Murder Suspect to be Extradited from Utah

Three months after he was arrested in Utah, the suspect in the murder of a woman who was reported missing last April has been extradited to Lyon County.

Robert Richards was arrested July 29 and had been held in the Salt Lake County Jail until he was brought to Yerington on Nov. 5.

In early October, a Governor's warrant was signed by Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo and sent to the state of Utah. In turn, Utah Governor Spencer Cox issued his own Governor's warrant, demanding that Richards be delivered to Lyon County. 

Richards was booked into Lyon County Jail on one count of first degree murder and he is being held without bail.

He is accused of killing Sara Filiatraut, 25. (Pictured left)

Filiatraut's family in Michigan had reported her missing on April 15. She had last been seen after being released from the Lyon County Jail on March 21. LCSO was investigating the missing persons case when her body was found May 22 in a remote area of Churchill County. An autopsy performed by the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner's Office confirmed her death as a homicide.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said detectives identified Richards as the suspect in the murder early in their investigation. After Filiatraut’s body was found, detectives learned that Richards was working in Colorado. They traveled to Colorado and with the assistance of the Grand County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, executed a search warrant and collected numerous items of physical evidence. Based on that evidence, an arrest warrant for Richards, charging him with one count of first degree murder, was issued in late July.

By that time, the U.S. Marshals Service had tracked him to Utah, where he was arrested.

To read more, check out: 

Finding Sara - Technology Trail Through the Nevada Desert Helps Bring Murder Victim Home  by Leanna Lehman 12/10/24

Denied Bail in Filiatraut Murder Case, Richards Facing Unrelated Sexual Assault Charges by Leanna Lehman 11/27/24

Court Hearing for Murder Suspect in Filiatraut Case Set for Nov. 19 by Robert Perea 11/21/24

Arrest Made in Murder of Woman Who Went Missing from Fernley by Robert Perea 7/31/24

Body found in Churchill County Identified as Missing Lyon County Woman by Robert Perea 5/31/24