Page 19 - Lee Bates News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Conniving, psychotic he beat loved ones. and he had no emotion towards anybody. >> reporter: like sweat, matt had been a troubled youth and grew up in foster homes near buffalo, new york. he had a history of violence graduating from juvenile facilities to prison and at just 19, he made his first prison break. lee bates was just 20 in 1997 when he got to know matt near buffalo occasionally driving him to local nightclubs. bates says one day matt known locally as rick asked for a ride to see his former boss, 76-year-old food wholesaler william rickerson. matt said rickerson owed him money. >> mr...

Matt used a hacksaw to cut up rickerson's body and then dumped the parts in the niagara river. >> we found two severed legs with no feet. two different sections of a torso. >> reporter: detective glenn gardner of north tonawanda pd got the case. lee bates was soon arrested. lee bates was the star witness that helped us eventually put the case together. and also make an arrest warrant out for richard matt. but while bates served more than sixteen years for his role in the murder, richard matt fled to mexico before he could be arrested. >> he's only there a short time and he walks up behind a ma...

Manipulator, evil, cunning, conniving, psychotic he beat loved ones. and he had no emotion towards anybody. >> reporter: like sweat, matt had been a troubled youth and grew up in foster homes near buffalo, new york. he had a history of violence graduating from juvenile facilities to prison and at just 19, he made his first prison break. lee bates was just 20 in 1997 when he got to know matt near buffalo occasionally driving him to local nightclubs. bates says one day matt known locally as rick asked for a ride to see his former boss, 76-year-old food wholesaler william rickerson. matt said ric...

And punched mr. rickerson in the face. >> reporter: matt and bates tied rickerson up with duct tape and bundled him into the trunk of bates's car. for nearly 30 hours, they drove around, matt occasionally stopping to beat his boss some more even breaking his fingers. >> mr. rickerson had told mr. richard matt, i'll take you to the money. let me out of here. i'll take you to the money. >> reporter: bates says he protested when matt poked a knife sharpener like this one into rickerson's ear. >> and it was at that point that richard matt had wanted to kill me. and he told richard matt, "leave the...

And punched mr. rickerson in the face. >> reporter: matt and bates tied rickerson up with duct tape and bundled him into the trunk of bates's car. for nearly 30 hours, they drove around, matt occasionally stopping to beat his boss some more even breaking his fingers. >> mr. rickerson had told mister richard matt, "i'll take you to the money. let me outta here. i'll take you to the money." >> reporter: bates says he protested when matt poked a knife sharpener like this one into rickerson's ear. >> and it was at that point that richard matt had wanted to kill me. and he told richard matt, "leave...