01/06/2018 obit list from Beth Berry

Richard Allen Lechtanski

Sep. 21, 1958 - Aug. 14, 1995

SOUTH BEND - Richard A. Lechtanski, 36, of East Calvert Street, died at 11:28 p.m. Monday in Memorial Hospital of a gunshot wound.

Mr. Lechtanski was employed by Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 172. He was born Sept. 21, 1958, in South Bend.

He is survived by his parents, Lillian R. and Steve R. Lechtanski of South Bend; and two brothers, Robert A. of South Bend and Russell A. of Edwardsburg.

He was a graduate of LaSalle High School.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday in St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. Cremation will take place. McGann Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

LECHTANSKI IDENTIFIED AS SLAYING VICTIM

South Bend Tribune - August 16, 1995.

SOUTH BEND - Detectives with the county Special Crimes Unit late Tuesday afternoon identified South Bend's latest homicide victim as Richard A. Lechtanski.

Lechtanski, 36, of 1337 E. Calvert St., died about 11:30 p.m. Monday in Memorial Hospital after he was shot in the back of the head about 90 minutes earlier outside a home at 1627 S. St. Joseph St.

Detectives have been unable to find any relatives of Lechtanski, said Thomas A. Trenerry, Special Crimes commander.

He was identified Tuesday morning through fingerprints, Trenerry said.

Officials delayed releasing Lechtanski's name while they tried to notify his relatives.

Witnesses told investigators Lechtanski was apparently involved in ''some type of altercation'' with several other people, said Cpl. William Thompson, a detective investigating the case.

''At this point, we don't know all the parties who were involved,'' Thompson said.

Police said two men were seen running from the house at the northwest corner of Dubail and St. Joseph streets, after Lechtanski was shot.

Lechtanski was found on a porch on the south side of the house, police said.

Thompson said Lechtanski was not believed to have been visiting anyone at 1627 S. St. Joseph and it is not clear what he was doing in the neighborhood.

Police, later Monday, searched a house just east of the shooting scene at 231 E. Dubail.

Though two men were taken from the house for questioning, they have not been described as suspects in the case.

''We did not arrest the two guys we took out of there,'' Thompson said.

Officers at the scene of the shooting said they do not believe the slaying of Lechtanski is connected to last Thursday's gang-related shooting death of Weldon Jefferies Jr. and the wounding of Spencer Johnson.

The two men were gunned down in a drive-by shooting at Jefferson Boulevard and Illinois Street.

The suspect in that case, Jarrode Phillips, 19, of South Bend, was arrested Sunday and faces charges of murder and attempted murder.

03/21/2022 DEC

South Bend Tribune