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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Former Pasco officer free, though charged in rape, suspected in killing

The Columbian
Published:

A former Pasco police officer who is a suspect in a 1986 homicide in Spokane remains free though he was charged Thursday in a separate rape case.

Richard J. Aguirre’s attorney, Scott Johnson, said his client is innocent in both cases.

Aguirre was charged with third-degree rape Thursday in Franklin County. Court documents show a woman told police that Aguirre sexually assaulted her at his house, but that she was unable to “push him off or say no because of shock and the effects of alcohol.” Tests found his DNA on her underwear, and Aguirre told police he had no idea how it could have gotten there.

Johnson said the woman’s perceptions as a result of alcohol consumption are an important factor in the case.

The DNA test conducted as a result of the rape allegation is what linked Aguirre to the homicide in Spokane.

Ruby Doss was found strangled on Jan. 30, 1986, near East Sprague Avenue, where she had been working as a prostitute.

“It’s really hard to remember a lot of specific details from 30 years ago, but he believes he was an acquaintance of Ms. Doss,” Johnson said on Friday. Johnson declined to say if Aguirre was a customer of hers or to further explain their relationship.

At the time of Doss’ death, Aguirre was in the Air Force and stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Johnson said. In 1987, he was transferred to South Korea.

Johnson said Aguirre had not planned to resign as a result of the Franklin County case but opted to after Spokane police notified him that his DNA made him a suspect in the 1986 strangulation.

“He just believed Pasco police are going through enough,” Johnson said, referring to the controversial police shooting in Pasco in February. “He was able to retire for the good of everybody.”

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