Richard Mattingly Murder Case

Richard Mattingly Murder Case

Richard Mattingly was the 63-year-old director of the Condemnation Board of the District of Columbia who was murdered on January 8, 1970, in his home in Arlington, Virginia.

A group of local youths, in the company of his 14-year-old adopted daughter, Debra "Muffin" Mattingly, who had run away from home, came to the Mattingly residence to collect some of her belongings. The group included Ken Hitner, a 21-year-old AWOL Marine who had returned from service in the Vietnam War; Eugene Comeau, a 19-year-old Boston native and aspiring musician and biker; and Patricia "Pegasus" Truax, aged 15, all of whom were allegedly under the influence of LSD at the time.

When Richard Mattingly confronted them, Hitner and Comeau beat and strangled him to death with a hammer and a crowbar, the latter of which Mattingly, enraged by their presence in his house with his daughter, had initially brandished. Debra Mattingly allegedly encouraged the perpetrators, while Truax looked on. After Richard Mattingly failed to report to work, his grown son went to his father's house, where he found his body. Hitner, Comeau, Debra Mattingly, and Truax were apprehended on January 12 after fleeing in the victim's car, which was discovered outside an apartment on N St. in the District of Columbia, where the perpetrators had been staying. A search of those premises revealed the murder weapons and certain items belonging to the victim.