A drifter accused of murdering 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe is scheduled to be arraigned today on charges filed more than four years after she was stabbed to death in her family's Escondido home. Richard Raymond Tuite, 33, was arrested and charged yesterday with one count of murder and an allegation that he used a knife to kill the victim in her bed the night of Jan. 20, 1998, or the following morning.

It Has Been A Long Four Years Tuite has spent the majority of the past three years in state prison on unrelated charges and had been due to be released Friday. "At the time of the murder, (Tuite) was homeless and living in the Escondido area," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender said. Soon after the slaying, the victim's 14-year-old brother, Michael, and two of his teenage classmates were charged with her murder. On Feb. 15, 1999, a judge granted the San Diego County district attorney's request to dismiss the charges against the boys when additional DNA testing revealed that the victim's blood was found on a shirt worn by Tuite. "In our opinion, they did not commit this crime -- he did," Kolender said. The Crowe family filed a federal lawsuit claiming authorities violated their civil rights by ignoring evidence that pointed to Tuite. Tuite's arrest culminates a 30-month investigation by the Sheriff's Department, following a request by the Escondido Police Department to review the unsolved homicide. "Based upon an extensive re-analysis of all the available evidence, sheriff's homicide detectives concluded that Richard Tuite is the person who killed Stephanie Crowe," Kolender said. "The evidence suggests that Mr. Tuite acted alone in committing this murder." Witnesses had reported seeing Tuite wandering near the Crowe home, banging on doors and looking in windows, hours before Stephanie's murder, but authorities soon dismissed him as a suspect. Detectives contended the transient had been too mentally ill and impaired by drug abuse to have been able to sneak into the Crowes' home undetected, kill the girl quietly and vanish without leaving any clues behind. Last June, District Attorney Paul Pfingst asked the state Attorney General's Office to take over the investigation. Previous Stories:

• May 15, 2002: Tuite To Be Charged With Stephanie Crowe's Murder
• May 14, 2002: Arrest Looms In 1998 Child Killing
• December 3, 2001: Gag Order Lifted In Stephanie Crowe Case
• November 15, 2001: Crowe Murder Suspect Back In Prison
• July 11, 2001: Crowe Murder Suspect Released From Prison
• June 29, 2001: Breakthrough Expected In Crowe Murder Case
• May 30, 2001: Man Linked To Crowe Murder Back In Prison
• May 25, 2001: Man Investigated In Crowe Murder To Be Paroled
• November 28, 2000: Transient Suspected Of Escondido Murder Back Behind Bars