BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The second body discovered next to a trail in Chautauqua County in 2021 has been identified as Cassandra Watson.
Prosecutors said in court Thursday that they believe she was killed in 2003 and then buried in a shallow grave near the trail.
Richard Fox, 62, of Buffalo has been charged with second-degree murder in her death.
Fox was already being held in jail after police arrested him last month on murder charges in the death of Marquita Mull, a 50-year-old Buffalo woman, whose remains were found just yards away from Watson's. She had gone missing from her home in the Broadway section of Buffalo three months earlier.
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Fox was arraigned Thursday morning before Erie County Court Judge Suzanne Maxwell Barnes in connection to Watson's death.
The case began in September 2021 when a hiker walking on the Chautauqua Rails to Trails off Woleben Road in the Town of Portland, a small rural community in Chautauqua County, saw something off the path. It turned out to be a human skull.
Investigators with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office and a forensic team unearthed what turned out to be the skeletal remains of a woman.
But as they were working at the site, they found a second set of remains just a few yards away. That second body turned out to be Mull.
But authorities had a harder time trying to identify the skeletal remains which appeared to have been there much longer.
Forensic investigations were conducted by state and federal authorities. A few months ago, DNA tests indicated the victim was of African heritage.
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According to records with the New York State sex offender registry, Fox is a convicted sex offender. In 1993, he was convicted of sexually abusing his stepdaughter and in 2005, he was convicted of assaulting and attempting to rape his then-girlfriend. Records also show that Fox grew up on Woleben Road, less than a mile from the trail where the two women’s bodies were found.
Fox is scheduled to return on April 30 for a pre-trial conference and he remains held without bail. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years to life in prison.
The Erie County DA said anyone with information about Fox or the homicides of Watson or Mull is encouraged to contact the DA's office at 716-858-2400.