A couple of days after they visited Richardson's mother, Abdul and Fanning got a surprise telephone call from Erin Richardson.
"Hey, I hear you guys are looking for me," Richardson said.
The suspect was playing a game and both detectives knew it.
"He was trying to get more information (about) why we were looking for him," Fanning says, "and he was kind of fishing for how serious it was."
The detectives mentioned something about traffic tickets. They needed to talk to Richardson, they said, to clear up some minor issues.
"He's a street-wise guy," Fanning says. "He'd been arrested on a number of occasions. He knew we were B.S.-ing."
Richardson said he would come in to talk to the detectives.
Later, an attorney telephoned the two investigators. He said he was representing Richardson. He agreed to bring his client in the following day for an interview. However, the next day the attorney called back. He wasn't representing Richardson, he said. Apparently Richardson, who had no job, didn't have any money to pay an attorney.
The detectives executed a search warrant at Richardson's mother's house. They were looking for the murder weapon, any .25 caliber ammunition, and, of course, their suspect. The search warrant turned out to be a bust, but it put more pressure on Richardson, further isolating him from his support network.
Abdul and Fanning obtained an arrest warrant for Richardson, charging him with Daniel's murder. They gave the warrant to the LAPD fugitive squad.
"There was no doubt that Erin Richardson was on the run from the police," Detective Baitx says. "He was not going to come in. We knew we were going to have to catch him."
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