THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050443
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KITTY HAWK LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
George ``Jap'' Richardson, operator of four movie theater complexes and a longtime businessman on the Outer Banks who provided jobs for hundreds, has died of what authorities say were self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The 54-year-old entrepreneur's clothed body was found about 5 p.m. Tuesday by his wife in the bathtub of their Martin's Point home, with five bullet wounds in his chest.
``Unless our investigation shows something else, we'll continue to investigate this case as a suicide,'' Dare County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Rodney Midgett said Wednesday afternoon.
Friends say Richardson left a suicide note and most of his business papers in order. The death was definitely planned, they say.
``If there were any reason to believe otherwise,'' Midgett said, ``we'd have a lot more officers out there working on this.''
Richardson, a native of Roanoke Rapids, lived on the Outer Banks for more than 30 years. He founded the Lifeguard Beach Service in Kill Devil Hills, formerly ran a clothing store in Nags Head called Colony House, once owned a Nags Head bowling alley, and, at his death, was the operator of all four movie theaters in Nags Head and Kitty Hawk.
He opened the first theater on the beach in 1972, and at one time owned a charter sports fishing boat that ran out of Oregon Inlet. Hundreds of Outer Banks residents have worked in his businesses, many of them as their first job.
``Jap was a hell of a nice guy, very outgoing, very community-oriented,'' Sheriff A.L. ``Bert'' Austin said. ``He will be sorely missed.''
Richardson's body was slumped in the bathtub when his wife, Tina, came home Tuesday afternoon. All the lights were turned off in the couple's soundfront home. Police found a small, semi-automatic pistol nearby.
The sheriff said he thought the weapon was a .25 caliber. Friends say it was only a .22 - with bullets so small it could take five to kill someone. Police said they don't know to whom the gun was registered.
``This really shocked Jap's friends and family,'' said David Watson, a real estate developer who was selling Martin's Point lots with Richardson and knew him for more than 20 years. ``He was a very positive person, very involved. This really isn't the kind of thing those types of folks would do.
``He was certainly an icon in the Outer Banks business community. He was very popular, well-respected and liked. There's really an outpouring of emotion in the community over this. It's hard to imagine why anyone would take his own life. But many people do it. It's hard to imagine that anything would be that terrible.''
Richardson owned nine vacant lots in Kitty Hawk under the Colony House, Inc. corporation. Like his own home, all of the lots are located in Martin's Point, an exclusive community at the east end of the Wright Memorial Bridge which only can be entered through a guarded gate. According to Dare County tax records, Colony House Inc. bought the lots in 1988 and 1989. Values range from $60,750 to $143,000.
In addition to his wife, Richardson is survived by daughter, Christina Dorsey Richardson.
Richardson attended Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served on the Board of Trustees at Virginia Episcopal.
Thw family plans a private memorial service. Twiford's Funeral Home of Manteo is handling arrangements. The family requests that donations be sent to: The Dare County Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 1000, Manteo, N.C. 27954.
KEYWORDS: SUICIDE SHOOTING by CNB