William Richter was a 23-year-old white Army serviceman who was shot during an armed robbery tied to the group called the De Mau Mau. On September 2, 1972, Richter and James Davis were near trucks parked along a Highland Park, Illinois, highway when several men arrived intending to steal money. The robbery turned violent after Richter resisted; he was critically wounded and taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago, where he died on September 14 from his injuries sustained in the September 2 shooting. Davis survived his attack.

Richter was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, after entering the Army in 1967 and serving two tours in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart. Investigators linked the killing to members and associates of the De Mau Mau, a loosely organized Chicago group associated with brothers Reuben and Donald Taylor. Six alleged members were indicted for Richter’s murder and the robbery; testimony placed several Taylor-associated men at the scene, but court records don’t conclusively identify who fired the fatal shot. Wilson, Peatry and Clark received long prison terms; two co-defendants were murdered while jailed before their cases concluded.