Man charged in stabbing death

**Posted:**Saturday, June 21, 2003

MAX ALBRIGHTmalbright@amarillonet.com

James Richard Richie, 71, was arraigned on murder charges Friday in connection with the stabbing death of Kathy Sue Snelson, 51.

Potter County Justice of the Peace Thomas Jones set bail at $100,000. Richie remained in custody in the Potter County Detention Center.

Snelson died Thursday after she was stabbed in the throat and chest at the Horseshoe Lounge, 3904 E. Amarillo Blvd., said Lt. Gary Trupe, head of the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit. Police received the 911 call at about 2 p.m.

Richie gave a written confession to officers, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Potter County district clerks's office.

The knife used in the incident was recovered, Trupe said.

Trupe said Richie and Snelson had an on-again, off-again boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

"Obviously they had some differences that got out of hand at the bar," Trupe said.

Richie faced homicide charges in 1998, but a grand jury did not indict him because the death was seen as self-defense, Trupe said.

Richie was charged in the shooting death of Rickey Lavern Jones, 48, said Cpl. Jerry Neufeld, a spokesman for the Amarillo Police Department. But investigators ruled that Jones entered Richie's apartment by force, Neufeld said.