Richard Crowder, a 65-year-old White man, was killed inside his home in Exeter, California, during the early morning hours of May 30, 2022. Shortly after 1:00 a.m., authorities responded to the residence after gunshots were reported. Crowder was found inside the home suffering from gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The violence that night also extended to Crowder's two dogs. Both animals were shot during the attack, and one of them did not survive. Investigators began treating Crowder's death as a homicide, but in the immediate aftermath authorities did not publicly identify a suspect or disclose a motive for the shooting. The circumstances surrounding what happened inside the home remained largely unanswered as detectives continued working to determine who was responsible.
For nearly three years, Crowder's homicide remained without a publicly announced arrest. The investigation eventually led Tulare County Sheriff's Office detectives to Nicholas Hayes of Exeter. Investigators obtained a warrant for Hayes in connection with Crowder's killing, and on March 21, 2025, detectives located him at a residence on Florence Avenue in Goshen. Hayes was taken into custody and booked into the Tulare County Sheriff's Office Pre-Trial Facility on a murder charge.
Hayes's arrest marked a significant development in a case that had remained unresolved since 2022. Although authorities publicly identified him as the man accused of killing Crowder, many details concerning the motive, the relationship between Hayes and Crowder, and the evidence that ultimately led investigators to Hayes were not widely disclosed in initial public reports. The arrest nevertheless moved the investigation from an unsolved homicide into a criminal prosecution.
The case eventually proceeded to trial. On July 31, 2026, after hearing the evidence presented in court, a jury found Nicholas Hayes guilty of Richard Crowder's murder. The verdict brought a measure of legal resolution more than four years after Crowder was found fatally shot inside his home and more than a year after Hayes had been arrested.
Hayes is scheduled to be sentenced on October 18, 2026. His conviction means the case is no longer an unresolved homicide or merely an accusation against a suspect. A jury has now determined beyond a reasonable doubt that Hayes was responsible for Crowder's murder, with the remaining stage of the criminal proceedings being the imposition of his sentence.
Richard Crowder's death began as a late-night shooting inside the place where he should have been safe, leaving him dead and both of his dogs wounded, one fatally. What followed was an investigation lasting nearly three years before an arrest and more than four years before a jury returned its guilty verdict. With Hayes now convicted and awaiting sentencing, the criminal case has reached its final stage, while the loss suffered by Crowder's family remains far greater than what any verdict or sentence can undo.
