Daughter of victim in Xerox Credit Union murder: We didn't think an arrest would ever be made

Will Cleveland | Democrat and Chronicle

Show Caption Hide Caption 'I might've given up hope,' daughters of murder victim Raymond Batzel share Shannon Batzel, daughter of Raymond Batzel, is overcome with emotion after Richard Leon Wilbern was convicted in her father's 2003 murder. (Nov. 8, 2019)

Up until 2016, Carrie Batzel Akins said she had lost hope. Her father, Raymond Batzel, was murdered in 2003 during a bank robbery at the Xerox Federal Credit Union in Webster.

Batzel Akins, who was 13 at the time, didn't think an arrest would ever be made. But a renewed push by law enforcement earlier in 2016 led to the arrest of Richard Leon Wilbern.

And Friday, Batzel and her family were overcome with emotion as a jury in federal court found Wilbern, 59, guilty in the Aug. 12, 2003, robbery-homicide.

"I hope nobody else goes through what we had to go through in losing our father, especially in such a violent crime," Batzel Akins said. "Over the years, I prayed that the correct person had been caught. But then at times, I might've given up hope. In 2016, that hope was re-established, that the correct person was found for this crime."

Wilbern, 59, shot Raymond Batzel, 51, after refusing the robber's demand that he lie down on the floor with other customers and bank employees. Wilbern entered the Xerox Federal Credit Union on Aug. 12, 2003, shot two customers, and made off with more than $10,000 cash.

He is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:15 a.m. Feb. 11, 2020, by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.

Key to the prosecution was an umbrella left behind by the killer, who dressed in law enforcement attire to try initially to convince bank employees that he was there to conduct a security assessment.

After Wilbern was identified as a suspect in 2016 — Webster police and the FBI received a tip from Wilbern's former Xerox co-worker Jaime Labbate after a new push for information — FBI agents were able to secure a DNA sample from Wilbern.

Testimony wrapped up Wednesday in the 5-week-long trial. The FBI arrested Wilbern in September 2016.

After more than 1,000 leads were logged, science ultimately solved this case and led to this conviction, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Gregory said. Gregory, who started working on the case in 2012, noted the photos from the bank surveillance cameras were blurry, but the DNA profile that matched Wilbern was perfectly clear.

Carrie Batzel, the daughter of Raymond Batzel, said she had lost hope until Richard Wilbern was arrested in 2016. #roc @DandC pic.twitter.com/Qhkoh4TFdn — Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) November 8, 2019

Wilbern's defense attorneys declined comment after the verdict.

Throughout the trial, defense attorneys highlighted other former suspects considered by law enforcement during the course of the 13-year investigation.

On March 21, 2016, the FBI and Webster police launched a publicity campaign about the cold case, hoping to get information about the earlier suspect, who then lived in the Niagara Falls area. Instead, the campaign led to a tip about Wilbern, who had been fired from Xerox Corp. and unsuccessfully sued the company.

Authorities then sought DNA testing from an umbrella left behind by the killer, and it came back as a match with Wilbern, prosecutors said.

Raymond Batzel's family reacts

Batzel Akins said she and her sister, Shannon Batzel, were not in the area at the time of the crime. Instead, they were visiting family in California.

"My sister and I were, thankfully, not in New York," Batzel Akins recalled.

Friday's verdict brought a sense of well-earned closure.

"It's been a long road for my family," Shannon Batzel, Raymond Batzel's daughter, said. "Not just my family, but their family as well. I am proud to know the people who worked on this."

Shannon Batzel said she sees so much of her father in her young son.

"My dad lives in him," she said. "I see it every day. I am grateful for his other two grandsons who got to meet him."

Raymond Batzel's mother, Rowena Bennett, stood with prosecutors and law enforcement personnel as her granddaughters shared their thoughts. In 2016, Bennett told the media, "I'm 89½ years old and it was in my prayers that I would live long enough to see this case come to justice."

Both prosecutors and Webster Police Chief Joseph Rieger thanked the Batzel family for its strength, support, and encouragement during the 16-year-long ordeal.

"I hope this verdict today brings them some sense of justice, some sense of closure," Gregory said. "We'll never forget Raymond Batzel, ever. But I will never forget the support I received from the Batzel family."

Reliability of DNA questioned

Defense lawyers raised questions about the reliability of the particular testing done and whether the particular laboratory, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, can be trusted.

The New York OCME was the only one conducting the testing at that time, which focuses on extremely small samples, and the defense contends there were issues with validity, mishandling and contamination.

Prosecutors didn't dispute that there were other suspects, but said the DNA match is with Wilbern, and not other suspects. They said the odds of it matching someone else would be one in 6.8 trillion.

Carrie Batzel, the daughter of Raymond Batzel, said she had lost hope until Richard Wilbern was arrested in 2016. #roc @DandC pic.twitter.com/Qhkoh4TFdn — Will Cleveland (@WillCleveland13) November 8, 2019

That DNA technology was the centerpiece of the trial, and defense lawyers have contended since Wilbern's 2016 arrest that it is unreliable. Prosecutors argued the robber-killer had to know where the bank was. Wilbern was a customer there, as recently as two weeks before the fatal shooting.

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Bell, who oversees the FBI's resident agency in Rochester, said the prosecution was a result of persistence and collaboration.

Wilbern licked an envelope. That gave investigators his DNA. Investigators got a DNA sample from Richard Leon Wilbern when he licked an envelope

"While today is a satisfying day for everyone here," Bell said, "it's not lost on me that it doesn't change what happened in 2003. On behalf of all law enforcement involved, I can tell you that this investigation was done in your honor. I'm proud of the law enforcement agencies that spent 16 years working on this case. It's not always like you see on TV shows or the movies where everything is wrapped up in an hour or two."

WCLEVELAND@Gannett.com

Closing arguments: Xerox trial closes: Prosecution says they 'got it right' in focusing on Richard Wilbern

Defense strategy: Xerox case: Defense mounts assault on DNA proof linking Richard Wilbern to robbery-homicide

Key testimony: Xerox trial: Close friend identifies Richard Wilbern, odd wig he allegedly wore

Tipster testifies: Former Xerox employee who led police to Richard Wilbern did not come forward until 2016

Other suspects considered: Xerox trial: FBI was looking at suspect other than Richard Wilbern when it renewed its investigation

More: Xerox trial: Prosecutor says Wilbern 'desperate and disgruntled;' Defense refutes evidence

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