Arrest made in murder of missing woman found dead in Churchill County

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The suspect in the murder of a woman who was reported missing in April and whose body was found in a remote area of Churchill County has been arrested.

Robert Matthew Richards, a 39-year old resident of Saratoga Springs, Utah, was arrested Monday and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail in Utah, where he will remain until he is extradited to Lyon County.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the disappearance of Sara Filiatraut, 25, on April 15. Her body was found May 22 and an autopsy performed by the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed her death as a homicide.

Filiatraut’s family in Michigan had reported her missing, saying her last known location was in Lyon County on March 21. She was released from the Lyon County Jail on March 21 after having been arrested on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and bein an intoxicated pedestrian.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said detectives identified Richards as the suspect in the murder early in their investigation. After Filiatraut’s body was found May 22, detectives learned that Richards was working in Colorado. They traveled to Colorado and with the assistance of the Grand County Sheriff’s Office and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, executed a search warrant and collected numerous items of physical evidence. Based on that evidence, an arrest warrant for Richards, charging him with one count of first degree murder, was issued in late July.

On Monday, detectives traveled to Utah to serve the arrest warrant and took him into custody.

LCSO said the investigation spanned across Northern Nevada and into the states of Colorado and Utah, They received assistance from the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, the Regional Human Trafficking and Exploitation Unit (HEAT), the Elko County Sheriff’s Office, the Nevada State Police Investigations Division, the Grand County (Colorado) Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Salt Lake County (Utah) Sheriff’s Office and the Saratoga Springs (Utah) Police Department.

Anyone who has information regarding the case is asked to contact the LCSO Investigations Division by email at detective@lyon-county.org or by phone at (775) 463-6600 in reference to case number 24LY01479.