A Florida man was arrested last week and charged with murder in the case of a 24-year-old woman who disappeared in 2024.
Venice Police arrested Ronald Chester Racki, a 75-year-old used car salesman, on Friday, charging him with second degree murder in the death of 24-year-old Laikyn Marie West, who was last seen on September 13, 2024.
West’s roommate reported her missing three days after her disappearance, the Herald-Tribune reported.
“After months of careful and coordinated investigative work, the evidence developed in this case supports this arrest and charge,” said Venice Police Chief Andy Leisenring. “We remain committed to seeking justice for Laikyn West and to bringing answers to her family.”
Investigators say that cell phone records show that Racki and West spoke the day she disappeared, and Racki agreed to meet her to pay for sex. He picked her up at her home in Bradenton and drove to Venice for lunch.
Then, he said, West asked him to stop and buy drugs, but he refused, saying he dropped her off in Bradenton.
But no witnesses corroborated that statement, and license plate readers didn’t pick up any vehicle registered to Racki in the area.
Racki met with detectives on December 14, 2024, after they had found an entry in West’s journal saying that a man had paied her $950 to allow him to chloroform her during sex. He told the detectives that he had fantasized about it but “never really chloroformed her,” although he said he had chloroform that he used to clean car seats. He also denied paying West $950.
He suggested that West may have overdosed or perhaps had a medical condition.
On December 20, investigators executed a search warrant on Racki’s phone and found photographs of west lying naked and bound with zip ties and handcuffs. One of the photos was taken on September 13, 2024, the day she was last seen.
Racki’s phone also contained searches for violent pornography and “snuff” content. On the same day, the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office responded to a an attempted suicide by Racki. He was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where he stayed until January 1.
While he was in the hospital, he reportedly told a nurse he’d killed four weomen, but investigators say they found no evidence that any victims other than West exist.
In April last year, a car detailer told investigators that he had deep cleaned a pickup truck for Racki around September 2024 and saw a stain on the rear floor but he had no paper records of the cleaning.
West’s body has not been found.
Racki is being held in the Sarasota County Jail without bond.
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[Featured image: Laikyn Marie West/Venice Police Department and Ronald Chester Racki/Sarasota County jail]