DETROIT (WXYZ) — Rodney Barger's sister says she never gave up hope that the man accused of killing her brother would be brought to justice.
Richard Werstine, also known as Joseph Alan Stavros, was wanted in the 1993 killing of his roommate, Barger, in Detroit. Authorities say Werstine skipped trial and disappeared for more than 30 years before being captured last month at a dog park in Panama City.
Barger's sister, who asked not to be identified out of fear for her safety, says she still remembers the day her brother was killed.
"It was gut-wrenching, but I wasn't really surprised at the same time because he was hard-core punk, you know, the crowds, that type of place that you're in, the music. He wasn't heading in a good direction," she said.
Investigators say Werstine killed his 23-year-old roommate in Detroit in 1993. Police arrested him days later, but he was out on bond when authorities say he never showed up for trial and disappeared.
The U.S. Marshals Service says the case was reopened in 2022, when the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team started tracking his movements. Authorities say Werstine had been arrested multiple times over the years using different aliases, without anyone knowing his true identity.
After developing leads in Panama, investigators say he was arrested last month at a dog park there. Marshals say he was carrying a fake ID, and fingerprint testing confirmed his true identity. Investigators say Werstine later admitted to being on the run for decades and told authorities he entered Panama illegally in 2005.
Barger's sister says she learned about the arrest from a Facebook post.
"I saw the post and I was like why does that look familiar and I opened it up and I saw my brother's name and I was like what the hell, and I just read the whole thing and I just burst into tears. It was shocking," she said.
She says even as the years passed, the family never stopped searching for answers.
"I never gave up hope because I just felt it was unfair. He was so young, and he didn't have a chance, you know," she said. "It broke my heart because time went by, so much time went by that, did they forget about him because I didn't forget about him you know."
She says the arrest brings a complicated mix of emotions.
"I feel like when you're a bad person, that day of reckoning will always come. It might take time, but you just have to keep that hope and that's what I did is I just kept that hope," she said.
"It's like bittersweet. I'm happy, but the wounds were reopened. But at least now they can close and kind of be closed for good, for good reasoning," she said.
U.S. Marshals deputies traveled to Panama over the weekend to bring Werstine back to the United States. He is now waiting to see a judge in the Houston, Texas area before being turned over to Wayne County authorities.
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