Man charged in ’86 Modesto cold case was suspect from start. Why wasn’t he arrested sooner?

While it took nearly four decades for Raymond Stafford to be charged with the murder of 15-year-old Susan Bender, he was a suspect in her disappearance from the start.

Modesto police detectives were on to him a month after Susan was seen getting into a green van at a Modesto bus depot on April 25, 1986. In the following months, detectives traced the green van to Stafford, they found items that belonged to Susan in his home, Stafford faked his own kidnapping, and he allegedly confessed to one of his employees that he’d strangled Susan.

But detectives didn’t arrest Stafford and the case went cold.

Over the succeeding years, different detectives did some work on the case, but the most significant new information came in 2020 when Modesto police Detective Josh Grant reopened the case.

Still, it took three more years for charges to be filed. Stafford was arrested in Texas on Aug. 10 and is expected to be extradited to Stanislaus County in early September.

Asked by The Bee why Stafford wasn’t arrested sooner, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office released a statement that said DA Jeff Laugero was not involved in discussions related to the Stafford case prior to taking office in January.

“After taking office, the Stafford investigation was presented to him by Modesto Police Department detectives and reviewing prosecutors,” the statement reads. “After a lengthy analysis of the case with investigators, detectives, and senior prosecutors, DA Laugero agreed there was sufficient evidence to meet our burden of proof and authorized the filing of murder charges related to the disappearance of Susan Bender in 1986.”

Alleged confession to employee Stafford lived with

Susan’s body never was found. But an 18-page affidavit in support of Stafford’s arrest details the evidence against him, the sex crimes he went on to commit after leaving Modesto, and his internet search history following his interview with Detective Grant.

Stafford became a suspect in Susan’s disappearance when he was arrested on suspicion of committing an unrelated burglary and arson at a plumbing company in May 1986.

Investigators learned he owned a security company in downtown Modesto and spoke to one of his employees, a woman named Diane, who also lived with him, according to the affidavit.

Diane told detectives that Stafford had rented a van for what he said would be a business trip to Los Angeles. But he returned in the van 24 hours later and was concerned about cleaning it before returning it, according to the affidavit.

A few days later, he allegedly confessed to Diane that he’d killed a “female,” whom he didn’t’ identify, and buried her near a campground by the Big Oak Flat Road entrance to Yosemite National Park. Stafford allegedly told her he used a wire or cord to strangle the victim for at least 40 minutes. By way of explanation, Stafford “said something about ‘a payback,’” according to the affidavit.

“All the ugliness has opened up again,” Susan’s mother, Patricia Chupco, told The Bee this week. “I am glad (the case) is getting toward an ending, but it will never end for me.”

Chupco said she briefly worked for Stafford. According to the arrest affidavit, she worked for him in August 1985 and dated him on a few occasions. But Chupco denies they did anything more than have coffee together.

Chupco assumes Stafford, who was 39 at the time, called her house looking for her but Susan picked up and a relationship ensued between the two.

Diane told a detective she saw Susan in Stafford’s office at least six times. She would sit on his lap and say, “Come on, you know you wanna give me some money,” according to the affidavit.

During the same time frame, Stafford ran an unsuccessful race for Modesto City Council, was charged with violating a state business and professions code of operating a private investigations business without a license and was arrested for soliciting an undercover female sheriff’s deputy for prostitution on Modesto’s South Ninth Street, according to Modesto Bee archives. The information was part of a 1985 story about Stafford’s campaign, when he described himself as “the man next door.”

Stafford rented the green van on the day of Susan’s disappearance and returned it the next day, detectives confirmed.

On July 17, 1986, they interviewed Stafford and searched his home and business.

Among the items found were Susan’s phone book, a pair of pink underwear and a black bathing suit, which Chupco told detectives belonged to Susan, and a desktop calendar with Susan’s name and phone number written on it.

When interviewed by detectives, Stafford denied any involvement in Susan’s disappearance. According to the affidavit, he said he drove the rented green van by the bus depot where Susan was last seen but didn’t stop there. He said he drove the van to locations in Fresno, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties to visit friends, attend a dance and walk around.

Detectives drove the route that Stafford described and it was 134 miles longer than the mileage logged by the rental company.

Dick Ridenour, the lead detective on the case in 1986, told The Bee the area where Diane said Stafford claimed to have buried the body was searched by foot and by horseback, but with no results.

“It’s great they got him,” Ridenour said, adding that the case was difficult and different than any other he’d investigated in over 20 years as a detective.

But he declined to comment further at this time because, at nearly 80 years old and with decades passed since he worked the case, he said he would need to review his reports.

Faked kidnapping part of plan to ‘start all over’

Three days after Stafford was interviewed by detectives and evidence was seized, he faked his own kidnapping.

According to the affidavit, another of Stafford’s employees reported to police that she witnessed three masked people force Stafford into the bed of a pickup and speed away with him. A few days later, the employee admitted Stafford faked the kidnapping. She said he told her he wanted to relocate and “start all over again.”

Stafford had obtained a new driver’s license using a former employee’s name, according to the affidavit. He was found the following month in a “Hollywood flophouse,” according to Modesto Bee archives. Stafford was arrested and prosecuted for filing a false report but not for any crime related to Susan’s disappearance.

In 2001, a new detective was on the case. He interviewed Stafford’s ex-wife, who said that they were married in 1991 or ’92 and that Stafford was abusive and forced her into prostitution when he lost his job. He also molested her 12-year-old daughter, for which he was convicted and served time in prison, according to the affidavit.

In 2004, the pink underwear found during the 1986 search of Stafford’s home was sent to the Department of Justice for DNA testing and came back as a match for a biological child of Chupco’s.

In 2020, Detective Grant reopened the case.

He went to Texas, where he interviewed Stafford, who was in jail for violation of his sex offender registration.

Stafford denied ever knowing Susan or her mom, according to the affidavit. When Grant asked Stafford about being questioned by police about her disappearance in 1986, he said he didn’t remember. When confronted with the evidence police had against him, he simply responded “OK” and “all right.”

Grant later obtained a warrant for Stafford’s Google search history. Following the interview with Grant, Stafford had begun searching for information about bail amounts for a murder charge and penalties for a conviction in California. His searches included “what evidence is needed to convict someone of murder in California” and “murder conviction without a body,” according to the affidavit.

He later searched for information about the process of being extradited to California from Texas and about which countries don’t have extradition treaties with the United States.

On Aug. 10, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Carrie Stephens signed a warrant for Stafford’s arrest and deputies with the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Department in Texas apprehended him at his home five days later.

He has been charged with first-degree murder with a special circumstance alleging he committed a murder while engaging in the crime of kidnapping.