The sad tale of Erica Richardson is all too common. In 1996, the thirty-three-year-old pharmacy manager was introduced to thirty-seven-year-old John Feiga. Erica was instantly attracted and for several months, Feiga treated her like royalty, surprising her with flowers and other small gifts and showering her with affection.

Erica thought she had found her knight in shining armor; instead, John Feiga was a black knight.

On December 8, 1997, Erica was found stabbed to death in her Valrico, Florida, home, fifteen miles east of Tampa. Feiga was the prime suspect, but he was never tried for the crime because he himself was found murdered four months later.

John Feiga is confirmed to have murdered his former girlfriend Erica Richardson. Who murdered John Feiga is still unknown.

 

Erica Richardson and John Feiga

After finishing her degree in microbiology from the University of Florida, Erica Richardson obtained a Pharmacy degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Intelligent Erica

Beginning her career and life on her own, Erica returned to Florida to manage a Walmart pharmacy in Seffner, fourteen miles east of Tampa, and bought a home in Valrico, five miles southeast of Seffner. She had offers from larger pharmacies as well as pharmaceutical companies which would have paid her more money, but she wanted to be near her parents, Sam and Imogene, who lived in Progress Village, twelve miles south of Seffner.

Erica and Her Proud Parents

Sam and Imogene initially liked John Feiga, who was introduced to Erica by other relatives. He was a respected mechanic and had previously worked as an electrician for the Tampa Electric Company.

Feiga was initially charming and treated Erica well. Shortly after moving into her home, however, he became jealous and controlling of her, and repeatedly accused her of cheating on him. Erica told her mother she was beginning to fear him.

Within a year, Erica asked Feiga to move out. He did, but he did not want her to move on without him.

Erica Fears Feiga

Feiga harassed Erica by following her and frequently visiting the pharmacy for no reason other than to ask her to take him back. After she repeatedly rejected him, Feiga’s ire grew, and he threatened his former girlfriend with physical harm. Erica then obtained a restraining order against him, but the harassment continued. Feiga was twice arrested; he was charged with battery in late 1996 and violating a domestic violence injunction in mid-1997.

Not even several days in jail and the threat of prison time, however, deterred Feiga.

Feiga Furious

On December 6, 1997, as Erica and Imogene were Christmas shopping at a Tampa mall, Feiga approached them. He was calm and apologetic. The restraining order she had against him had expired six days earlier, and Erica agreed to meet with him. She told her mom she and Feiga were going to her home to discuss their situation.

Imogene pleaded with her daughter not to go with Feiga, but Erica assured her everything would be fine. She was deadly wrong.

Feiga Won’t Fold

Imogene phoned her daughter’s home repeatedly over the following two days but received no answer. She became panicked when she called the pharmacy and was told that Erica had neither shown up for work nor called with an explanation.

Imogene drove to Erica’s home and was alarmed to see Feiga’s truck in the driveway. Peering through a window, she saw a bloody knife on the floor. She summoned Erica’s neighbor, a highway patrolman. They found Erica’s blood-soaked body in the kitchen. Her murder was clearly crime of passion as she had been stabbed sixty-seven times.

Repeatedly Stabbed

The prime suspect was obvious.  John Feiga had also missed work the last two days, during which time he had been seen driving Erica’s 1992 Honda, which was located two weeks later, on December 23, seven-hundred-seventy miles away in a Lafayette, Louisiana, hospital parking lot near his hometown. None of Feiga’s family or friends in the area claimed to have recently seen him.

Feiga Flees

Signs of a struggle were found in Erica’s kitchen, and tests showed her blood had been mixed with that of another person. Detectives suspected it was Feiga’s, but they could not locate a sample of his DNA for comparison.

A decade later, Feiga’s DNA was obtained and confirmed him as Erica’s killer. The case was closed, but not in the way authorities had hoped.

 

Feiga’s Fate

On April 13, 1998, five months after the murder of Erica Richardson in Florida, a man’s body was found in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River. He remained unidentified for over a decade until July 2008, when the part of the mixed DNA found on Erica’s body was matched to the John Doe’s.

Feiga’s dental records from his time in the Army confirmed the remains were his. DNA testing confirmed he was Erica Richardson’s killer.

Perhaps poetic justice had been served as Feiga had also been murdered. Authorities have not disclosed how he was killed and the culprit remains unknown.

If you believe you have information relating to the murder of John Feiga, please contact the St. Mary Parish, Louisiana Sheriff’s Office at (337) 828-1960.

 

A Fitting End for Feiga

The Murderer is Murdered

Although John Feiga was not tried in a court of law, authorities have declared him the killer of Erica Richardson.

Case Closed

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/173190911/erica-linnea-richardson#

 

SOURCES;

• America’s Most Wanted
• Northeast Florida Daily News
• St. Petersburg Times
• Tampa Bay Times
• Unsolved Mysteries