A San Diego man who was convicted of murdering a teen on Marco Island in 1976 and served 10 years for the killing was charged this week with the murder of a woman at his downtown apartment in San Diego, authorities there confirmed Wednesday.
Richard Woodrick, 47, is charged with one count of murder in the woman’s death.
Woodrick called 911 at 8:57 a.m. Feb. 5 to request medical aid for the woman in his room at the Buckner Hotel in San Diego, where Woodrick lives. Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene and contacted the San Diego Police Department, a statement from San Diego police said.
Detectives interviewed Woodrick, who said the woman was injured in a fall. San Diego Police Detective Kevin Rooney said the 50-year-old woman died of blunt force trauma and strangulation.
Rooney, a homicide investigator with San Diego police, said Wednesday the victim has been identified, but authorities won’t release her name until her next of kin are notified.
Woodrick pleaded innocent at an arraignment in San Diego County court on Wednesday, said State Attorneys Office spokesman Paul Levikow.
Woodrick was 17 when he was convicted of second-degree murder in 1976 for the death of Linda Greenbaum, 16, of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Greenbaum was a sophomore and straight-A student at Shaker Heights High School and an outstanding pianist at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Lionel Greenbaum, her father, was a vice president in the Cleveland office of Merrill Lynch and a prominent member of Cleveland civic community, the Naples Daily News reported.
Woodrick and his family, from Grand Rapids, Mich., were visiting Marco Island and were staying at the Admiralty House on Seaview Court.
Greenbaum and her family, including her father, mother Dorothy and two older teenage brothers, also were staying at the Admiralty.
Investigators believe Greenbaum met Woodrick at the Admiralty and knew him for two weeks prior to her murder, according to a Jan. 2, 1976 account in the Daily News.
Greenbaum’s body was found buried on the beach on Marco at 3:30 p.m. New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 1976. A small girl shelling on the beach with her mother told the parent that she saw a toe sticking out of the sand. The mother didn’t believe the child, but they brushed away the sand and found Greenbaum’s body in soft sand just above the vegetation line. Greenbaum was nude. Portions of her clothing were found near her body.
The cause of death was strangulation. The indictment against Woodrick stated that Greenbaum was killed while Woodrick was raping or attempting to rape the girl. Greenbaum was last seen by a brother at 11:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve. Her parents reported her missing at 2 a.m. New Year’s Day, according to a Jan. 11, 1976 account in the Daily News.
Woodrick was charged as an adult on a first degree murder charge in Greenbaum’s death. Florida sentencing guidelines at the time for a first degree murder conviction were death or life in prison with a minimum of 25 years served before parole eligibility.
Woodrick later entered a guilty plea to second degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison — a punishment that brought criticism to the judge handling the case as being too light. Woodrick was released from prison in 1985 after serving almost 10 years.
The same year of his release, Woodrick was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in Isabella County, Florida. He moved to San Diego in the late 1990s after being released from prison on that conviction, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. No further details on the Isabella County conviction were available Wednesday.
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