Far from the dirty streets of Buffalo, the killer dumped the two bodies.
One of the women was found dead on the Chautauqua Trail in Portland, New York in 2021. And a second woman was discovered two decades after she was murdered in the same vicinity.
Cops believe finally got their man this week, but his arrest raises a disturbing question: Are there more victims?
Depending on who you ask and what criteria you’re using, the accused murderer pretty much qualifies as a serial killer. That’s what Buffalo homicide detectives are now trying to determine.
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Rural Chautauqua County is southwest of Buffalo. It’s largest city is Jamestown, birthplace of comic Lucille Ball.
In September 2021, a hiker using the Chautauqua Rails to Trails made a macabre discovery. Just off the trail lay a human skull.
Cops were called and an extensive search turned up more human remains. Investigators determined the female remains had been there at least 10 years, maybe longer. More remains were discovered but they were fresher, possibly about three months.
One of the victims was Marquita Mull, 50, who disappeared from Buffalo several months earlier in 2021. The second set of female remains was tagged Jane Doe. Mull was identified through dental records and detectives believe she was murdered in Buffalo.
Both investigations soon went cold but investigators continued to work diligently.
In 2024, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office sent forensic evidence to Texas DNA lab Othram, whose work has helped clear several Canadian homicides, including the 1984 murder of nine-year-old Christine Jessop.
Could genetic genealogy put a name to the Jane Doe? Scientists extracted DNA from her remains and a profile emerged giving detectives new leads and a possible identity.
“All of the investigative agencies and officials connected to this case have worked so hard to piece together this puzzle, and we’re glad we could help,” said Kristen Mittelman, chief development officer at Othram. “Being able to see that justice is done in both of these cases means so much for both of these victims’ families.”
The new leads led to distant family members and a potential relative provided a DNA sample. Investigators believe the victim was murdered in either 2003 or 2004.
Jane Doe was identified as Cassandra Watson, around 40 years old when she vanished from Buffalo. No missing person report had ever been filed.
Identifying Watson led investigators to the suspected killer of both women. The accused is convicted sex offender Richard J. Fox, 62, of Buffalo but originally from tiny Portland in Chautauqua County.
Fox is now charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
“The families of Cassandra Watson and Marquita Mull have waited a long time for answers, and we are committed to obtaining justice for the victims,” Erie County DA Mike Keane said. “Our investigation remains ongoing, and I encourage anyone who may have information about the defendant or the victims to contact my office.”
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Cops say the trail led to Fox because he and Cassandra Watson had lived together. The relationship between Mull and Fox is so far unknown.
“I indicated that his family home was only about a half a mile from where the bodies were buried,” Keane said, adding that Buffalo homicide detectives found Fox in Niagara County.
Fox himself remains an enigma, although classmates from elementary school remember him. They added that only a local would have been familiar with area trails.
“I have the pictures from our kindergarten class,” Barb Smith told WKBW. “I remember seeing him in elementary school, but I don’t believe he was in any of my classes.”
Rich Carpenter added: “When I first read it I didn’t link the name right away because it said Buffalo, but then I thought wait a minute, he’s my age and he’d be intimately familiar with Chautauqua County, particularly Portland.
“It’s all farm country out that way, you’d really have to know about Woleben Road and the Rails to Trails and all that, to have a place where you would hide a body.”
Smith noted that for a visitor the body dump site would be “way off the beaten path.”
As for Fox, he is a Level 3 registered sex offender — the most serious designation. He had been convicted of two sex crimes in the past.
In 1993 in his native Chautauqua County, Fox was convicted of third-degree rape in an attack on a 14-year-old girl. For that crime he was sentenced to 18 months to three years in prison.
More trouble followed in 2005. He was convicted of first-degree attempted rape and first-degree aggravated sexual abuse of a 42-year-old woman in Buffalo. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The identification of Cassandra Watson is the 10th publicly announced case in New York where investigators used technology developed by Othram to identify an individual.
Now, homicide detectives are scouring their records to determine if there are any more possible victims — and if Fox is a bigger monster than they already suspect.