Arrest made in 1977 murder in Edwardsburg

The Cass County Prosecutor's Office announced during a press conference Thursday afternoon an arrest in the shooting death of 25-year-old Robert Stasiak in 1977.

Prosecutor Victor Fitz said Raymond Richmond has been charged with open murder in Stasiak's death. Richmond and Stasiak were cousins.

According to Fitz, the case was originally classified as a suicide.

Edwardsburg Police Chief Tim Kozal. re-examined the case when he was hired and identified this as a case that needed another look in April 2015.

He said Stasiak's family members never believed he committed suicide.

“I can tell you that that's one of the reasons why I looked into it because of my discussions with the family. It was initially ruled a suicide in 1977 and they were like he didn’t kill himself so it was time to take another look at it and look at everything that we’ve already had been established and conduct the interviews. Start like from scratch," said Chief Kozal.

Stasiak's body was exhumed in November 2015 and an autopsy was conducted.

Richmond was arrested in South Bend on Thursday on a warrant for open murder.

He will be extradited to Michigan to face charges.