Paroled Murderer Who Posed as Businessman Arrested After 32 Years in Hiding

A convicted murderer who has eluded police for 32 years by allegedly changing his identity and posing as a Pasadena businessman was arrested this week by corrections officers.

Richard Bradford was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1971. Released on parole seven years later, Bradford allegedly skipped out on his parole supervision, changed his name and disappeared, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Corrections officials discovered in 2011 that Bradford may have changed his name to James Edward Heard. According to a CDCR news release, he operated several businesses in the Pasadena area including the rehabilitation center Eaton Canyon Treatment Center, which is located nearby Sierra Madre in the Kinneloa Mesa neighborhhood.

An attorney for Bradford contacted authorities to negotiate the surrender of his client in 2011, according to the CDCR, but he never surfaced and investigators could not locate him.

A California Parole Apprehension Team conducting surveillance of Bradford's house saw him leave the home with his wife and followed them to the Home Depot in Monrovia where he was apprehended, the CDCR said.

"A search of Bradford's residence produced documentation for James Heard and Richard Bradford," the release states.