Widow, Convicted Murderer Friend Charged With Killing Her Firefighter Husband In 2019

A widow and a previously convicted murderer have been charged with the fatal shooting of her husband, a beloved firefighter.

Elizabeth Fox-Doerr, 50, and Larry Richmond Sr., 42, were charged with murdering Evansville firefighter Robert Doerr, 51, the Evansville Police Department said during a  press conference on Tuesday. 

Fox-Doerr has been incarcerated since she was arrested on July 12 for perjury in connection with her grand jury testimony in the case. She pleaded not guilty to the perjury charges, according to NBC Indianapolis affiliate WTHR.

Richmond pleaded guilty to ”unrelated” federal weapons charges in August 2020, according to police, and remains incarcerated as well.

Both are now also charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Robert Doerr was shot multiple times in his own driveway on Feb. 26, 2019, after he had returned home following a 12-hour shift at the Evansville Fire Department Hose House 1. The victim was still alive when responders arrived at the residence shortly after 7:00 p.m., but Doerr succumbed to his injuries on the scene a short time later.

Fox-Doerr claimed that she was home alone at the time of the shooting.

Police this week called a “senseless” and “selfish” act of violence, and say that Fox-Doerr hired Richmond as a hitman, according to People.

On March 5, 2019 — a week after Doerr’s murder — Fox-Doerr had been arrested on charges of obstruction of justice. Authorities alleged that she had deleted the record of a phone call she made shortly before she called 911 to report her husband's shooting, according to ABC Evansville affiliate WEHT. She was charged days later with falsifying information to authorities.

Those charges were eventually dropped, according to WTHR.

In 2020, Richmond was named as a person of interest in Doerr’s murder. Richmond allegedly “had a relationship with the Doerr family at the time Robert was executed,” said Evansville Police Detective Blake Keen at the time.

In a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Courier & Press for the recent murder charges, detectives said an examination of the deleted call revealed a five-minute conversation between Fox-Doerr and Richmond just before Doerr’s fatal shooting.

Fox-Doerr allegedly admitted that she initially lied about the phone call between her and Richmond but later copped to it, claiming she feared investigators would suspect that the two were having an extramarital affair, per the affidavit — which she denied. Authorities say she said she didn’t want to see Richmond get in trouble because she knew he had a criminal past.

Richmond had been released from prison in March 2018 after serving part of a 45-year sentence for murder: According to WEHT, Richmond was 17 when he shot 70-year-old James Montgomery to death in the late 1990s.

However, a witness statement from Richmond’s son claimed to have seen the pair kissing on a previous occasion outside of her home. Investigators also cited a letter written by Doerr suggesting he knew his wife was having an affair, according to the Courier & Press.

In addition, a search of Richmond’s phone showed him using a police scanner app just minutes before and minutes after the murder, according to the Courier & Press.

Other cell phone data extracted from Richmond’s phone — consisting of 15 location hits within a 67-meter range surrounding the Doerr residence — allegedly put him near the scene of the crime before and during the murder, while other data and surveillance footage allegedly showed him leaving the scene and in the area shortly after the murder. 

Less than one month after Doerr’s murder, Richmond was arrested after his son, Larry Richmond Jr., tipped off authorities to say his father had a box of guns buried in the family's backyard, according to WEHT. Police found the guns, each with the serial numbers sanded off — and a neighbor's surveillance camera captured him burying them, according to the Courier & Press.

The Taurus revolver believed to have been used to kill Doerr — a gun that Richmond Jr. was accused from stealing from his employer, the River City Pawn Pawnbrokers, in 2018 — was not found with the other firearms, according to the Courier & Press. Richmond Jr. said he'd given the gun to his dad in 2018.

That was the basis of Richmond Sr.'s 2020 firearms conviction. While incarcerated on those charges, his cellmate came forward to report that he'd bragged about the affair and the murder, according to the paper and People.

At Thursday’s press conference, law enforcement officials said they were “relieved” that Fox-Doerr and Richmond were formally charged with Doerr’s murder.

“It’s been approximately three and a half years since we lost our brother, Robbie, to this senseless crime,” said Division Chief Mike Larson of the Evansville Fire Department. “The citizens of Evansville lost a firefighter who always went above and beyond the call of duty to save lives and property. Even more importantly, he was a son, a brother, a father, and a grandfather.”

According to Robert Doerr’s obituary, he worked as a firefighter with the Evansville Fire Department for 28 years and left behind one daughter, three stepsons and two granddaughters.

Fox-Doerr is currently being held at the Vanderburgh County jail in Evansville.