at the time. Werstine ultimately pulled a gun and shot his roommate in the head, according to authorities.
Werstine turned himself in and was released on bond pending trial. However, he failed to appear for his trial and has been on the lam ever since.
The U.S. Marshals Service Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team took over the search for Werstine in May 2022. The agency’s investigation revealed Werstine had been arrested multiple times over the years under different aliases, including Joseph Alan Stavros, but law enforcement never knew his true identity, officials said.
They said investigators developed leads over the past year that indicated Werstine was in Panama. Marshals in Detroit worked with the service’s Office of International Operations and Panamanian authorities to find and arrest him.
Police in Panama City, Panama, arrested Werstine at a dog park on April 29, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Authorities said he was carrying fake identification but was positively identified via fingerprints. He allegedly told investigators he entered Panama illegally in 2005.
Werstine was booked into the Wayne County Jail just before 7 p.m. Thursday on a charge of failure to appear, according to online jail records.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Suspect in Detroit rocker’s murder returned from Panama after 32 years
Reporting by Max Reinhart, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
