Man finally convicted of murder in 1968 Pennsylvania gay shooting | Gay Star News

A jury has declared a man guilty of murdering a gay man in Pennsylvania and stealing his car 47 years after the crime was committed after authorities finally tracked him down living in Texas.

Richard Keiper, now 69, had been identified by an associate in 1971, who said he had told him about shooting a homosexual who had tried to pick him up in the Poconos region of Pennsylvania before stealing his car.

Authorities in 1971 had been unable to locate Keiper to act on the tip but he was discovered to be living in Boyd, Texas in 2013.

Keiper confessed to being involved in the shooting death of Alfred Barnes but gave conflicting stories about how it had happened and claimed it was self defense.
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Keiper’s lawyers tried to convince the jury that there was not enough physical evidence to convict Barnes but his inconsistency in his statements to police appear to have swayed them against him.

It is not yet known how long the 69-year-old will have to remain in prison after his sentence is handed down.

Man finally convicted of murder in 1968 Pennsylvania gay shooting | Gay Star News