Franklin Connection - Serving Franklin County, WA

AIRWAY HEIGHTS — The Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has refiled a murder charge against a former Pasco policeman accused of strangling a woman in 1986.

Richard Aguirre, 56, was recharged Sept. 11 due to new DNA test evidence, officials said. He will be arraigned at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 30 in Spokane County Superior Court.

Initially, he was charged on June 2, 2015, in the slaying of 27-year-old Ruby Doss in 2015, but the charge was dismissed in 2017 due to a lack of evidence while prosecuting attorneys awaited DNA tests. Those test results now connect Aguirre to evidence in the Doss killing, officials said.

According to court records, Doss was killed Jan. 30, 1986, while working as a prostitute. Evidence at the scene suggests she was assaulted near a manure pit, then chased about 254 feet before being struck in the back of her head and strangled.