Bunchee Nyhuis Is Murdered In America
(“The Talking Skull,” Forensic Files)
Last week’s post recapped a Forensic Files episode that was rich in biographical details, about an elegant social climber named Noreen Boyle and the arrogant mid-life crisis victim of a husband who murdered her.
This week is dedicated to “The Talking Skull,” a Forensic Files story whose heart lies in the evidence-gathering process.
As a YouTube commenter summarized the authorities’ work:
Anupam Sircar2 “From just a skull in the ground to a convicted killer in prison!!! Wow!!! Well done!!!”
The story offers up everything viewers ever wanted to know about ID’ing a skull.
Cartographer’s catch. But the episode gives relatively little in the way of personal details about Bunchee Nyhuis or her husband, Richard, who turned homicidal one night in 1983. By the time the closing Forensic Files theme music plays, viewers haven’t really gotten to know the couple.
andonline
So, for this week, I looked around for intelligence about their personal histories (only a few tidbits about Bunchee available, but a fair amount on Richard) and also checked into the whereabouts of Richard today. So, let’s get started on the recap:
In November 1987, a freelance mapmaker named Raimo Pitkanen was on a job for an orienteering club when he spotted a skull at the S Bar F Scout Ranch near Farmington, Missouri.
Frightened by what he’d seen, Pitkanen left the skull in the woods and didn’t report until he was safely back in his home in Finland.
Written in bone. At the scene, the Missouri Highway Patrol found some other bones, strands of hair, and a button that said “Texwood.” Some of the remains had been gnawed by animals who probably dug them up from a shallow grave.
The victim’s pelvic bone had the type of markings that indicate it belonged to a woman who had given birth to two or more children. (That would have been a nice fun fact in a case that wasn’t quite as grim as this one).
Investigators discovered that Texwood was a Hong Kong manufacturer that made jeans specifically for “Asian builds,” according to The Bone Detectives, a children’s book of all things, published by Little Brown in 1996.
Facing the challenge. Forensic Files asserted that the button proved the victim was either from Asia or had visited Asia.
It turned out that was correct, but it bothers me when the show leaps to conclusions — the jeans could have been worn by an Armenian-American woman who bought them in a thrift store in Vermont.
Anyhow, after a forensic artist used the skull to re-create the face of the victim, a woman named Wilaiporn Cox saw it on TV and identified it as belonging to her missing friend Bunchee Nyhuis. No one had seen Bunchee since December 1983. At the time, Richard claimed that she had returned to Thailand. He said he had dropped her off at the St. Louis airport and never heard from her again.
Thai love story. It seemed plausible at the time. Her friends recalled her saying that she wanted to go back and visit her relatives in Thailand.
Bunchee (also “Bun Chee” or “Buncheerapon,” depending on the source) was born in the city of Chonburi in Thailand circa 1950 and left her homeland after meeting the dark-haired, blue-eyed Richard Nyhuis. He was serving in the Air Force in Thailand in the early 1970s.
Seemed perfectly respectable. Richard Nyhuis came from a normal family background (on paper, anyway). He was born on February 18, 1946, to Harold Clayton Nyhuis and Virginia Buckler Nyhuis, who lived in Kankakee, Illinois. Harold spent 30 years working for an office supply business called Amberg File and Index, and Virgina was a secretary who worked on a newsletter published by the family’s church, Asbury United Methodist.
When Virginia died at the age of 94 in 2016, an obituary mentioned Richard had two sisters, Kathryn Siegel and Ann Johnson.
Richard became an electrician for McDonnell Douglas. Neighbors described him as an ideal husband and father and a well-respected Boy Scout leader, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story from July 20, 1989.
“She’s a tigress.” But investigators didn’t believe Richard was entirely wonderful. They confronted him while he was camping with his sons, Steven and Michael, at the same Boy Scout ranch where Bunchee’s remains had been discovered. He gave a videotaped confession, albeit a shifting one, and went on trial for murder in 1992.
The proceedings took place in St. Charles County Court with a jury of seven men and five women.
The prosecution contended that, during an argument in November 1983, Richard struck the 33-year-old Bunchee with a sharp object, then suffocated her as she lay on the floor pleading for medical help.
The defense countered that Richard Nyhuis was a peaceful man who fell prey to his wife’s volatile nature. His lawyer alleged that he pushed his 5-foot-tall wife in self-defense after she demanded that they build a bigger house, which they couldn’t afford, threatened to leave him and take their two little sons to Thailand — and then came at him “with hands and fingernails raised,” The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported on November 24, 1992. He also alleged she bit him.
Fifty long years. She hit her head when she fell, then began screaming and Richard accidentally suffocated her, the defense contended during the trial.
But St. Charles County medical examiner Mary Case testified she believed the skull injury came from an implement such as a clawhammer or tackhammer. According to court papers, “Dr. Case further stated that if the wound was left untreated, it could only have caused the wife’s death if medical attention was not properly sought.”
A jury convicted Richard of first-degree murder, and he got life in jail without the possibility of parole for 50 years.
Appeal fizzles. On appeal, Richard complained that the “state flaunted his wife’s remains in front of the jury throughout the trial.” He also contended that the court had precluded him from presenting evidence of “his wife’s specific acts of violence against defendant’s and wife’s children,” according to court papers.
andonline
In October 1995, a Missouri Court of Appeals upheld his conviction. The judges noted that “people normally become unconscious after being deprived of oxygen for one minute. This gave defendant sufficient time to coolly reflect on what he was doing after his wife was unconscious.”
Today, Richard Nyhuis resides in Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point. The prison houses death-row inmates and has accommodations ranging from minimum to maximum security.
The Missouri Department of Corrections website describes Nyhuis as 5-feet-8-inches tall and 180 pounds.
He’ll be 96 when he comes up for parole.
What about the children?
Offspring Okay. Again, not a whole lot of information, but it sounds as though Richard did a decent job of raising them alone in the years between Bunchee’s death and his arrest for murder.
The name Steve Nyhuis popped up on the St. Charles High honor roll in 1990. Steve appears to have followed his father into the military and had a successful career. It looks as though his brother, Michael, became a woodworker and is married.
In 1991, 48 Hours produced an episode about the case, but I wasn’t able to find it on CBS.com, Youtube, Amazon Prime, or Netflix. If anyone has a clue, about where to see it, please write in.
That’s all for this week. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Books-a-Million
Target
Walmart
Indie Bound
RR: Thanks for this – an ep I vaguely recall. This week’s post may count as ‘the oddest names one’: Bunchee; Raimo Pitkanen; Teena Orling (never see that Christian name); and perhaps the best: Wilaiporn Cox.
It’s wonderful that a ‘face’ can be constructed from a mere skull and be recognisable. Agreed about the tenuousness of the Texwood speculation: not just possibly a thrift shop purchase but poss worn by a small-statured American or teen. Thankfully such speculation worked…
The perp didn’t deny he contributed to wife’s death and that he attempted to conceal her death, but throughout trial and on appeal, he characterized wife’s death as an unfortunate accident, denying any deliberation. A different ME opined that the fracture could have occurred as defendant described and that death could have been caused by the fracture to the skull alone. But he couldn’t rule out suffocation or other causes. He disagreed with Case’s conclusion that the fracture had been caused by an object hitting the skull, although he conceded it was possible.
With that and the fact that had the perp claimed he felt threatened by the wife because of the claimed violence she’d inflicted on the children, such as to establish a potential self-defence motive, the outcome could’ve been different – a lesser degree of murder or even manslaughter. But during cross examination, he (foolishly) stated that he had not feared his wife when she lunged at him because of anything she’d done to the boys, thereby nullifying that possibility. A threat to take his children to another county (if she did), combined with threat/fear of violence from her could have made a difference…
I grew up spending many days in that house. Bunchee actually went by the name of Ann, I never heard that name till the trial. I saw many a time when her rage caused me real fear. Rich was someone I could look up to as a child and still think the events that unfolded were not intended but a result of a violent argument that ended with some bad decisions.
Thanks for writing in — who knows, maybe Richard Nyhuis is the rare husband who’s telling the truth when he says he was frightened of his wife’s temper and she died while he was trying to defend himself.
Hello Shaun: Thanks for your interesting info. The trouble with that (her rage), if offered in mitigation (so-called passion provocation), is that (i) you suggest her rages were multiple – giving the perp ample ‘warning’ and opportunity to separate from her given her nastiness, and (ii) just as ‘sudden rage’ can be used in mitigation of the perp’s action, logically it could be used of the victim’s (ie, just as he couldn’t help himself in a moment of rage in killing her, she couldn’t help HER moments of rage).
In the final analysis I think the notion that someone was momentarily pushed over the edge doesn’t wash, ‘cos much like those who criticise women who murder partners after multiple alleged abuse by the partner ‘cos they remained with him when they could have walked and now seek mitigation, Nyhuis could have walked or made her walk. From what you say, he should have foreseen trouble of the kind that occurred.
The law already allows for non-premeditated murder, though Nyhuis was considered, presumably to have planned this to sufficient degree for first-degree conviction.
My point: however nasty, difficult, even threatening a partner is, there are always the options of separation and recourse to law (over threats/harassment): unless minimum force for self-protection there is no excuse (or significant mitigation) for taking a life… The court found that this was not self-defence but (planned) offence. Assuming it’s right, Nyhuis belongs where he is.
The man suffocated his wife—an intentional and willful act per his admission—buried her body with the utilization of lime to mask the smell and fabricated a lie about her returning to her Thailand homeland. Richard made a conscious choice to end the life of his wife and construct a series of bs to conceal his involvement. He is exactly where he belongs.
Agreed: It’s woefully insufficient that she was nasty and difficult (if she was) as explanation/excuse for his action. Many properly convicted of first-degree murder might fairly claim that their victim was ‘horrible.’ That, though, doesn’t alleviate the gravity of the perp’s conduct.
Two words: WALK AWAY (from the rent-a-bride). He didn’t, and must now pay the price…
Why rent a bride? I lived with a Thai landlady and English landlord. It’s demeaning, Marcus. They are the salt of the earth. Fully worthy of marriage. As a southern belle. Why are those folks called rent a bride? What strange colloquialism (American?). I don’t understand why you, especially about the victim, being denigrating. As for rage, I guess some of it is probably Americans aren’t used to shouting and letting it out, rather than keeping it in and killing?
The term ‘rent a bride’ is a demeaning term implying that the relationship was actually Bunchee’s attempt to use Richard as a means to immigrate to the United States. This term is a product of outdated and racist patterns of thinking, and has no place in a civil discussion let alone a discussion of a criminal case.
Marcus’ use of such a vile and bigoted term to describe the victim should probably be example enough of why he is trying to divert the blame on Bunchee rather acknowledge than the true villain of this case, Richard Nyhuis.
I think it’s not relevant whether the term is demeaning in your view. Is it true? Did he ‘buy’ her? It could be thought as more demeaning of him! Was she ‘for sale’ for a ‘better life’? I don’t think it’s implied by that poster that she was in the wrong any more than he was in the way the relationship came about. It may be understandable that she was looking for or needed a better life and was prepared to accept an offer regardless of love. That doesn’t cast her in a bad light, but it would still be true to suggest she was ‘for sale’ or ‘for hire or ‘for rent.’ And I don’t think there’s ‘trying to divert the blame on Bunchee’ – the poster is saying she’s the victim and he’s totally to blame and doesn’t defend him one bit. Don’t get so hung up on the language rather than the facts.
I agree with Shaun on his observations. I also spent a lot of time with Rich and his two sons over my middle and high school years as we grew up together. I was very involved with the scouting program at the time. The father was a good role model and I learned a great deal from him. He dedicated a lot of his personal time not only to his family but others in the community to ensure they grew up with a good value system and exposing us to new interests and skills. He is one of the reasons I went on to college to major in engineering. Rich was a gentle and patient man. I have to think that what occurred was either an accident or a spontaneous act brought on by an violent argument. There is no way what occurred was premeditated. I wish Rich and his sons my best and hope they can find peace in their lives.
Thanks much for weighing in…great to hear from someone who was up close and personal. It’s too bad that Richard didn’t just call the police and explain after the incident that led up to his wife’s death. He might have received a more favorable deal.
Larry: Criminal history’s littered with family and friends who thought they ‘knew’ the perp and never considered the act(s) in issue possible. When our face is pressed up against the glass (as it were) we may see a distorted picture of the person – no more accurate than peering at them from a distance. Put another way, you saw a good side of this man – people are rarely WHOLLY bad – but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a bad.
It isn’t contended (at least in the above narrative) that N planned the murder, but the most generous reading of the facts as reported is that he made the decision to kill her in the heat of the argument – a mere accident being ruled-out. His subsequent actions can only be interpreted as attempt to conceal that killing.
So while this case doesn’t rank as one of FF’s more egregious, this has to be read as murder, from which you demur. As murder it is irrelevant that she may have been unpleasant/aggressive/violent/provocative and that you and his children experienced him as ‘nice.’ Murder is murder. That said, if the jury accepted that there was no premeditation and that she was capable of physical aggression (and therefore may have been assaulting him when killed), 50 yrs without parole seems harsh.
As RR observes, had he ‘fessed-up he may have fared a little better – but that he didn’t may well have been because he knew he’d be trying to explain away murder…
To those who have vile – even dangerous – partners, there can be no ‘understanding’ of taking their lives. The law, and walking away, are the only options. Should we take matters into our own hands we rightly pay the price for a terrible act…
I live in a medium-sized city in Florida and there is a similar situation here,though no body or body parts have been found and the man (along with the children he had with the missing woman) has lived carefree and I believe remarried since she disappeared. The woman (who was Filipino), married the local guy back in the 90s, and then according to the husband, just “ran away” supposedly abandoning her beloved children and ceasing to call her family back in the Philippines though she had called weekly prior to “running away.” The American husband didn’t notify the police — it was the family back in the Philippines who reported her missing. I believe the police could have done more, but this IS the south, she was foreign-born, the husband is an upstanding citizen on the outside and a tax payer so after an interview, even with the impossible, or at least highly improbable, explanation of the situation and his inaction, the case went cold. This leaves her family in Asia not knowing what happened to their daughter/sister/relative, cuts the no-doubt murdered woman’s kids off from her Pinoy family, and allows this husband to get away with murder and disposal of a tiny, good-hearted mother. It’s been so long the local cops will never solve this, or even look at the case, I’m sure. I wish this weren’t so, but we aren’t far from Alligator Alley so disposal of such a small morsel (I think she was 4’11”) would be easy and permanent.
Definitely sounds like foul play. It’s so rare for a woman to just “run off” and leave her kids as well as her family overseas.
Rebecca: Children abandoned by their mother is rare but not very much so. In 2002 it was estimated that up to 30% (19.8 million) of children in the United States, representing 11.9 million families, lived in single-parent households. While the number of single mothers has remained constant in recent years at 9.9 million, the number of single fathers has grown from 1.7 million in 1995 to 2 million in 2002, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2002, some 19.8 million children lived with one parent. Of these, 16.5 million lived with their mother and 3.3 million with their father.
Women as well as men ‘just walk out’ on their children, so inference on that fact alone is precarious. However, this case looks suspicious ‘cos of her parents and friends apparently hearing nothing. Did she take much cash? Did she have bank cards? You’d have thought police’d try tracing her through those cards or social security #. If she wanted to disappear off the radar – why? Mental ill-health? Drug use? Affair? Police should’ve pursued such lines, and if there was no apparent reason for her ‘leaving,’ a closer look at the husband would be warranted.
In the final analysis, though, in the absence of physical evidence of foul play, what do police do? Send in the sniffer dogs? They know that mothers DO walk out… Suspicion of foul play is just that. Her absence is not in itself evidence of foul play by her huby or anyone. Very sad for her children…
Couldn’t she have run away?
She could have…
I had a friend whose mother left him and his father and went back to Korea.
But as far as the woman leaving her Florida family and never contacting her Filipino relatives, I don’t buy that.
If she had good relations hitherto with them, as it sounds, I agree. Quite a few FF eps have dealt with women (not all mothers) who disappeared inexplicably. A gruesome early FF ep depicted Helle Crafts, an airline hostess the hubby claimed had just walked out (or never returned from a work trip). He was convicted of putting her through a wood-chipper…
Or Gene Keidel (Haunting Vision), who beat and strangled his wife Dianne to death in front of his kids because she wouldn’t let him beat the kids &
Here are the reasons the “Richard was a great guy who just did a bad thing because his wife was evil” theory was soundly rejected:
1st, he made no effort to seek help for his wife
2nd, he engaged in at least one secondary behavior that ensured his wife would not live
3rd, he took multiple steps to conceal the death of his wife, including both the elimination of evidence and lying
4th, when the body was discovered he offered his version of events of his own accord, which portrayed his wife as the aggressor and himself as a hapless victim
5th, once he learned that forensic evidence did not support his initial version of his wife’s death he altered his story in order to fit the evidence presented by the medical examiner
6th, after additional information was revealed by the prosecutor, Richard changed his story yet again.
More than anyone else, Richard Nyhuis proved beyond any doubt that he intentionally murdered his wife and made every effort to first conceal her death, then to minimize his involvement in and culpability for her death.
Sorry, but I really despite the “I knew him and he was a great guy”
We do not know anyone as well as we like to tell ourselves we do.
That reality is repeatedly exposed in and out of courts of law every single day.
Moreover, seeming like a great person means nothing.
Hitler was extremely charismatic, Ted Bundy was apparently exceptionally charming when he chose to be, John Wayne Gacy was a beloved clown and community leader.
Seeming like a super extra wonderful person can actually be a symptom of psychopathy.
I would also add that online you have no way of knowing if people claiming to know someone actually do or are merely attempting to insert themselves into the situation for other reasons.
You’re entirely correct in your second para: the obvious example is spouses (as in this case). No-one imagines (at least until the eleventh hour, perhaps) that their spouse could kill them, yet it’s the primary context of homicide. So third parties thinking they know better than the murdered spouse, when they aver that the defendant or convict couldn’t have done it, are deluded. ‘But he was too nice’ is a tiresome refrain…
Of course, it’s proper for friends and acquaintances who never knew anything adverse to speak positively and to air on the side of innocence where the evidence permits – but unless you live under the same roof with that person and spend the time that a spouse might with them, you don’t know them as you think you do. I wonder what proportion of the colleagues/friends of domestic abusers (male and female) had an inkling what they were like or capable of before it came out, per conviction, say? Ironically, in this case it seems to’ve been the female who was at least psychologically abusive (rage).
Mind you, even long-time spouses don’t necessarily know what the other’s up to. How many women have lived for years with serial murders and knew nothing (OK, not many – there aren’t many serial killers – but you get my point), thinking he was perfectly normal? QED.
One point that hasn’t been made: were Nyhuis female and the (alleged) aggressor male, would the outcome have been the same…? I THINK so – but the the sentence may have been lesser…
Fascinating as usual, R.R! Tubi network On Demand has 14 seasons of FF with only 1 commercial mid-episode. I come to you for the inside story and follow-up. There’s one aspect not much addressed here. Children tend to blame themselves for their parents’ abandonment (or divorce). They feel they must have done something awful – or it wouldn’t have happened. How heartlessly “good father” Richard lets his sons believe that their mother just up and forgot them. For 5 years is Richard assuring the boys that their mother really loves them – at the same time he’s telling them that she split and didn’t look back? I doubt she was so violent and abusive that they were happy she left. Even so, to protect himself this “kind and gentle” fellow put his young sons through the psychological wringer. That’s just plain cruel. BTW, HLN is offering FF2 in 2020, new stories! There’ve been plenty of juicy crimes since the series ended. I’ll be watching. I’ll just have to endure the endless ads.
I agree with your statement. I also find that when the victim on Forensic Files is a foreigner, many would come out to defend the murderer in the comment section.
I knew the family well.I was friends with Michael and was in the Scouts.Spent a lot of time at their home. This was after the mother had “left.” Richard was my scout master. While I never would have thought he had killed his wife, he definitely had a hard side. His temper could flare suddenly. They raised ferrets and I remember once Michael forgot to clean the cages or something like that. Richard went from 0 to 60 pretty quick. I still remember finding out about the whole situation. We had a tight group of friends and sadly we never saw Michael after that.