Sex tapes seized from suspect in 1986 Spokane killing of prostitute

Spokane homicide investigators have seized a cache of sex tapes belonging to an ex-police officer accused in a 29-year-old cold-case killing near the now-demolished Playfair horse track.

The suspect, Richard J. Aguirre, 51, appeared Wednesday in Spokane County District Court where a judge set bail at $500,000 on a single count of first-degree murder.

Aguirre is accused of killing Ruby Doss on Jan. 30, 1986. She had been working along East Spokane as a prostitute.

Her boyfriend at the time told investigators that he, Doss and her 5-year-old daughter were living in a nearby motel and that the money she earned on the street paid for their needs. The boyfriend said she was aware of the danger of the sex trade and carried a knife for protection.

Police arrested Aguirre on Tuesday in a Kennewick courtroom where he appeared on an unrelated third-degree rape charge stemming from an incident last November at his home.

The former Pasco police officer of 27 years resigned earlier this spring in the face of the charges.

During the investigation of the more recent rape case, detectives with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office obtained DNA samples from Aguirre.

DNA collected in the Doss case was submitted to the FBI’s national DNA data bank years ago.

A court document in the homicide case said Spokane detectives learned of the match in January.

Spokane police Capt. Eric Olsen on Wednesday told members of the media that his detectives made five raids in the Tri-Cities area since Aguirre was identified as their murder suspect. They found an unspecified number of videotapes and other types of recordings that show various sexual activities that suggest the possibility of additional crimes involving rape and voyeurism.

Police are asking for help from witnesses in clearing up other crimes that may have occurred, he said.

“We are still trying to locate more witnesses,” he said.

Olsen said detectives also seized cellphones and computers from Aguirre, who served at Fairchild Air Force Base from January 1984 through January 1988.

In court documents outlining the homicide case against Aguirre, detectives said three recent interviews yielded more evidence against Aguirre.

A lifelong friend who grew up with Aguirre in Sunnyside, Washington, told detectives he and Aguirre would go to taverns and strip joints on East Sprague Avenue in 1986 and 1987. At least one time they contacted or solicited prostitutes, according to documents. The friend told police that during a night of drinking alcohol Aguirre told him about hitting a woman in the head and choking her, but walked away thinking she was still moving.

Aguirre’s two sisters said Aguirre told them in April after the Spokane allegation surfaced that he had had an encounter with “a girl,” according to the document. Aguirre told the sisters that they met at a dance place. They then went to an industrial area and had sex, he told the sisters, but he wasn’t sure if the “girl” was Doss, the document said.

Doss, who went by the street name “Memphis” and the alias “Theresa Cox,” was last seen at a sex shop on East Sprague buying a single condom at about 9 p.m. the night she was killed, the document said.

At 10:30 p.m., police received a call from a witness who found her body at 3118 E. Ferry St., not far from the former Playfair race track.

Detectives said the killing was so recent that there was steam coming from Doss’ body.

They found evidence indicating that a struggle between Doss and her killer occurred in a manure pit used by the track, the affidavit said.

Detectives said it appeared Doss pulled a knife but was disarmed. She ran about a block, where she was overtaken and killed. She was struck in the head with a blunt instrument and strangled, the affidavit said.

At the pit, detectives found a crumpled $50 bill on a straw pile. They also found some of Doss’ clothing, earrings, a knife and a used condom.

Bodily fluid from the condom was preserved and submitted in 1989 to Lifecodes, a DNA laboratory in New York. That evidence later was entered into the FBI database.

Detectives also said that during the initial investigation it appeared that after Doss was strangled, the killer went back to the manure pit and tried to conceal a fur coat, light jacket and wig. All of the items were later linked to Doss.