OGDEN, UT — An Ogden homicide that had sat unresolved for close to three decades has now been solved after a longtime suspect confessed behind bars. Police say the breakthrough came only after years of renewed detective work, outside assistance and a second prison interview that changed the status of the case.
The Ogden Police Department announced Thursday that it has closed the 1997 killing of Richard Billmayer. Investigators linked the resolution to work that stretched from Utah to Iowa, where Richard Annis was serving time on an unrelated homicide conviction when detectives spoke with him again.
Billmayer had been missing for years before detectives tied his disappearance to the 1997 killing
Billmayer was not immediately treated as a murder victim in the public eye. Police first logged him as missing in 2008, but later learned he had not been seen since 1997, the year investigators now identify as the time of his death.
That gap made the case especially difficult to unravel. Ogden police said detectives initially tracked down and questioned several witnesses, but they did not have enough evidence to move the investigation forward in a way that could solve the crime.
With limited proof and years passing, the homicide eventually went cold. Even so, the case did not disappear entirely, and investigators kept enough of a record to allow later detectives to pick it back up.
A detective reopened the file in 2019 and followed the trail to Iowa
The case took on new life in 2019 when an Ogden detective reopened the investigation. That work included new interviews and a fresh look at the evidence already assembled from the earlier inquiry.
One important step was a trip to Iowa to speak with Richard Annis, who was then imprisoned for a separate homicide. Police did not say the first conversation solved the case outright, but they said it strengthened the investigation enough to keep pushing.
That renewed effort marked a major shift from the earlier years, when the case had stalled for lack of evidence. By revisiting witnesses and pursuing Annis directly, detectives were able to build a stronger picture of what happened to Billmayer.
Cold Case Coalition research helped push investigators back to Annis
In 2025, the Cold Case Coalition began its own review of Billmayer’s death and added another layer of attention to the case. Police said the group’s work provided additional research that helped Ogden detectives move ahead.
That outside assistance led investigators to contact Annis a second time. This time, the interview took place at the Iowa State Penitentiary and became the key moment in the case’s resolution.
Police said the coalition’s contribution mattered because it supplemented what detectives had already gathered. The added research helped direct investigators back to the person they believed could finally answer the unanswered questions surrounding Billmayer’s death.
Second prison interview produced a confession and corroborating details
During the later interview, Annis admitted responsibility for Billmayer’s death, according to Ogden police. Investigators said he also gave information that matched major details they and witnesses had developed independently over the course of the probe.
That combination of a confession and corroboration is what allowed detectives to close the case. Police said the new statement lined up with significant facts already uncovered during the investigation, giving them the confidence to announce a resolution.
The department did not release a full account of the killing in its announcement, but it made clear that the prison interview provided the turning point. After years of silence, Annis’ admission gave investigators the closure they had been seeking.
What the resolution means for one of Ogden’s long-running homicide cases
For Ogden police, the outcome shows how cold cases can still move when old evidence is revisited with new persistence. The Billmayer investigation moved from a missing-person listing to a decades-old homicide solution only after detectives returned to the file and pursued leads outside Utah.
The case also shows the value of continuing review even after an investigation has stalled. A file that once lacked enough evidence was eventually strengthened by renewed interviews, a prison inquiry in Iowa and research from the Cold Case Coalition.
Police have now announced the homicide as resolved, bringing an end to one of the city’s lingering unsolved killings. The department’s Thursday update marks the first public closure in a case that had remained open, in some form, since the 1990s.
Local news that matters, from Dulaney Griffin.
