Richard Keech Richard Eugene Keech ( October 27 , 1919 – July 4 , 2013 ) was an American veteran of World War II who was convicted of murdering his estranged son - in - law , Nicholas Candy , who was in a messy divorce and child custody dispute with Keech ' s daughter , Nancy . World War II experience ( excerpted ) . Keech was born in 1919 in Los Angeles County . He fought in the Battle of Corregidor and survived 45 months captivity in Japanese POW camps after the American surrender at Corregidor . He was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal . On May 6 , 1942 , he was guarding the Malinta tunnel on Corregidor when an American officer walked out with a white flag of surrender . As a Japanese POW he to continued resist , using cigarettes as fuses on the gasoline dumps on the Japanese cargo ships . Keech was part of Keech ' s CO asked an officer directing traffic where he should go . He wound up in the 4th China Marines , stationed in Shanghai in 1939 , a 1200 man deployment . Japanese troops in excess of 300 , 000 surrounded the city . In November 1941 , 4th China Marines left for Corregidor , Philippines . Shanghai fell a month later . Keech wound up as part of General MacArthur ' s honor guard . " General McArthur was reportedly so impressed that he decided he needed a Marine guard . " In the subsequent surrender , Keech fell in with 6000 men in the “ 92nd Garage ” , an amphibian aircraft field with only one faucet for water . Keech survived because he thought ahead ; he and his comrades filled up their two canteens every evening even though was a two - hour wait for the one faucet . The Japanese gave no warning and no time to fetch water when they moved the prisoners . Most men had no food or water . " We . . . would help is much as we could , but eventually the sick soldiers had only the choice of jumping off a bridge in hopes of escaping or quicker death by bayonet . " He spent the remainder of the war in Japanese POW camps , a period of about 45 months or nearly four years , including Nichols Field , where he left not once , but twice . The first term was for ten months . Lt . Sato , aka “ The White Angel ” , nephew of the Japanese Emperor , ran Nichols field . His camp held 900 prisoners of which 90 died each month of disease and hunger . " The first time Keech left Nichols Field , the " White Angel " had lined the prisoners up at a midnight and offered a chance to the prisoners to leave for the hospital . Most of the prisoners took it as a trick . Keech and three others stepped forward , gambling with their lives . In this case , they won . The " White Angel " sent them on . Unfortunately , an American trustee at the hospital sent Keech back to Nichols Field . At Nichols Field , the Japanese military put the dying soldiers right in with the dead near the crematorium , to save the effort of carrying the bodies . " I weighed 97 pounds when I went back to the hospital . I could not get interested in eating again . An American trustee doctor named Dr . Brown finally talked me into eating again " , said Mr . Keech . His final POW camp was Narumi POW Camp He was on a work detail only 9 miles from Nagoya when the first line of bombers arrived . He watched 85 , 000 Japanese civilians die , as compared to Nagasaki ' s 60 , 000 . The Japanese destroyed all records relating to POW camps . After the war , the POW camps were only found through an intense aerial survey that took months . A scout plane stumbled across Keech ' s camp and dropped a container of K - rations . The doctor quickly confiscated all the rations because he felt a full K - ration might kill the prisoners in their current malnourished state . The container represented two months of food to the camp at their current level of consumption . " The pilot dropped a walkie - talkie with a note , ' I am sorry I could only provide a snack . I will return with lunch and dinner later ' . Sure enough , another plane returned later and dumped K - rations , shoes and clothing " , Keech told his family many years later . Shooting . Keech was convicted of the murder of Nicholas Candy . Keech shot Candy once , then followed him , shooting him four more times , all in the back , on May 21 , 1996 . " It ' s all over " , he said later to a neighbor who ran out at the sound . " He won ' t bother anyone anymore . " Despite the support of various veterans groups and other supporters who insisted that Keech was a war hero suffering from PTSD , Keech was convicted of first - degree murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison . He served twelve years imprisonment in various California prisons until his release by the same judge who had sentenced him , despite the opposition of prosecutors , based on Keech ' s age ( almost 90 years old ) and health ( reportedly suffering from dementia ) , on October 8 , 2009 . Keech ' s wife Kay ( née Kathryn Harlene Guessford ; January 20 , 1922 – February 11 , 2010 ) , predeceased him . They were married in Long Beach , California on June 11 , 1949 , and had four children . Richard Keech died on July 4 , 2013 , aged 93 , in Lakewood , California .