LOCKPORT — The discovery of the skeletal remains of a woman under a stairwell in an Orleans Avenue apartment building in March has led to the indictment of a Falls man suspected of being a serial killer.
A Niagara County grand jury handed up an indictment Monday that charges Richard J. Fox, 62, with one count of second-degree murder in the slaying of Crystal Curthoys, 32, of Lockport. Fox, represented by a Niagara County public defender, entered a plea of not guilty and was ordered held without bail by County Court Judge John Ottaviano.
He is due back in court Jan. 15 for further proceedings.
Fox has already been sentenced to a state prison term of 40 years to life for the murder of two Buffalo women. At the time of his arrest in connection with those murders, law enforcement sources indicated that Fox was a “suspect in other unsolved crimes,” including possible homicides.
On March 28, detectives from the Falls Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID), along with Buffalo Police Homicide Squad and Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office investigators, executed a search warrant at an apartment building at 2419 Orleans Ave. A search of the apartment building led to the discovery of what was described as the “badly decomposed” remains of a woman under a stairwell and enclosed in drywall.
Law enforcement sources later confirmed that Fox had lived in an apartment in the Orleans Avenue building and had worked as a handyman for a former owner of the property.
Just over a week after the discovery of the victim, on April 8, Falls and Buffalo police detectives and New York State Police investigators executed additional search warrants at locations on Pierce, Pine, and LaSalle avenues. In the 1100 block of Pierce Avenue, investigators also seized and towed away a white Chevy Express Utility van parked behind a residence.
Sources said the van was linked to Fox. Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation have also said Falls Police Crime Scene Unit detectives were able to recover DNA evidence from Curthoys’ remains and identify her through dental records.
Other sources said that Fox and Curthoys “were known to each other” and that they had been “living together in the Falls.” Prosecutors said on Monday that they believe Curthoys was killed “in January 2023 in the Falls.”
In May, Falls police conducted a “forensic dig” in the backyard of the Orleans Avenue building, but did not turn up any additional evidence.
Fox previously pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the cold case slayings of Cassandra Watson and Marquita Mull. Watson is believed to have been killed in Buffalo sometime between 2003 and 2004, while Mull was likely murdered there in June 2021.
On Sept. 26, 2021, a hiker, walking along the Chautauqua Rails to Trails near Woleben Road in the Town of Portland, discovered the remains of a human skull. A forensic analysis determined that the skeletal remains had been buried at the site for more than a decade.
The following day, Sept. 27, 2021, investigators discovered Mull’s body, in a shallow grave, as they excavated the site where Watson’s remains had been discovered.
Both women were reported to have been involved in relationships with Fox, a registered sex offender.
Fox was arrested on Jan. 7 as he walked in the 1000 block of Portage Road in the Falls. He was taken into custody by a Falls Police Narcotics & Intelligence Division (NID) detective and a Falls detective assigned to the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force.
Falls police said investigators with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and the Buffalo Police Department had contacted them for assistance in locating Fox, who, although he was from Buffalo, was living in the Falls at that time.