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Rodney Barner, who went by the stage name Rawn Beauty, was the original frontman for Cold As Life, the legendarily chaotic and tough Detroit hardcore band. In the late '80s and early '90s, Barner was a larger-than-life presence on the Detroit punk scene. In 1993, he was murdered, shot to death in his sleep at the age of 23. Richard Werstine, Barner's friend and roommate, was arrested for the murder, and he failed to appear for his trial. For decades, Werstine lived as a fugitive, evading authorities. Now, Werstine has finally been taken into custody after being arrested at a dog park in Panama City, Panama.
According to The Guardian, the 56-year-old Werstine was arrested on Apr. 29. The US Marshals Service claims that Werstine was carrying fake identification at the time of his arrest but that he was identified through fingerprint records. Werstine reportedly admitted to his true identity and his fugitive status, saying that he's been in Panama illegally since 2005. Federal authorities then returned Werstine to the US and turned him over to Wayne County authorities.
Cold As Life continued after Barner's murder, and they became notorious for their violent shows. Co-founder Jeff Gunnells took over as frontman after Barner's death, and the band finally released their cult-beloved debut album Born To Land Hard in 1998. They included Werstine's face on a wanted poster in the Born To Land Hard artwork. In 2018, Gunnells was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for a 2012 armed robbery. He's out of prison now, and he's been playing occasional live shows with Cold As Life since 2023; they just headlined San Jose's RBS Fest last month.
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