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The original was posted on /r/unresolvedmysteries by /u/caitiep92 on 2024-01-06 18:30:14+00:00.
Richard Hansen, better known as Dick, was born on February 23, 1955 in San Jose, California. Born into a prominent Santa Clara County family, Dick spent his entire life in the area, attending Santa Clara University where he played football. Dick had been married, but he and his wife had divorced several years previously. He had two daughters, aged 13 and 11 in 1991.
On the evening of April 29, 1991, Dick went out with a friend who has only been referred to as "Jean." Dick's case has been featured on Unsolved Mysteries, and more recently, Dates From Hell. While the Dates From Hell episode presented the evening like it was just Dick and Jean, Unsolved Mysteries presented the situation as though they were out with more friends. Either way, dinner was had at Original Joe's restaurant, and it seems they also went to a club afterwards.
At around 1:00am (although one source says 1:30am), Jean drove Dick back to his car, which had been left at Original Joe's. Dick and Jean spent some time talking in Jean's car when Jean noticed a car pull up behind them. Jean took note of the car because the street had been all but deserted before. Jean did make mention of the fact that since there was a mailbox there, maybe Jean and Dick should pull up to give the guy some room. Dick said the guy had plenty of room. Because Jean didn't know the area very well, Dick agreed to let Jean follow him in her car.
When Dick and Jean pulled out of the street in their separate cars, the man behind them also pulled out. When they made a left turn at a traffic light, so did the man. Once Dick and Jean pulled onto Interstate 280, the man was still following them. This is when Jean knew that this man was following them. When the pair then pulled onto Interstate 85, so did the man. Jean even tried switching lanes several times, but the man was still on their tail. At one point, Jean tried yelling to Dick that they should go to the police, but Dick couldn't hear her because of the road noise. He did yell back that they should pull off onto the next exit.
Dick stopped his car on a residential street, Jean pulled in behind. Then things got really tense. Dick got out of his car, asked Jean if she knew this guy and Jean said no. Dick then walked up to the man's car and something to the effect of "what do you want?" The man then said something that Jean couldn't hear and pointed towards her car, but Dick then got angry and responded with something like "get the hell out of here!" This was when the man pulled out a gun and shot Dick point blank in the chest. Jean wanted to duck down into her car to hide but she was frozen in fear, but the man just drove off. It's unclear if Jean went off to go call the police or if a passing car called. But Dick was dead by the time paramedics arrived.
There seemed to be little motive in Dick's case. All that they had was Jean's eyewitness statement and her license plate, which read "49ER HUGS." This was in reference to the San Francisco 49er football team. Jean was a fan of the team and since Dick still had the physique of a football player, maybe the killer was a fan of a rival team. Also, according to the Dates from Hell episode, Dick was even recognized as a football player while he and Jean were at dinner.
The man who killed Dick was described as a white man with a dark/olive complexion. He may be Hispanic or Mediterranean and at the time of the killing, he was in his late 30s or early 40s and at the time he was wearing large glasses with thick black frames. The car this man was driving appeared to be a 1970s Pontiac GTO LeMans, with either a dull gray or blue paint job. It was a two door coupe.
There is little other information in Dick's case. Jean's real name has never been revealed in order to keep her safe, and Dick's parents have since passed away. This seems to be a memorable Unsolved Mysteries case though.
Unsolved Mysteries segment:
John Lordan did an in-depth video on the case as well: