Richard Knapp: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

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Richard Knapp is the 57 year old man who was arrested in Vancouver, Washington on a 25 year old murder charge. Vancouver police took Knapp into custody on May 1 and booked him into the Clark County Jail. Authorities said DNA evidence linked Knapp to the 1994 murder of Audrey Hoellein. Hoellein was 25 years old and the mother of five year old son when she was found dead in her apartment. Police say she was likely raped and then murdered. The case went unsolved for decades. But now, police say new forensic evidence points to Richard Knapp. Here’s what you need to know:


1. Police Started Investigating Knapp After Getting Help from a Private Genealogy Sites

Police were stumped as to how to crack the 25 cold case around Audrey Hoellein’s murder. But then a chance encounter inspired them to ask for help from an unlikely source: a private DNA lab. In 2018, members of the Vancouver Police Department met representatives of the Virginia-based Parabon Nanolabs at a conference. The company took DNA which had been found at the original crime scene and then delivered a report to the police which included a composite image of the suspect’s appearance, both at the time of the murder and at present. The company also gave police a genealogy report.

Police said a member of Knapp’s family had already come forward to point police toward Knapp. Authorities took a sample of his DNA and compared it to the DNA from the crime scene. Little by little, police were on Knapp’s trail.


2. A tossed- Away Cigarette Butt Gave Police Access to Knapp’s DNA

Police suspected Knapp of involvement in the 1994 murder of Audrey Hoellein, but they did not have any evidence directly linking him to the crime. They also didn’t have Knapp’s DNA. So officers carried out constant surveillance of Knapp for months, watching him at his workplace near Portland International Airport. Finally, the investigative team grabbed a cigarette butt that Knapp tossed out. They were able to recover a sample of Knapp’s DNA from the cigarette butt, and investigators confirmed that it matched the DNA which had been found at the crime scene.

That’s when police arrested Knapp and charged him with first and second degree murder of a woman in Vancouver a quarter century ago. On July 17, 1994, the 26 year old Audrey Hoellein was found dead in her bed at the Family Tree Apartments in Vancouver. Authorities said at the time that she had been raped and then strangled to death.


3. Knapp Has a Prior Conviction for Violent Sexual Assault on His Record

In 1986, Richard Knapp was convicted of raping a woman in Clark County, Oregon. He also strangled that victim, choking her until she was nearly unconscious. As a part of his conviction, Knapp was ordered to provide police with a sample of his DNA to be kept on the record. But the sample was never put into the database of DNA, andwas eventually lost during an error in 2000. That meant that when Knapp came under suspicion for the 1994 murder and rape of Audrey Hoellein in Vancouver, police didn’t have a sample of his DNA to compare to the DNA at the crime scene.

After working with a private DNA lab last year, Vancouver police created a composite image of what the likely killer of Audrey Hoellein looked like. The lab was able to take DNA from the crime scene and create a picture of what the killer looked like in 1994, and at present. Police suspected Richard Knapp, but had no evidence. That’s when they decided to trail him. Eventually, they managed to grab one of his tossed-away cigarette butts and gather his DNA, which matched the DNA at the crime scene.


4. Police Have Notified the Victim’s Son, Now 30 Years Old

At the time of Audrey Hoellein’s death, she was a 26 year old with a five year old son. Her son is now 30 years old and has a child of his own. Hoellein’s family described her as a devoted mother who would do anything for her son. “The love of her life was her son,” Audrey’s brother, Marty, said. “She was just the best mom, the nicest, caringest person you could imagine.”

Police said that notifying Hoellein’s son about Knapp’s arrest was one of the most rewarding aspects of the case. The Hoellein family issued a statement after the arrest, writing:

“This crime not only took away a sister from her two brothers, it left a mother and father without a daughter, and a young child without a mother. Since then the family has grown with nephews that will never meet their aunt, and a grandchild that can only see grandma in pictures, only knowing her from shared memories.

We as a family are grateful for the many detectives that have worked on this case. But, we are extremely grateful for detectives Dustin Goudschaal and Neil Martin. The loss of a loved one is something very tragic for a family. When this loss was at the hands of someone else, the grief is impossible to bare. Many losses have closure at the funeral; in this case the funeral wasn’t enough. Our family was left with so many unknowns, the biggest of these being who did this awful crime. As this case is starting to unfold after almost 25 years, the wound is being re-opened, and our family is experiencing the pain all over again. But, Thanks to detectives Dustin Goudschaal and Neil Martin our family may finally have the opportunity to find closure to our biggest unknown. We hope that the use of this technology can be used to bring closure to more families across the nation”.


5. Knapp Spent Just 60 Days Behind Bars After Being Convicted of Rape in 1986

In 1986, Knapp was convicted of third degree rape. He allegedly choked the victim in the case until she became nearly unconscious. After his conviction, he was sentenced to 12 months in jail. But according to court records, Knapp spent just 60 days in prison. He was ordered to go through an alcohol treatment program. After violating the terms of that agreement, Knapp went back into treatment and completed his sentence in December 1997.

Knapp made his first court appearance on May 1 and is due back in court on May 24. His bail has been set at $1 million.