Ex-Pasco policeman accused of murder in Spokane prostitute’s death

A former Pasco police officer charged for the second time with a 1986 death returned Wednesday to a Spokane courtroom.

Richard J. Aguirre, 56, pleaded innocent to first-degree murder. The premeditated charge includes an allegation of sexual motivation.

A tentative trial date of Oct. 26 was set by Judge John O. Cooney to keep the criminal case on track in Spokane County Superior Court.

Aguirre remains out of custody.

This is the second time in five years that formal charges have been brought against Aguirre for the death of Ruby J. Doss.

Doss, 27, was working as a prostitute when she was found beaten and strangled in January 1986. She was the first of at least five Spokane women strangled over a 1 1/2-year period.

The investigation into her death went cold for 29 years until detectives claimed Aguirre was a match for a DNA profile from a condom found near the murder scene.

He was charged in 2015. Then, in December 2017, the case was dropped without prejudice while prosecutors waited for the results of further DNA testing.

Aguirre had worked for the Pasco Police Department for 27 years when he resigned in 2015 after he was charged in Franklin County in an unrelated rape case. He later was acquitted in that case.

This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 4:30 PM.