Charged with One Murder, the Suspect is Linked to a 1990 Ontario Murder
ONTARIO – DNA evidence linking a suspected murderer to another 1990 killing has led authorities to the investigation of a transgender prostitute who died in that attack. Authorities believe that Richard Reil, 49 of Santa Ana, is linked to the shooting death of Lyle William Foster.
Reil is awaiting trial in another killing, the June 2009 death of Alex Camacho, 35, who was shot to death in the 1700 block of West Flora Street. Reports are that Reil and Camacho got into an argument while drinking together. Authorities believe that Reil shot Camacho once in the upper body.
According to accounts, the 1990 slaying of Foster, who went by the name of Kathy, might have occurred when a client found out she was transgender. Foster had been shot three times in the head and later discovered in a vacant field.
Though Foster was killed in Ontario of San Bernardino County, the Orange County District Attorney’s office will prosecute the case. They charged Reil with Foster’s killing in May. He is scheduled to be arraigned in the case on September 18.
Reil had pleaded not guilty in the Camacho shooting. According to reports, as many as 10 people were drinking in front of a home in the 1700 block of West Flora Street, which is located just south of Warner Avenue in Santa Ana, on June 26, 2009. Witness accounts described an argument that took place, followed with a man pulling out a gun, shooting Camacho in the chest, and then running away. Reil was identified as the suspect by investigating detectives.
Police and parole officers had been conducting surveillance back on July 7. Reil, who was a parolee from Santa Ana and a known frequenter in that area, was spotted running from a residence in the 2400 block of West La Verne Avenue, said police. He was apprehended and charged with murder. At the time of the arrest, Reil was carrying a gun that was to be tested for a possible match in the one used in Camacho’s killing. Police did not believe the killing was gang related.
Twenty five years after Foster’s killing, investigators linked Reil to the shooting through the use of DNA. He’s currently being held without bail, according to jail records, on a parole violation for vandalism and unlawful entry.
