Multiple stab wounds kill restaurant official

Murder

Multiple stab wounds kill restaurant official

By John Barton

POLICE REPORTER

The night manager of a popular campus-area restaurant was found stabbed to death early Sunday only a few feet from the front door of her southside Ann Arbor townhouse.

Police said the body of Glenda Richmond, 26, was discovered about 5:15 a.m. near her residence at 3367 Braeburn Circle. Police said she died from multiple stab wounds.

Her body was fully clothed and her purse was found nearby. Police said she did not appear to have been sexually assaulted, and investigators doubted that robbery was a motive for the slaying.

MISS RICHMOND was the night manager of the Brown Jug Restaurant, 1204 S. University St., and had worked there about seven years.

“We’ve been told by police not to talk about it,” said one of Miss Richmond’s co-workers, “but she did work Saturday night, and didn’t leave until late, when the restaurant closed.

“She was a very good friend of mine and a great person. I’ve known her four years, and she was just a great person and so full of promise. Everyone was crazy about her.”

There are several similarities between Miss Richmond’s slaying and the still-unsolved stabbing death in April of a 17-year-old Ann Arbor Pioneer High School student, Shirley Small.

DURING THE early-morning hours of April 20, also a Sunday, Miss Small’s body was found near her home at 2832 Page St. on the city’s near southeast side, approximately 1 1/2 miles northwest of Miss Richmond’s Braeburn Circle address.

Miss Small’s purse also was found near her fully clothed body, and investigators in charge of that case said she was not sexually attacked and did not appear to have been the victim of a random mugging or robbery.

Both victims were stabbed, and no weapon was left behind.

Police also believe both women were killed at or near the place their bodies were found, as opposed to being slain elsewhere then dumped in front of their residences.

“THERE ARE some similarities between the two,” agreed Maj. Walter Hawkins of the Ann Arbor Police Department, “but there are also some things that are dissimilar. Right now we don’t have anything at all that would connect them.

“We haven’t ruled it out - we will still be looking at that possibility as the investigation continues - but there is nothing at the present time that would link the two together.”

Miss Richmond’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. William N. Richmond, live in Rochester.

Funeral services have been set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Pixley Memorial Chapel, 322 W. University Drive, Rochester.