Pierce County man who killed roommates with pipe draws 50-year term
A fugitive sex offender convicted of killing his two roommates near Frederickson 19 months ago was sentenced in Pierce County Superior Court on Thursday to 50 years in prison.
Richard Earl Atkisson, 42, previously pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of Joseph Moisa, 66, and Michael Henderson, 20.
Atkisson admitted he beat the men to death with a pipe in August 2014.
He wrote in court papers he did so because he thought they’d been grooming young men for sex. Detectives said at the time of Atkisson’s arrest they had no evidence that accusation was true.
Moisa did have a sex-related conviction from California. A sheriff’s deputy checking that Moisa was living where he was supposed to be discovered the murders, court records show.
At the time of the killing, Atkisson was being sought on a warrant out of California charging him with failure to register as a sex offender.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644, @TNTAdam
This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Pierce County man who killed roommates with pipe draws 50-year term."