Father murders wife, daughter and daughter's boyfriend

Problems in household: Daughter had been put in foster care
Long, Paul. Kentucky Post, Dec. 20, 2005, pg. K6.

Neighbors were at a loss Tuesday to explain how a seemingly normal family home could become a scene of bloody violence.

But according to court records, there were problems at the Richardson home on Laycock Avenue in Newport. For several months in the summer of 2003, teenage daughter Sunshine Richardson was taken from her parents' custody and put in foster care. Court records do not give any details, and her juvenile record is sealed.

The state Cabinet for Families and Children sued her parents for child support, and a judge ordered them to pay $300 a month to the state for her care. Those payments ended in September 2003 when she was reunited with her family, court records show.

Campbell Family Court Judge D. Michael "Mickey" Foellger said he couldn't remember specific details of the underlying juvenile case. He does, however, remember Sunshine Richardson's father, Michael Richardson Sr.

"I recall him in court being odd," Foellger said."He had some physical problems. He over-reacted physically (during the court proceedings) -- he either had a heart attack, or passed out, or had a seizure of some kind."

He said the court proceedings had to be stopped and the room cleared while a life squad was called.

Court records indicated that the Richardsons' other child, Michael Jr., was living in Cold Spring with his grandfather, Ray Richardson. It was not immediately clear why Tuesday, and Ray Richardson couldn't be reached for comment.

Michael Richardson was also in court last year after he sued Bigg's, claiming that he had hurt his back and shoulder in a fall in the company's Florence store in 2003. Bigg's claimed the injuries occurred earlier, while Richardson was at work, when a co-worker lifted him into the air and he heard something "pop" in his shoulder, according to a company court filing.