Kristel Maestas Murders Cordell Richards

Kristel Maestas was fifteen years old when she and two others would murder Cordell Richards in Florida

According to court documents Cordell Richards made a pass at either Kristel Maestas or Renee Lincks. With the help of Kristel boyfriend Ronald Bell Jr the group would kidnap Cordell Richards and bring him out to a wooded area

Cordell Richards would be tied to a tree and savagely beaten by the group. The trio of killers would leave however they would return the next day and found Cordell still alive. The trio would go to a store where they would buy a butcher knife, return to Cordell, slit his throat causing his death and returned to the store to get a refund on the butcher knife

Kristel Maestas, Ronald Bell Jr and Renee Lincks would be arrested

Renee Lincks would testify against Kristel Maestas and Ronald Bell Jr in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. She has since been released

Kristel Maestas would be convicted at trial and sentenced to life in prison without parole. She attempted to get a reduction in her sentence due to her age at the time of the murder however the crime was so brutal it was denied

Ronald Bell Jr would be convicted and sentenced to death. Later his sentence would be reduced to life in prison without parole

Kristel Maestas Current Information

Ronald Bell Jr Current Information

Renee Lincks Current Information

Kristel Maestas Case

Long years of torment torment for the family of Cordell Richards ended Monday when Ronald Bell and Kristel Maestas were each resentenced to life in prison for his 1999 kidnap and murder.

In issuing his ruling, Circuit Court Judge William Stone notified both defendants that he had considered all the relevant factors in each of their cases, including their youth at the time and “all evidence relating to the offense.”

A former airman, the 31-year-old Richards had been missing for just over a month when, on March 4, 1999, a 12-year-old boy playing on an undeveloped lot in the Parish Pointe subdivision discovered his badly decomposed body.

Richards’ remains were found chained to a tree and burned. Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore would later tell a jury that just enough of the man’s fingerprints remained to allow for identification. Investigators learned that he had been horribly tortured for a full day before his death.

The resentencing of the pair, who killed Richards when Bell was 17 and Maestas 16, was ordered following a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court originally published on June 23, 2012. Justices ruled at that time that mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional.Courts & Judiciary

“The only thing I can say is my family and I are still just in shock we had to go through this in court, Reanna Richards, Richards daughter, said after Monday’s hearing. “I thank God the judge found the wisdom to rule the way he did.

Both Ronald Bell and Kristel Maestas, who are now in their 30s and have spent more than half of their lives in prison, appeared in court for their sentencing.

Bell showed no emotion as Stone re-sentenced not only to life in prison for one count of first degree murder, but also to a consecutive live sentence for kidnapping with a weapon.

Kristel Maestas, however, openly wept during the proceedings. She will serve life in prison for the killing of Richards and 30 years consecutive to that for her role in the kidnapping, Stone said.

Both will be eligible for a hearing on the kidnapping charges for which they were sentenced next year, at the 20-year anniversary of their being sentenced.

What would become two days of torture began on Feb. 2 when Bell, angered by sexual advances Richards had made toward Kristel Maestas and her friend, Renee Lincks, attacked him with a baseball bat.

The attack began at Richards’ apartment on Marshall Court, off Wright Parkway in Fort Walton Beach. After beating the victim severely enough to break bones, Bell, Maestas and Lincks tied him up and took him out to the Waterford Estates subdivision in Parrish Point, where they chained him to a tree.

Bell again beat Richards with the bat, at one time proclaiming himself “Babe Ruth” as he wound up to club his helpless victim, reports from the time said. Bell poured an accelerant on Richards and Maestas, according to reports, lit him on fire.

After leaving him to die, the threesome returned Feb. 3 to find Richards somehow still alive and trying to call for help. They went to a store, bought a meat cleaver, and cut his throat, then returned the item to Target for a refund.

Lincks, who was 15 at the time of the killing, pleaded no contest to manslaughter and false imprisonment and received a sentence of no longer than 15 years for testifying against Bell and Maestas. She was released from prison in 2012.

Bell was originally sentenced to die for his role in the crime, but in 2002 the Florida Supreme Court revoked the death penalty, stating that Circuit Court Judge Thomas Remington didn’t properly consider Bell’s young age at the time the crime was committed.

Stone has now resentenced four of six youthful Okaloosa County offenders impacted by the 2012 Supreme Court ruling. Sentencing hearings in the cases of Kyle Walling and Tyree Washington are still being scheduled.

Walling and Washington were convicted of first degree murder in the shooting death of Chrisopher Pitcock, who was gunned down by a third man, Timothy Chavers, during a robbery attempt. Walling and Washington were 16 at the time of the fatal 2010 shooting. Chavers, who was 17, has already been resentenced to life in prison. Christopher Pitcock was also 17 on the day he was killed.

https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/crime/2019/04/15/cordell-richards-torturers-killers-resentenced-to-life/984728007

Kristel Maestas Video

Watch Kristel Maestas Videos – Teens Who Kill

Kristel Maestas: How a Teenage Couple Turned a Roommate Dispute Into Two Days of Torture

In March 1999, Fort Walton Beach, Florida police found a body so badly charred and battered they couldn’t even determine a sex. The victim was chained to a tree in a wooded lot, his wrists bound, his skull caved in, his throat slashed.

It was Cordell Richards, a 31-year-old Air Force veteran, line cook, and father of two. He had been missing for a month.

The killers were not strangers. They were his teenage roommates: 16-year-old Kristel Maestas and her 17-year-old boyfriend Ronald Bell Jr., along with their 15-year-old friend Renee Lincks.

What followed was one of Florida’s most disturbing juvenile murder cases — a two-day torture killing that investigators would later call “pure evil.”

Who Is Kristel Maestas?

Kristel R. Maestas was born March 11, 1982, in the United States. At the time of the murder she was 16 years old, a white female living in Okaloosa County, Florida.

According to court documents, Kristel Maestas was sixteen years old when she along with two others participated in a brutal kidnapping and murder.

She had dropped out of traditional school life and was living with her older boyfriend, Ronald Bell, renting a spare room in Cordell Richards’ apartment on Marshall Court off Wright Parkway in Fort Walton Beach. Bell was paying the rent.

To the outside world, she was a teenager in a troubled relationship. To investigators, she would become the female half of a “killer couple” profiled on Oxygen’s Snapped: Killer Couples and A&E’s Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole.

The Victim: Cordell Richards

Cordell Richards was 31, a former airman who worked as a line cook to support his children. Friends described him as a reliable hard-worker and good dad, although he was having money problems.

After his divorce, he rented out rooms to make ends meet. In late 1998, he agreed to rent to Kristel Maestas and Ronald Bell.

That decision would cost him his life.

The Alleged Motive: Harassment or a Power Grab?

Kristel Maestas tearfully told police about her relationship with Richards from the beginning. Things were fine at first, until, according to Maestas, Richards started acting overtly sexual toward her. He would allegedly expose himself and walk around in revealing underwear. On occasion, he even entered her room while scantily clad, she claimed.

Once, Richards allegedly asked Maestas to have sex with him and, when she refused, pushed her against the wall, resulting in a bruise. That was the last straw for Bell, she said.

Bell bought a deadbolt for his girlfriend and told her to call him the next time that her older roommate made her feel uncomfortable.

Prosecutors saw it differently. Renee Lincks, who later testified against the couple, portrayed the couple as sadistic and alleged that they wanted Richards’ apartment for themselves. Investigators noted the trio showed no immediate remorse and even returned a murder weapon for a refund.

February 2, 1999: The Attack Begins

On Feb. 2, 1999, Maestas said, Lincks was over hanging out with her, when Richards started harassing them. They fled to Maestas’ room and bolted the door. Then, Maestas phoned her boyfriend in a panic, claiming that Richards was trying to kick down the door. Her boyfriend sped to the apartment, burst in and started fighting with Richards.

After getting the older man into a chokehold until he passed out, Bell told the girls to get some rope and a baseball bat. Then he encouraged Maestas to beat her roommate with the bat. That initial beating was enough to shatter some of Richards’ bones.

What would become two days of torture began on Feb. 2 when Bell, angered by sexual advances Richards had made toward Kristel Maestas and her friend, Renee Lincks, attacked him with a baseball bat.

The attack began at Richards’ apartment on Marshall Court. After beating the victim severely enough to break bones, Bell, Maestas and Lincks tied him up and took him out to the Waterford Estates subdivision in Parrish Point, where they chained him to a tree.

Chained to a Tree: “I’m Babe Ruth”

The trio wrapped Richards in a blanket, put him in Bell’s trunk and drove him out to the woods. As they dragged him through the underbrush toward the tree at which he would die, Richards was “begging for his life,” Maestas confessed to police.

The teens chained Richards to the tree and took turns wailing on him with the baseball bat. Before taking a shattering swing at the man’s head, Bell crowed, “I’m Babe Ruth.” That blow caved Richards’ head in.

Bell then doused him in lighter fluid and set him ablaze, after which the teens fled. According to later reports, Bell poured an accelerant on Richards and Maestas, according to reports, lit him on fire.

They left him chained, burning, in the woods overnight.

February 3: He Was Still Alive

The next day, Maestas recalled to police, they returned to the scene and found, to their horror, that Richards was still alive, weakly begging for help.

Instead of calling 911, they made a decision that defined the case’s cruelty. Bell went to a nearby department store and bought a meat cleaver, returning to the dying man and using it to cut his throat. After that, they used Sprite to wash blood from the cleaver and returned it to the store for a refund. Bell was captured on surveillance footage at the department store.

According to court documents, the trio would go to a nearby store where they bought a butcher’s knife and returned back to Richards who would have his throat cut. The trio then returned the knife for a refund.

Investigators later found a Sprite bottle and duct tape at the scene — details that matched Maestas’ confession perfectly.

The Discovery: A Month Later

Richards’ family reported him missing, but police initially found little. When they first visited his apartment after his disappearance, they encountered a young couple — 16-year-old Kristel Maestas and 17-year-old Ronald Bell — sleeping in a bedroom. They told police that Maestas was renting the room from Richards, but they hadn’t seen him in a few days — not unusual, given his busy work schedule, the teens said.

A former airman, the 31-year-old Richards had been missing for just over a month when, on March 4, 1999, a 12-year-old boy playing on an undeveloped lot in the Parish Pointe subdivision discovered his badly decomposed body.

Richards’ remains were found chained to a tree and burned. Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore would later tell a jury that just enough of the man’s fingerprints remained to allow for identification. Investigators learned that he had been horribly tortured for a full day before his death.

When Fort Walton police found the body, the charred remains were so battered and disfigured they couldn’t even determine a sex.

How They Got Caught

Police returned to Richards’ apartment with Luminol after the body was ID’d. Using Luminol, they detected blood evidence of a violent encounter — and Maestas and Bell were nowhere to be found.

Investigators started asking around and soon received a tip that local 15-year-old Renee Lincks had allegedly told her mother that she was in an apartment where someone was killed.

They headed to the home of Maestas’ parents, but on the way noticed a car parked along the side of the road with two occupants. As officers approached it, they noted a busted back window with a black garbage bag covering it, and they brought Maestas and Bell to the station for questioning.

A couple also indicated that they had been on a walk in the area around the estimated time of death and seen three teenagers hanging around a car with a broken-out window. They told police that the group was acting suspiciously.

Detectives separated the couple. Neither cracked until Maestas was allowed a brief visit from her parents, who urged her to tell the police everything, because she was “in a lot of trouble.”

She confessed to everything.

The Trials: Three Teens, Three Fates

All three were arrested.

Renee Lincks, 15, was the first to flip. Lincks confessed to nothing but was offered a plea deal in exchange for testifying against Maestas and Bell. She pleaded no contest to manslaughter and false imprisonment and received a sentence of no longer than 15 years. She was released from prison in 2012, after serving 12 of her 15 years.

Ronald Bell Jr., 17, was tried as an adult. He was originally sentenced to death for first-degree murder. In 2002, the Florida Supreme Court revoked the death penalty, stating that the judge didn’t properly consider Bell’s young age. He was later resentenced to life.

Kristel Maestas, 16, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. She was given a life sentence plus 30 years for kidnapping. Maestas was given a life sentence plus 30 years for kidnapping, according to “Killer Couples.”

Resentencing: Miller v. Alabama Changes Everything

Kristel Maestas was sixteen years old when she participated in the murder, and Ronald Bell was seventeen. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles were unconstitutional.

The resentencing of the pair was ordered following that decision. Long years of torment for the family of Cordell Richards ended Monday when Ronald Bell and Kristel Maestas were each resentenced to life in prison for his 1999 kidnap and murder.

In April 2019, Circuit Court Judge William Stone resentenced both. In issuing his ruling, Judge Stone notified both defendants that he had considered all the relevant factors, including their youth at the time and “all evidence relating to the offense.”

Bell showed no emotion as Stone re-sentenced him not only to life in prison for murder, but also to a consecutive life sentence for kidnapping with a weapon.

Maestas, however, openly wept during the proceedings. She will serve life in prison for the killing of Richards and 30 years consecutive to that for her role in the kidnapping.

“The only thing I can say is my family and I are still just in shock we had to go through this in court,” Reanna Richards, Richards’ daughter, said after the hearing. “I thank God the judge found the wisdom to rule the way he did.”

Both will be eligible for a hearing on the kidnapping charges after 20 years, but the murder life sentences remain.

Where Is Kristel Maestas Now?

Kristel Maestas is currently incarcerated in the Florida Department of Corrections.

• DC Number: P10752
• Name: MAESTAS, KRISTEL R
• Birth Date: 03/11/1982
• Initial Receipt Date: 04/28/2000
• Current Facility: HOMESTEAD C.I. (previously listed at Lowell CI and Santa Rosa Annex)
• Current Custody: CLOSE
• Current Release Date: SENTENCED TO LIFE

She is now in her early 40s and has spent more than half her life in prison. She was featured as A&E’s first female offender on Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole, where she argued for a second chance based on her age at the time and her claim of abuse by Richards.

Her accomplice Ronald Bell Jr. remains in a Florida maximum-security prison serving life. Renee Lincks has been free since 2012 and lives under a new identity.

The Psychology: Why This Case Haunts Investigators

Former sheriff’s investigator Stan Griggs describes the murder as “pure evil” — not just for the violence, but for the duration. This was not a single gunshot. This was a beating, a burning, a return trip, and a throat-slashing with a store-bought cleaver that was then returned for $12.

Three factors make the Kristel Maestas case a textbook study for criminologists:

1. Co-offending couple dynamics. Maestas was the younger girlfriend, Bell the dominant older boyfriend. She later claimed she participated out of fear and love, a common defense in “killer couples” cases.
2. Juvenile desensitization. All three killers were under 18. They played video games, went shopping, and returned a murder weapon for a refund within 24 hours of torture.
3. Victim vulnerability. Richards was targeted in his own home by tenants he was trying to help financially.

Media Coverage

The case has been covered extensively:

• Oxygen’s Snapped: Killer Couples Season 13, Episode 3 – “Kristel Maestas & Ronald Bell”
• A&E’s Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole – featured Maestas as the first female juvenile lifer seeking resentencing
• Morbid: A True Crime Podcast – “The Torture & Murder of Cordell Richards”