COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — A man was sentenced to life in prison for the 2021 murder of his sister and her boyfriend over insurance money, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Blake Richards, 30, of Plano, was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of his sister Brittany Rayne Richards and her boyfriend Ross Linford Escalante.
On Oct. 27, 2021, the Richardson Police Department received a call from a man stating that his best friend, Blake Richards, called him and confessed to the murder.
Officials said a Richardson police officer then called Richards and he admitted that he had “hurt” his sister and said that he was in the parking lot of a Wylie Target.
Police said officers responded to the Target parking lot, where they detained Richards and found a loaded rifle in his car.
Both Richardson and Plano police officers then responded to Richards’ home in the 5800 block of Mulvane Drive in Plano, where he lived with the victims.
When officers arrived, the front door was open, and they found the bodies of Brittany Richards and Escalante in the dining room. They both died of apparent gunshot wounds, officers said.
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During a search of the home, officers found an empty handgun on the dining room table, shell casings surrounding the victims’ bodies, a bulletproof vest, drug paraphernalia and books on topics of booby-trapping and sniper training in Richards’ bedroom, officials said.
Also, DNA testing confirmed Richards’ DNA was found on both firearms, officials said.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Blake and Brittany Richards’ mom had recently passed away and the siblings had been arguing about a life insurance policy.
“It’s hard to imagine a worse or more tragic response to your mother’s passing than to kill your own sister and her boyfriend over who will get the insurance proceeds from your mother’s death, but that’s what he did,” Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said after Blake was sentenced. “His murderous actions not only permanently altered the lives of his family and those who loved his sister, Brittany, but the loved ones of Mr. Escalante as well. May this jury’s verdict give a measure of peace to these families.”
Judge Andrea Thompson presided over the case and assessed the automatic punishment of life without the possibility of parole for Richards.
