James Stewart Richardson was an employee of the victim's husband and has a history of violent crime.

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, December 10, 2005

BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer

WARWICK -- Claiming that his DNA matches material found under the fingernails of a slain teacher's aide from Warwick, the police have arrested a Cranston landscaper and charged him with murder.

Detectives arrested James Stewart Richardson, 38, on Thursday evening, and brought him to District Court yesterday. He was ordered held without bail in the killing of Margaret R. Duffy-Stephenson.

On Nov. 18, Duffy-Stephenson, an avid gardener and mother of one, was found dead in her home, in Warwick's Cowesett secion. It appears she was awakened by an intruder, then attacked and stabbed to death while descending a staircase, according to a police affidavit.

The basement of the house, which serves as the office of Duffy-Stephenson's husband's business, Picture Perfect Landscaping, was ransacked, and a safe had been opened and emptied, the affidavit said. The safe was said to contain $11,000, the police said. There was no sign of forced entry.

Suspicion soon fell on Richardson, an employee of Picture Perfect for more than four years, and a man with a history of violent crime.

In a police interview, Richardson acknowledged knowing the locations of a spare house key and of the safe, the police said. The day Duffy-Stephenson's body was discovered, Richardson paid cash for a $2,600 ticket on a flight to the Philippines, scheduled to depart the next day, the police said. He did not take the trip.

Richardson yesterday appeared in District Court unshaven, with a rugged face and light brown hair. He spoke only to give his birthdate and address -- 45 Clear View Drive, Cranston. Judge William C. Clifton scheduled a bail hearing for Dec. 22.

"He maintains his innocence," said Richardson's lawyer, Stefanie DiMao, after the court appearance. "We're confident that the facts will come out [during the bail hearing] that point to his innocence."

During a news conference earlier yesterday, Police Chief Stephen M. McCartney declined to say whether the killing was the result of a botched burglary, or whether there are other suspects. No murder weapon was recovered.

The police quickly focused on Richardson. On Nov. 20, they obtained a warrant to search a white 1992 Chrysler LeBaron, registered to Richardson's father and parked at the family home on Clear View Drive.

On Nov. 22, the police obtained three more warrants, to search take saliva and hair samples from Richardson and to look at records of phone calls, to and from his home and the victim's, over a 12-day period.

On Nov. 26, they searched Richardson's home.

When the DNA test results came back from a state Health Department lab on Thursday, the police obtained an arrest warrant from Superior Court Judge Vincent A. Ragosta. They found Richardson that evening, at his ex-wife's home on Ticonderoga Drive in Warwick. He surrendered without incident.

Duffy-Stephenson, 37, grew up in North Kingstown and worked as a special-education teacher's aide at Archie R. Cole Junior High School, in East Greenwich. On the weekend before her death, she visited Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for a family wedding. She returned to Rhode Island to work the following week, while her husband, James O. Stephenson III, and young son remained with relatives in Florida.

She attended a union dinner on the evening of Nov. 16, but did not report to work on the 17th. Her father, John E. Duffy, checked in on her the following morning and discovered her body.