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Every crime scene—and its victim—offers a narrative filled with complexity.
Such was the scenario on January 31, 2002, when police were alerted to the presence of a deceased man inside a vehicle abandoned at a Las Vegas trailer park.
To ensure that crucial evidence was not compromised, the investigators decided to tow the Ford Escort directly to the crime lab, leaving the body undisturbed.
The victim, identified as 36-year-old Richard Carno, was found bound with a black plastic bag covering his head. Carno had been employed as a lighting technician at one of the local casinos.
His wife, Susanne Carno, had reported him missing the previous day, a detail shared in the November 15 episode of Oxygen’s series The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher, which airs Saturdays at 9/8c p.m.
His wife, Susanne, had reported him missing a day earlier, as recounted in the Nov. 15 episode of Oxygen’s The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m.
Who was Richard Carno?
Investigators learned that Richard grew up in Southern California. After Richard’s parents divorced, his dad moved to Las Vegas.
As an adult, Richard moved there too. Richard’s best friend Howard Bieber fondly recalled of him, “He was very loyal. People would gravitate to him because of that.”
Four years before he was found dead, he and Susanne met. After a whirlwind courtship, they wed. “Each came to the relationship,” said Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Glenn Puit, “with children from prior relationships.”
By his best friend Howard Bieber’s account, Richard “was living the life of the American dream,” he said. “A woman by his side, kids by his side. He was an amazing dad.”
Clues found in the crime lab
When Richard’s body was removed from the passenger seat of the car, law enforcement couldn’t immediately see what killed him.
“There was no breakage of the skull, there were no fractured bones,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detective Ken Hardy. “There were no gunshot wounds, there were no stab wounds.”
Petechial hemorrhages–tiny pinpoint bleeding spots–were observed in Richard’s eyes. “This is characteristic of strangulation,” Barbara Butcher noted. “Strangulation of any kind is really personal.”
Susanne Carno interviewed by police
Richard’s wife had made very emphatic appeals through the media for help to solve his murder. So much so she raised a red flag.
“It was very dramatic, overly dramatic,” said FBI special agent Thomas Leighton. “Perhaps she’s doing that because she’s not distraught at all.”
Four days into the case, police found no evidence that Susanne was involved in the crime but kept her on their radar. Officials focused on finding Richard’s connection to the trailer park.
Witnesses recounted seeing a man who was partially restrained running through the mobile home park in the hours prior to the homicide.
“He had duct tape around his ankles, duct tape around his wrist,” said Puit. “It looked like he was running for his life.”
Eventually, the man caught up with Richard and restrained him with handcuffs. He led him back in the direction. Witnesses confirmed through photos, the man was Richard.
One witness said that on Jan. 30 she’d complained about a green Ford Escort – the same car Carno drove – being parked where it didn’t belong.
She said that a man came out who said his name was John Brian Ray moved the car.
Who is John Brian Ray?
Detectives learned that Ray, then 36, was according to Butcher, “a dangerous, scary kind of guy.”
He had a criminal history for assault and had been linked to drugs. He was also Susanne’s brother. She claimed, according to Leighton, that from John’s perspective, Richard wasn’t manly enough because he did household chores.
Detectives discovered that John sometimes stayed at the trailer park with a man named James Walsh—one of the individuals who’d called 911 about the body.
“Police learn that John Ray would occasionally visit James Walsh’s trailer,” said Puit, “and the allegation was that they did drugs together.”
Police interview James Walsh
Police interviewed Walsh, who admitted knowing John. When detectives brought up the reported chase in the trailer park, said Purdy, “he appeared nervous.”
Walsh told police that the day before the body was discovered, John arrived at his trailer in a green Ford Escort, grabbed a blanket and used it to cover the car.
At some point the blanket slipped, recounted Leighton. “That’s when Walsh is able to see there’s somebody in the passenger seat. He’s alive, but he’s bound.”
According to Walsh, John said it was his brother-in-law and warned him with a threat of death not to utter a word about the situation.
Walsh claimed that he was too scared to say a word about it to anyone. But police considered that he may have been more involved than he was admitting. They fingerprinted Walsh.
John Brian Ray arrested
Being the primary suspect, John was arrested. At the same time, crime lab results matched James Walsh’s fingerprint to prints on the bag covering Richard’s head.
Walsh claimed that John took a plastic bag from a roll of bags he had in his trailer.
Walsh went on to say that John had told him he was going to do a murder for hire and get $50,000 for it. “John Ray said that his sister Susanne,” Purdy recounted, “was paying him to kill Richard.”
Susanne Carno becomes a suspect
After learning that Susanne had allegedly masterminded her husband’s murder, police spoke to Richard’s family members.
“Susanne was just behaving in ways that didn’t seem like a normal grieving widow,” Richard’s sister Laura said. “I don’t know that there’s a playbook on what they should all look like, but it was strange.”
Investigators also discovered, said Puit, that “Susanne Carno had racked up tens of thousands of dollars of debt on her credit card.”
Susanne’s actions had driven Richard to the point, Bieber shared, that he was talking about wanting a divorce. Was the crime financially motivated?
Detectives searched Susanne’s and her brother’s phone and computer histories, forensic analyst Matt Steiner shared. John’s devices turned up correspondence with Susanne about building a bookcase for $50. Police believed that was code for the $50,000 hit.
Digging deeper into the Carno financials, investigators found that Susanne stood to inherit $500,000 from Richard’s recently purchased life insurance policy.
“So, the motive to kill Richard,” said Purdy, “it was about money.”
Susanne Carno and John Brian Ray arrested for murder
While officials didn’t have enough evidence to charge James Walsh, they went ahead and built their case against Susanne and John.
In 2004, the joint trial began. James Walsh was a key witness for the state.
Prosecutors laid out their theory of the crime. When Richard Carno left for work on Jan. 30, he was abducted by John Ray in his vehicle. After being held hostage for 18 hours, he was killed and left in the vehicle.
Susanne and John were both found guilty of murder. The DA offered a deal to them for 40 years with the possibility of parole versus the death sentence. The siblings accepted the deal and are now behind bars.
The Death Investigator with Barbara Butcher airs Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
