In the summer of 2019, a man named Emilio Maturin, age 36, vanished from Auburn, Washington, leaving behind a story of promises and betrayal. He was last seen in July after a man named Richard Bradley Jr. allegedly told him a tale of buried gold. According to Maturin's girlfriend, who overheard the conversation, Bradley claimed he needed help digging up the treasure in Auburn. Though initially skeptical, Maturin, who was known to carry large sums of money, agreed to go along.
He left that day with about $15,000 in cash in his recently purchased BMW and was never heard from again.
His girlfriend grew worried and, using his phone's GPS, tracked him to the Game Farm Park wilderness area. A sense of fear kept her from venturing into the woods to look for him, a decision that would haunt her. Later that same day, police noticed Maturin's unlicensed BMW parked near the wilderness area. They waited, and when Bradley returned and drove the car away, they attempted to pull him over. Bradley fled, leading to a car and foot chase that ended in his arrest for eluding police. When questioned, he claimed the car belonged to a friend. With Maturin still missing two weeks later, his girlfriend officially reported his disappearance.
For nearly two years, Maturin's fate remained a mystery. The case broke in May 2021, when investigators were recovering the body of another of Bradley's alleged victims, Brandi Blake, who was found in a shallow grave in the same Game Farm Park. Near her body, they discovered three human rib bones that did not belong to her. The bones were sent for DNA testing, and in April 2022, they were confirmed to be the remains of Emilio Maturin.
The investigation revealed a sinister pattern. Prosecutors allege that Richard Bradley Jr., a suspected serial killer, used the same story of buried gold to lure at least four victims to wooded areas to kill them and steal their money and vehicles. A witness had told police that Bradley spoke of befriending a man named Emilio years prior and luring him into the woods with the gold story to murder him. Following the DNA match, Bradley, who was already in custody for Blake's murder, was charged with the premeditated first-degree murder of Emilio Maturin. He was also charged in the deaths of a father and son, Michael Goeman and Vance Lakey, who were also found in the same vicinity after being shot.
