Charges were filed earlier this month in the cold case killing of 18-year-old Donna Sue Wayne, whose body was found in a field in 1986.
Prosecutors have accused 65-year-old Richard Saathoff of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping in connection with her death.
Saathoff is already serving time in Canon City for a separate case involving the 1987 murder and sexual assault of Norma Houston. An affidavit notes that Houston’s death shared similarities with Wayne’s.
Investigators say newly developed forensic work, including DNA and fingerprint evidence, helped confirm the charges in Wayne’s case.
Wayne went missing on June 14, 1986, after attending a party in Aurora. She later visited a bar, where she was last spotted with three men.
Her vehicle was found abandoned in the Hoffman Heights area on June 15, 1986, the day after Wayne disappeared. However, it took investigators nearly two weeks to determine that the car was connected to her case.
Earlier reports identified the car as a red 1972 Ford LTD, but the arrest affidavit clarifies that the vehicle was actually green.
A few weeks later, the car keys were discovered by a neighbor in a bush just down the block near a local elementary school.
About a month later, her skeletal remains were located near E. 39th Avenue and N. Picadilly Road.
A witness reported hearing Wayne scream for help before a shirtless blond man pushed her into the back seat of a car and drove away.
Her precise cause of death could not be determined because much of her remains had decomposed. The coroner did note, however, that she had numerous fractures, including injuries to her ribs, jaw, clavicle, neck, face, and chest.
Her clothes, which were strewn about the area where she was last seen alive, was also discovered and found to contain male DNA.
According to the affidavit, fingerprints collected from her vehicle were misplaced for years. They were finally recovered in 2009 and identified as matching Saathoff’s prints.
Recent DNA analysis done earlier this year on material from Wayne’s jeans also matched Saathoff’s profile.
During police interviews in both 2014 and 2025, Saathoff denied ever meeting Wayne or having any role in her death. He also insisted that he did not drive, a claim that conflicts with his documented driving history.
The new charges in Wayne’s case were officially filed on November 3. Saathoff is scheduled to enter a plea at his next court hearing in December.
