Richardson maintains innocence
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising BureauArticle Photos
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Richardson, before being sent to state prison Monday, was interviewed for an hour for the television program “Dateline NBC.”
The interview by correspondent Josh Mankiewicz will be edited and packaged with interviews from family members, attorneys, investigators, court testimony and other materials into a one-hour nationally-televised program tentatively scheduled to air in July.
The “Dateline NBC” broadcast will tell the story of the death of Juanita Richardson and her husband’s trial and conviction for her murder.
During the interview Monday, Richardson tearfully recounted his wife’s last moments, maintained his innocence, denied he ever had a romantic relationship with a woman police said he killed his wife to be with and contended police planted suicide into his mind as a possible explanation for his wife’s death.
Richardson said he’s not sure whether his wife slipped out of her shoe when, as he contends, she accidentally fell from the 140-foot cliff to her death. Richardson said past injuries to her foot and toe may have weakened her stance, causing her fall.
“As she turned she fell and the last thing I saw was Juanita’s feet flip up in the air, she was going over.” Richardson said. “And I heard her scream. ‘Oh, my God,’ or ‘Oh, dear God,’ and I heard her scream as she fell down.
“And that’s when I lost my wife. And I have nightmares of that on a regular basis. It was a terrible way to lose her and I try not to even think about that. I wake up sometimes out of a dead sleep, screaming. I wake up feeling that loss.”
Richardson said police worked at keeping him upset during questioning, telling him his wife had been involved with another man and that she had embezzled money from her job.
“They traumatized me while I was in shock,” he said.
Richardson said seeing the fall had led him to block things from his mind, consequently he initially told police he didn’t see his wife’s fall.
Richardson denied allegations of domestic abuse saying he never struck his wife or was ever violent with her. He also claimed the abusive language witnesses described at trial was a matter of perception.
“I don’t think that I’ve used that much belittling language to Juanita, if you talk to my kids,” Richardson said. “They lived in our home. They know how I treated Juanita.”
Richardson claimed he has been unfairly made out to be a villain.
“I loved my wife and I took care of my wife. My primary focus in the last several years has been to make my wife’s dreams comes true,” Richardson said. “I built the dream home that my wife wanted and it’s a trophy of my love for that woman.”
Though Richardson admits he’s not the perfect husband.
Richardson said he called Kelli Brophy — the alleged love interest Richardson referred to as a “prayer partner” — the night before his wife died merely for normal “chit-chat.”
Richardson said people who envisioned him thinking he could begin a relationship with Brophy after his wife’s death are “just wrong.”
“I was not planning on killing my wife; my wife and I were getting along as good as we ever got along,” Richardson said. “And there was no plan. They’ve tried to paint that into this plan I had. He planned on killing his wife. He planned on having a relationship with Kelli, blah, blah, blah. None of that’s true.”
Richardson also detailed being taken in to see his wife’s body at Munising Memorial Hospital.
“They wheeled me up to her and I just saw her broke and battered face and she was gone,” he said. “And my life’s never been the same.”
Richardson said he is not a convicted murderer.
“I am convicted of murder,” Richardson said. “If you are convicted of murder and you didn’t do it, that doesn’t make you a murderer.”
