Suspect charged in Palmer homicide
The Floyd County Sheriff’s Office and Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, and Virginia State Police, held a news conference Wednesday to update the public on an arrest in a 2003 murder that was unsolved since then.
Floyd County authorities have charged a man in the death of Richard “Dickie” Palmer nearly 22 years ago. Palmer and his dog, Rufus, were found dead in Palmer’s pickup truck in Roanoke in April 2003. Investigators later determined that Palmer had been killed at his home in Floyd County before being transported to Roanoke and left near Perry Park.
Milton Lewis Wright, 62, was indicted Jan. 21 on four felony charges related to the shooting deaths of Palmer and his red Australian heeler named Rufus: first-degree murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and animal cruelty.
Arrest warrants for those charges were served to Wright on Tuesday, Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Brnscom said. He is expected to be arraigned in Floyd County Circuit Court Feb. 4. Branscom said the defendant will likely appear by video.
Wright has been incarcerated for several years on child pornography charges out of the counties of Patrick, Bedford and Pulaski, Branscom said. According to the Virginia Department of Corrections’ online inmate locator, Wright is serving his sentences at the Deerfield Correctional Center in Southampton County.
Video footage of the press conference can be viewed at WDBJ7