Scott Nemelka shook his head Thursday as he was handed a copy of the Illinois poster bearing Richard J. Church's photograph and the words "wanted for murder."
He listened to grisly details about how Church - the same man who has worked at the Crossroads eatery under a different name for the past eight months - allegedly killed the parents of his former girlfriend while they were sleeping in their Woodstock, Ill., home three years ago.Nemelka then remembered seeing Church's profile on television.
"Now that I see this picture, I recognize him from `America's Most Wanted,' " he told the Deseret News. "I saw that program, and that's while (Church) was working here!"
One of the most highly publicized manhunts in America came to an end Thursday because of the actions of an observant Salt Lake police officer.
Detective Craig Park was eating lunch on the lower level of the downtown Crossroads Plaza Wednesday when Church handed him his food and rang up his order on the cash register.
The plainclothes detective purchased lunch about 11 a.m. and saw something familiar about the cashier at Bennett's Pit Bar-B-Que, which is owned by Nemelka.
"When I saw him, I realized he looked like somebody we'd been looking for before," Park said, explaining that he'd recently come across Church's bulletin while looking for a robbery suspect.
Park returned to the police station and rummaged through a pile of fliers until he found the one featuring Church. He then got a copy of the restaurant cashier's driver's license that identified him as Danny Lee Carson, 33.
"When I saw him and I saw the ID card, it was quite obvious he wasn't 33 years old," Park said. Other information about the man "didn't quite fit together" either.
Park notified the FBI and helped arrest Church without incident Thursday morning at his Salt Lake apartment, 127 E. First Ave., No. 7. He had been staying in Salt Lake City since May."He was the nicest kid. He was great. He was a hard worker and he didn't even swear," Nemelka said. "An all-American kid, that's what he is."
Co-workers and others who have known him since he's been in Salt Lake City described him as a clean-cut, likable man - a person no one seemed to suspect had been running from the law since the slayings occurred on Aug. 21, 1988.
Church is charged with breaking into the home of Raymond and Ruth Ann Ritter and then beating and stabbing the couple to death while they were sleeping in their quiet, middle-class neighborhood. He then allegedly went into another room and beat and stabbed their 10-year-old son, Matthew.
When his former girlfriend, 17-year-old Colleen Ritter, woke up, police say he chased her and then stabbed her 22 times, mostly in the head. A neighbor heard screams from the street outside his home about 5:30 a.m. and rushed out to see Colleen lying in the street while a young man hit her over and over with a batlike object.
When the assailant looked up and saw the neighbor, the assailant ran. Colleen Ritter remained in a coma about three weeks.
Neighbors and the two surviving victims identified Church as the killer. "But he seemed to just fall off the face of the Earth," said Eugene Glenn, FBI agent in charge of the Salt Lake office.
Church - a high school football star - had dated Colleen while they were at Marian Central Catholic High School. But Colleen apparently broke off their relationship, and Glenn said Church became upset and stressed.
"I could not fathom a nice-looking man like he is would do what he did," said Dorothy DeShasier, manager of the apartments where Church lived. "He was always quiet. He was a perfect tenant."
DeShasier said a woman who often stayed with Church was with him when he was arrested. "She was just as shocked as I was when that picture (wanted poster) was shoved in her face," she said.
DeShasier and others said Church was quiet and reserved. "He just kept to himself. I used to think he was rude at first," said Nicole Pezely, who worked at a restaurant next door.
As a condition of his employment at the restaurant, Church was supposed to obtain an I-9 employment verification form that required him to list a Social Security number and present a photo identification. Managers continually prodded him to obtain the permit and get a Utah driver's license, but Church kept putting it off and giving excuses, said John Diamond, area manager for Quick Services, a company that owns several food outlets at Crossroads.
Finally, Church obtained the Utah driver's license under the name Danny Lee Carson.
" `America's Most Wanted' kept asking me about Church, and I said, `I don't know Richard Church. I know Danny Carson and it's a completely different person,' " Diamond said.
"He was as nice as his picture in the most-wanted poster."
Church also worked nights and weekends at the Delta Center, cleaning up after the events there. He used to work at the Broiler restaurant in Crossroads.
Church was featured five times on "America's Most Wanted," twice on "Unsolved Mysteries" and once on "Oprah," "Geraldo," "Donahue," and "A Current Affair." But it was Park's memory that finally captured him.
"Craig Park is one of our finest officers," said Salt Lake Police Chief Ed Johnson. "This is just one of the things that shows the tenacity of this officer in particular."
"I'd been by there zillions of times," Park said. "I can't take too much credit for not spotting him sooner."
Church was featured in FBI's Most Wanted column in the Deseret News in May. Several people called the FBI to say they thought they had seen him, but none of the leads panned out, said FBI agent James T. Screen.
But Church told Screen he had seen his profile in the newspaper last May and also saw his photograph on television.
Church was arraigned late Thursday in U.S. District Court. Dressed in white t-shirt and blue jail pants and chained around the waist and ankles, he sat silent while U.S. Magistrate Ronald Boyce read the federal flight charge to him.
Church declined the assistance of an attorney when Boyce offered one. For the most part, his answers to Boyce's questions were "yes" or "no." Asked if he was certain he did not want an attorney, he replied "For now, yes." That was the longest statement he made during the brief arraignment.
Illinois authorities have charged Church with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of home invasion.