CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- A man whose stepdaughter's bones were identified last month -- 10 years after she disappeared -- apparently confessed to killing her in a suicide note before hanging himself.
"You were right -- I did it," said the note apparently left by Richard Lackey, 51, who was found dead Monday in his Hopkinsville, Ky., apartment. "I had no excuse for what I did."The note was addressed to Chelmsford police Sgt. Timothy O'Connor, who had been investigating the killing of Nancy Ann Lackey Launt, 17.
Lackey was both the uncle and stepfather of the girl, whose remains were found buried near a car wash Lackey once managed in Chelmsford, about 25 miles northwest of Boston.
The bones were discovered by a car wash employee on Oct. 24 and identified in February through dental records and DNA testing.
Lackey's letter did not say how or why the girl was killed, but it indicated drinking may have played a role, Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said Tuesday. Investigators are trying to confirm the letter was written by Lackey and still consider the case open.