Richard Steeves

In 1987, Steeves' attorney Ricky Brunette sought a new trial for Steeves. Brunette claimed that testimony that had been ruled inadmissible by Justice Arthur Brennan would have contradicted denials by a different man, whom they claimed was the real killer. Brunette also claimed the jury did not have enough evidence to back up the guilty verdict. In 2017, Steeves publicly announced he felt he was safe enough to be freed from prison. He claims he had been rehabilitated, though he remains imprisoned.

In 1984, Steeves was paroled from prison and was sent to live with his brother in Unity, Maine. In April 1985, Steeves broke into the mobile home of 69-year-old gift shop owner Russell F. Bailey in Wells. He attacked Bailey and struck him in the head with a blunt instrument, likely a club, multiple times in the head, killing him. He left the home not long after. A relative of Bailey who lived nearby visited his home after having not spoken to him for a few days. They entered the home and found his body on April 29. The following month, witnesses came forward with information that they saw Steeves' pickup truck parked in from of Bailey's driveway the day of the murder.

Steeves was charged with three of the murders in Ohio and New Hampshire but was not charged with the murders in Maine. A trial started in New Hampshire, and Steeves admitted responsibility, though he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After further research, the New Hampshire Supreme Court stopped the trial and automatically acquitted Steeves by reason of insanity. Afterwards he was transferred to the Concord Mental Hospital. In 1971, Steeves filed an affidavit requesting to be extradited to Ohio for a speedy trial.

On December 14, 1971, he arrived in Ohio, but for the next six months he had to undergo psychiatric exams. He had to return to New Hampshire after a while. In 1980, nurses and psychiatrists stated the Steeves no longer a threat to society, and he was allowed to leave the hospital grounds without an escort. In 1983, having still not been tried for the Ohio and Maine murders, Ohio prosecutor William Owens decided to not prosecute Steeves for the murders. In the mid-1980s, Steeves took an agreement which allowed him to serve 3 to 7 years in prison.

In January 1966, Steeves left the New England area and drove to Ohio. There, when his car broke down, he befriended 84-year-old Lewis Gephart and his 35-year-old son Francis. They invited Steeves back to their home in Coshocton, where, on January 3, he bludgeoned both to death. Steeves then stole Francis' car and drove back to New Hampshire.

On June 13, 1965, five months after his release, Steeves attacked 83-year-old Harry Staples in Augusta, Maine. He beat Staples viciously with his own cane. Steeves fled the scene. Staples was found clinging to life and was rushed to the hospital, where he was treated for two weeks in intensive care until he eventually died. In the investigation following, police interviewed numerous suspects, but Steeves remained free.

Steeves was interviewed about Bailey's murder by Robert Hohler, a reporter for the Concord Monitor. Steeves gave conflicting statements; he stated that Bailey loaned him $1,000 for sexual favors, and that someone else killed him, but he also said that he had a vivid dream like memory of killing Bailey. During his interrogation, Steeves stated that he began to question his faith in God. Steeves was charged with Bailey's murder. At the same time, Maine authorities also decided to prosecute him for the 1965 murder of Harold Staples, who was known to have been Steeves' first victim for decades but up to that point had not been charged with the killing.

Richard E. Steeves (born February 1, 1942) is an American serial killer who murdered five people in three states from June 1965 through January 1966. He was tried for these crimes and acquitted by reason of insanity. He was sent to a mental hospital, where he remained until he was released in 1984. A year after his release, Steeves murdered another person in Maine. For this murder he was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Richard E. Steeves was born in Waterville, Maine on February 1, 1942. When he was 5 years old, his father committed suicide, and soon after his mother gave him up to an orphanage. Steeves dropped out of school in eighth grade, and afterwards he began committed petty crimes which landed him in a reformatory. Once an adult his behavior did not change, and he spent most of his time in and out of jail. During his incarceration, Steeves was often heard threatening to kill guards and other inmates. He was last released in 1965.