Long Beach Murder Solved 25 Years Later

Suspects in the 1986 robbery-murder of Leotis Green have been linked to the crime scene west of Long Beach City College by DNA technology that was applied to forensic evidence.

Green, 38, had been shot several times June 27, 1986 and his apartment tossed, with blood found on living room items and objects in other rooms, as well as a blood trail leading out toward the street, Long Beach Police said in a press release.

Forensic technology including DNA analysis was not then available and other leads were exhausted in the case, the press release stated.But when the Long Beach detectives revisiting unsolved cases that had biological evidence sent out Green case evidence to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Scientific Services Bureau for DNA testing.  A DNA profile resulted, and the Long Beach Cold Case Homicide Unit located two suspects they believe committed the crime.

One suspect, Wallace Johnson, 53, of Long Beach, died in 2003. The other suspect, Anthony Ragsdale, 49, was arrested at his home in Perris, California on March 1. (The department released the arrest eight days late, not Patch).

On March 5, homicide detectives presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which filed a murder and a robbery charge against Ragsdale. He's being held at the L.A. County Jail with bail set at $1,050,000

Anyone with additional information regarding the murder of Leotis Green is asked to contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives Malcolm Evans and Todd Johnson at (562) 570-7244.  Anonymous tips may be submitted via text or web by visiting www.tipsoft.com.