Susan, Beth and Lori, the daughters of Richard Latham, who was kidnapped and murdered from the Del Rio Port of Entry Bridge, released the following statement Tuesday afternoon (July 21, 2020).
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The following statement is being issued on behalf of the immediate family of Richard Latham:
A little over 36 years ago, our father, Richard Latham was kidnapped and brutally murdered. He was a U.S. Customs Service Inspector at the Del Rio Port of 
Entry, protecting our borders, when four men held him at gunpoint and forced him into their car, undetected by other officers, and drove towards Eagle Pass, Texas. The men had just robbed a jewelry store across the border to support a heroin habit. Over 50 miles away, they stopped the car and forced our father, who was handcuffed behind his back, into a roadside ditch. One of the men, using Daddy’s weapon, fired two shots into his back, killing him and leaving him there. That man was Rafael Calderon Velasquez from El Paso, Texas.
Rafael Calderon was subsequently captured and pled guilty to Capital Murder in Federal Court, as well as in State Court. There was no trial, he admitted he did the crime. He was given a life sentence by both courts and has been housed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons ever since. We were recently notified that Rafael Calderon Velasquez has been granted parole and is slated to be released from Federal custody on August 25, 2020. Because Calderon was also sentenced by a state court, he will be turned over to the State of Texas to serve that sentence as well.
We have been scrambling to do some investigating to ensure that our Daddy’s killer will not go free. Our biggest concern at this time is that the State sentence may not be very long since Calderon has already served 36 years, but we feel that “life” should mean just that. He should not be paroled from Federal custody to begin with. There have been some missteps with the Federal Parole process that we are looking into. In the meantime, we can only hope that the State of Texas holds up their end to keep this man behind bars.
For those of you that know us, our father meant everything to us. We have missed him in every part of our life, from weddings to births, to watch our family grow. We understand that we live in a difficult time of protests against law enforcement and civil unrest. There are other recent issues of soldiers being killed and cops being ambushed. We know the pain of those families more than anyone. We want all Law Enforcement and their families to know we support them. Now is the time to send the message that our country will NOT tolerate cop killers being set free.
We have received so many words of support and concern and are thankful for your posts, texts and calls asking how you can help. At this point, you can call or write our Federal representatives (Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn) asking them to intervene in the Parole decision. You can also contact your State Senator Pete Flores, asking them to ensure the State of Texas incarcerates Rafael Calderon for the longest time possible.
There is hope since we know that the State of Texas will be taking custody of Rafael Calderon, but there are still some hurdles to overcome. We would like to thank the FBI, Del Rio Office and the Texas Rangers in Maverick County for their assistance in getting some answers after all these years.
If you need additional information, please contact our official family spokesperson/advocate by emailing her at ansicksharon@gmail.com .
Sincerely,
Susan, Beth and Lori; daughters of Richard Latham
July 14 story announcing potential release of Latham’s murderer.
