VPPD solves 23-year-old rape case

Ville Platte Police Chief Neal Lartigue reported on Wednesday that his department solved a rape cold case that dates back to 1995.
According to a VPPD release, Allen Reed Richard, 57, was arrested on November 10, 2018 and booked into the city jail on one count of aggravated rape.
In the release from the VPPD, it states the original report from this case was “filed in June of 1995,” and “a black male subject was stopped at a residence and asked for water, then kicked in the door of the residence and raped the homeowner.”
The victim, who was 47 at the time of the reported attack, “died in 2004 before the suspect was identified.”
According to the police department, “the Acadiana Crime Lab recently reported to the detectives at the Ville Plate Police Department that they had DNA match on the suspect, which resulted in an arrest in the 23-year-old case.”
Since his arrest, Richard was transferred to the Evangeline Parish Jail on a $350,000.00 bond.