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Massaro: Tale of a Christian lady, a cheat and a cop

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 12, 2006 at midnight

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You're going to think this is a fairy tale. But it's true.

It's about a Denver cop with a heart and how he helped a woman whose heart was broken.

The cop is Cpl. Daniel Andrews, 32, a field training officer who was on a beat three years ago when he met Veo Detta Richardson.

A reader was so impressed with the story, she not only sent a letter of praise to the chief, she let me know, too.

Richardson and her husband, Anderson Nelson, each had something in their hearts.

She had love for him in hers. He had midnight in his.

Andrews met Richardson when he went to her home to arrest Nelson for suspicion of felony theft. Richardson told Andrews her husband was gone. Andrews returned and they started visiting.

Richardson said she and Nelson had married in 1984. He was her third husband. The other two had died. She should have been so lucky with Nelson.

After they married, she put his name as co-owner of her house. He took out a $100,000 loan on it, saying he'd invest it. He did - in his own pocket. He left town while Richardson was visiting a sister in California.

"He had cashed out the entire loan," Andrews said.

He also emptied her checking and savings accounts, her safe deposit box and her home.

"He took her TV and radio," Andrews said.

That wasn't why Andrews was looking for Nelson, though. This is: Nelson was accused of splitting with $3,500 worth of custom jewelry he hadn't paid for.

Richardson became responsible for the second mortgage, which had an escalating payment.

"After I found out the situation, she pretty much became part of our family," Andrews said. "It seemed if my family and I didn't help her, nobody would."

Andrews and his wife, Stephanie, included Richardson at holidays and other gatherings. She had no close relatives living close by.

He found a lawyer, Cheramie Ball-Costigan, who "got them divorced for free," said Andrews, who later found out that Nelson died in July 2005 in Pine Bluff, Ark. "Veo Detta, a nice Christian lady, didn't like that - the divorce."

Andrews talked to bankers, who arranged a reverse mortgage for Richardson, which allowed her to stay in her home.

"She was content to go through life with what she had," he said. "That's why she was so easy to help."

Richardson hoped to stay in her home until she died. She almost made it.

She went to a doctor in January - thought she had the flu. Turned out she had severe kidney problems and high blood pressure.

She went from hospital to hospice. She died April 6, on Stephanie Andrews' birthday. She was 86.

"She was a kind-hearted Christian lady," Andrews said. "And she married a guy who wasn't."

When Gary Massaro listens, people talk. or 303-892-5271