Detectives arrest California man for the 1981 murder of a Fort Myers man

Lakewood, Calif. - Lee County detectives caught up with a man wanted for a brutal murder outside a Fort Myers strip club. James Edward Sims was arrested at his home in Lakewood, California, Friday morning after nearly three decades on the run.

In 1981 Sims was 29-years-old, and that's when Lee County Sheriff's detectives say he killed Roy Radabaugh. The investigation that spanned nearly three decades even landed Sims on the Fox television show, America's Most Wanted, five years ago.

Detectives say Sims shot Radabaugh execution style on January 18, 1981. It happened in the parking lot of what was the Fox Den Lounge on Fowler Street in Fort Myers.

Deputies believe the two men had been arguing over a woman, LaFonda Dalton. At the time Dalton was working as a dancer at the lounge.

A Fort Myers newspaper spoke with Lafonda Dalton, who is now Lafonda Bayer.

Bayer, now living in Tampa, told News-Press.com that Radabaugh was her boyfriend for a short time and she only went on one date with Sims but she wasn't involved with either man on the night of the shooting.

"I wasn't there. I don't know what took place that night. I had nothing to do with it," Bayer said.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/st…
7/4/2010