William Richter was a 23-year-old white male and United States Army serviceman who became the victim of an armed robbery carried out by members of the group authorities called the De Mau Mau gang. On September 2, 1972, Richter and James Davis were near trucks parked along a highway in Highland Park, Illinois, when several men arrived intending to steal money.
The group had reportedly been brought to the location after Michael Clark suggested that they could make money by robbing people connected with the parked trucks.
The encounter erupted into violence when Richter resisted the robbers. He was shot and critically wounded, while Davis was also attacked but survived. Richter was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago, where he remained for nearly two weeks before dying on September 14. Although September 2 is sometimes recorded as the date of his death, it was the date of the shooting; his injuries proved fatal twelve days later.
Richter was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and had previously lived in Springfield, Illinois. He entered the Army in 1967 and served two tours in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. His death came after he had survived military service overseas, only to be fatally attacked while back in Illinois. He was later buried with military honors at Camp Butler National Cemetery.
The investigation connected Richter’s killing to members and associates of the De Mau Mau group, a loosely organized Chicago organization whose alleged members were being investigated for several murders and robberies committed across Illinois in 1972. The group was frequently associated with brothers Reuben and Donald Taylor. Although Reuben Taylor was accused and later convicted in connection with other killings attributed to members of the group, available court records do not establish that he personally participated in the attack on Richter.
Six alleged De Mau Mau members were indicted for Richter’s murder and armed robbery and for the attempted murder of James Davis. The defendants included Michael Clark, Robert Wilson, Horace Peatry, Edward Moran, Nathaniel Burse and another alleged participant connected to the Taylor group. Testimony indicated that William “Butch” Jackson drove Wilson, Moran and Clark to the robbery scene, while three additional men followed in a vehicle belonging to Donald Taylor’s wife. This evidence placed members of the Taylor-associated group directly at the scene, even though the records do not conclusively identify which individual fired the fatal shot.
The prosecutions were complicated by further violence. While the defendants were being held in the Lake County Jail, Moran and Burse were murdered before their cases could be completed. The remaining defendants were tried separately. Wilson received three concurrent prison terms of 20 to 60 years. Peatry was sentenced to concurrent terms of 40 to 120 years, and Clark received a sentence of 40 to 120 years for Richter’s murder and armed robbery and the attempted murder of Davis.
Richter can therefore be accurately described as a victim of the De Mau Mau defendants and the criminal circle associated with Reuben and Donald Taylor. However, the evidence available online supports attributing the killing to members of that group rather than stating conclusively that Reuben Taylor himself killed or was present during the attack.
