Police Department

Former Pasco Police Officer Sentenced in a Spokane Cold Case Murder

Lt. Terry Preuninger, PIO

Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at 8:18 a.m.

A former Pasco Police Officer was sentenced today in a Spokane cold case murder that spanned 38 years and resulted in two trials

Twenty-seven-year-old Ruby Doss was found murdered in 1986 in East Spokane, her case was worked by the Spokane Police Department for decades with no conclusion or arrest of a suspect. 

In 2015 DNA collected from a condom found at the Ruby Doss crime scene was matched to Richard Aguirre.  Aguirre’s DNA had been submitted during an unrelated rape investigation in Franklin County.  Aguirre was tried in that case and found not guilty by a jury in 2017. 

At the time Ruby Doss was murdered Aguirre was living in Spokane serving in the U.S. Airforce and stationed at Fairchild.  He then moved to the Tri-cities where in 1988 he became a Pasco Police Officer. 

In 2016 Aguirre was charged with murder for the killing of Ruby Doss but the charges were dropped in 2017 due to a lack of evidence.  In 2021 the Spokane County Prosecutors office brought the charge on Aguirre again but a jury could not agree on a verdict and a mistrial was declared. 

In 2023 Aguirre was once again tried and in December convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Ruby Doss.  Today the judge handed down a sentence of 25 years, which fell at the high end of the range of 20 to 26 years.  Aguirre is now 59 years old.  

Ruby’s four daughters were able to speak to the court and describe the loss they each experienced and the continuing loss their family has, and will suffer, as now three generations have been deprived of knowing Ruby.  

This case brings closure not just to the family of Ruby Doss but to an entire community as well as generations of Spokane Police Investigators, Spokane County Prosecutors and others who sought justice for Ruby Doss. 

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