Anthony Ragsdale Identified With Latest DNA Technology, It’s been more than 25 years since the family of Leotis Green learned the horrific news that the 38-year-old Long Beach man was killed during an apparent robbery at his apartment. Green’s mother, who will turn 95 this year, found her son inside his ransacked and blood-splattered home on June 27, 1986. That final image of her son — and the loss of one of her 11 children — still hurts to this day, her son and Green’s brother, Jerry Green, said Friday.
After all these years, the family may finally have closure. Police believe they have solved the case thanks to DNA testing, and announced Friday they charged a suspect — Anthony Ragsdale, 49, of Perris — with first degree murder and robbery.
A second suspect, Wallace Johnson, 53, of Long Beach, died in 2003, police said.
DNA technology that didn’t exist back in 1986 helped Long Beach Police track down the two suspects in the decades-old slaying. Ragsdale is now in the Men’s Central Jail awaiting arraignment.
“We haven’t told her yet” about the arrest, Jerry Green said of his mom, adding his sister is waiting for the right time.
“I’m hoping that the guy will just fess up … so the family can get some kind of closure and (their mom) doesn’t have to go through a trial.”
Ragsdale was arrested March 1, after Long Beach Homicide Detectives Malcolm Evans and Todd Johnson submitted evidence collected from the crime scene to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Scientific Services Bureau for DNA testing.
The case was identified by the Homicide Detail’s Cold Case Unit in 2009 as one of many cases that had biological evidence that might result in a DNA hit if tested. The analysis was made possible by a federal grant awarded that year, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman.
Based on the crime lab’s findings, Johnson and Evans were able to identify Ragsdale and Johnson as the alleged killers, Detective Johnson said Friday.
“The case is primarily based on DNA and fingerprints,” the detective said.
That includes samples taken at the time of the killing, and preserved for all these years, of blood found at Green’s apartment in the 1800 block of Lemon Avenue.
“The victim’s apartment was ransacked and blood was found on several items in the living room â ¦ and other areas of the apartment, in addition to a blood trail leading from the victim’s front door toward the street,” Pratt said.
Jerry Green said his family was stunned by the robbery and killing. He said his brother had a daughter and adopted son, and was always a likable, fun man to be around.
He had lots of friends and, though he was going through a divorce at the time, he remained friends with ex-wife, his brother said. He wasn’t a man they expected to be killed, much less shot multiple times while inside his Central Long Beach home.
“He was a really, really nice, likable guy from a big family,” said Jerry Green, adding that his brother has a twin. “He has a daughter and an adopted son (his wife’s from a previous marriage), and three grandchildren, who he never got to meet.”
Green is survived by nine of his ten siblings, and both of his parents. The Arkansas native’s family moved to Tulare County when he was a teen, and most of them remain in that part of the state, Jerry Green said.
Though the family hopes Ragsdale will plead to the charge, they are confident that if a trial is held he will be found guilty, Jerry Green added.
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