Police say a Venice businessman was the last known person to see 24-year-old Laikyn Marie West alive in September 2024.

VENICE, Fla. — A 75-year-old Venice man has been charged with second-degree murder in the disappearance of a Bradenton woman whose body has not been found, closing one stage of a 17-month investigation while opening new questions about how she died and where her remains may be.

Ronald Chester Racki was arrested Feb. 20 in the death of Laikyn Marie West, 24, who was reported missing on Sept. 16, 2024, after she failed to return home and missed a planned out-of-state flight. Police say the case matters now because investigators believe they have assembled enough evidence to bring a homicide charge even without finding West’s body, a step that often marks a major turn in a long-running missing-person case.

Investigators said West was last seen on Sept. 13, 2024, when she left her Bradenton home after being picked up in a white sedan. Her housemate later told police that West never came back. Detectives traced calls between West and Racki that morning and concluded he was the last known person to see her alive. During questioning, Racki acknowledged that he knew West and that he picked her up that day. He told detectives they went to Venice for lunch and said he drove her home afterward. Police said they found no evidence that he dropped her off. Venice Police Chief Andy Leisenring later said the arrest followed months of coordinated work and that investigators remained focused on getting answers for West’s family.

The evidence described by police and in the affidavit moved beyond a simple timeline. Detectives said West’s journal included entries describing a man paying her $925 to let him use chloroform during sex. When investigators confronted Racki with that account in December 2024, he admitted he owned chloroform and said he used it as a cleaning product for car seats, according to the affidavit. He also admitted paying West for sexual favors, police said. After officers seized his phone and sought search warrants, detectives reported finding images of West naked and bound with handcuffs and cable ties inside Racki’s office. Hypodermic needles were visible in some images, according to the affidavit summarized by local media. Police have not publicly explained whether toxicology or other forensic testing tied those items directly to West’s death, and West’s body has still not been found.

Investigators also pointed to what happened after that December interview. The day after detectives challenged Racki’s account, he tried to take his own life and was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital under protective custody, according to the affidavit. Police later obtained medical records through a warrant and found a nurse’s note stating that Racki said, “I killed four women six weeks ago.” Detectives said the note recorded that he was oriented at the time, but they also said they had found no independent evidence linking him to any other killings. That detail sharpened public attention around the case, but police have treated it cautiously, describing it as an uncorroborated statement rather than proof of more victims. The arrest announcement remained centered on West’s death and the evidence tied specifically to her disappearance.

The broader context shows how the case moved across agencies and across months. Bradenton police opened the missing-person investigation after West’s disappearance. By December 2024, the case had developed enough for a joint investigation with Venice police, with support from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the State Attorney’s Office, according to Bradenton police. Detectives later interviewed a vehicle detailer who said he deep-cleaned one of Racki’s trucks around the time West vanished. The detailer told investigators he noticed a suspicious stain on the rear floor, an unusual odor and discolored water during steam cleaning, according to the affidavit. Those details did not answer the biggest question, but they gave investigators another piece of physical evidence to compare with the digital trail and Racki’s own statements.

For now, the legal case has started while the recovery effort continues. Racki was booked into the Sarasota County Jail and was being held without bond after his arrest. Police said his next court date was set for March 20. Prosecutors will now have to begin presenting the case in court while detectives continue searching for West’s remains and continue reviewing whether any part of Racki’s hospital statement points to other crimes. The charge filed so far is second-degree murder, and police have not announced additional counts. Leisenring said the evidence supports the arrest, but the absence of a body means future court filings and hearings may become the main place where more of the investigative record is made public.

The case has also carried a visible human weight in Bradenton and Venice, where West’s disappearance lingered long after the first missing-person notices were issued. Her name stayed in public circulation through police updates and local reporting, while investigators kept working the file behind the scenes. Bradenton police said their mission in every missing-person case is to reunite families, and that even after the arrest, West is still missing. That language captured the unusual position of the case: an arrest has been made, a suspect is in jail, and investigators say the evidence points to murder, but the central act of recovery has not happened. For West’s relatives and friends, that leaves the story unfinished even as the prosecution begins.

The case stood, as of the latest public update, with Racki jailed without bond, West still missing, and a March 20 court date set as the next public milestone in a homicide case that began as a missing-person report on Sept. 16, 2024.

Author note: Last updated March 21, 2026.