Man who served time for NJ jewelry heist linked to 30-year-old Richmond slaying - Richmond.com
James Copeland was nearing the end of a four-year sentence for stealing $18,000 worth of jewelry in New Jersey when Richmond police arrested him Monday in the slaying 30 years ago of a woman who sold jewelry in her West End home.
Richmond investigators charged Copeland, 64, of Washington, D.C., with first-degree murder after DNA linked him to the 1987 stabbing death of Roberta Fisch Poortje.
Poortje was 51 when she was found Aug. 4, 1987, on the basement floor of her home in the 4300 block of Stuart Avenue. She had been stabbed several times in the chest.
The killing shook the quiet, wealthy neighborhood, which had not seen a murder in years.
Poortje ran a jewelry business from her home, which had an extensive security system, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch story that ran the day after the slaying. The doors were locked, and there were no signs of forced entry.
At the time, neighbors said she had a large jewelry collection, some of which was kept in a safe in the basement, where her body was found, and she frequently had strangers visit to make purchases.
Police suspected robbery was the motive at the time, but had no leads, according to a 1988 Times-Dispatch story about unsolved killings from the year before.
“We have absolutely nothing on that case,” a detective said then.
That changed a few years ago, when a Richmond forensic detective ran fingernail clippings collected from Poortje at the time of the murder for DNA and “got a cold hit,” said Richmond Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Learned Barry.
“Back in 1987, we didn’t have DNA testing,” he said.
Copeland had been arrested in 2014 and later pleaded guilty to grand larceny in New Jersey after surveillance footage from a jewelry store heist was released to news media and a viewer identified him, according to WFMZ, a Pennsylvania news station.
After his conviction, his DNA was entered into a national database, which matched the DNA from Poortje’s fingernail.
Richmond police requested a detainer for Copeland, meaning New Jersey officials would notify them before his release. Three other states also asked that Copeland be detained on charges of breaking and entering and larceny, Barry said.
Richmond detectives rushed north earlier this week to bring Copeland before a Richmond judge, Barry said.
On Wednesday, a Richmond General District Court judge arraigned Copeland and denied him bond. He is being held at Richmond’s city jail. A preliminary hearing was set for Nov. 29.
