Post by Anja on Jun 3, 2006 21:58:02 GMT -5
Alcala pleads not guilty to 5 murders----He is suspected of killing a
12-year-old O.C. girl in 1979.
Rodney James Alcala, a former death-row inmate whose 2 convictions for
killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl in 1979 were both reversed,
again pleaded not guilty in that slaying today, and to 4 other killings in
Los Angeles County.
Alcala, 62, has been in custody since July 1979 when he was arrested for
the abduction and murder of Robin Samsoe, a Huntington Beach ballet
student who disappeared from her neighborhood on June 20, 1979. Her
decomposing remains were discovered 12 days later in the San Gabriel
Mountains.
While he was awaiting a 3rd trial in the Samsoe case, he was indicted on
the 4 Los Angeles County slayings based on DNA evidence. DNA testing did
not exist in 1979.
Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno ruled earlier that the 4 Los
Angeles County cases can be prosecuted along with the Samsoe case in
Orange County.
While 2 of Samsoe's brothers and a sister-in-law watched from the
courtroom gallery, Alcala officially pleaded not guilty to all 5 cases
today. Members of Samsoe's family have been in court for every hearing on
the case sine 1979.
He is scheduled to face a jury Nov. 6, but court-appointed defense
attorney George Peters said he would need more time to prepare a defense
because of the new cases. The trial will probably not get under way until
mid 2007, Peters said.
These are the 4 Los Angeles County slayings:
- Nov. 10, 1977: Jill Barcomb, 18, of Oneida, NY, had been in Southern
California for about 3 weeks when her body was found on a dirt path on
Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. She was in a knee-to-chest position and
naked from the waist down. She had been strangled with a pair of blue
slacks and beaten. There were signs of sexual assault.
- Dec. 16, 1977: Georgia Wixted, 27, was found in her Malibu home, naked,
battered and sexually assaulted. A hammer was found next to her body.
Wixted, a nurse at Centinela Hospital, was born in New York. 2 types of
blood were found in her apartment. Alcala was linked to her murder in 2003
after his DNA popped up when authorities tested a sample found at the
scene.
- June 24, 1978: Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica, was found naked and
dead in the laundry room of a large apartment complex in El Segundo,
according to the LA County coroner's office. Lamb, a legal secretary, had
been sexually assaulted and strangled with a shoelace. The apartment
manager found her body, but residents said they had never seen her before,
according to published reports.
- June 14, 1979: Jill Parenteau, a 21-year-old computer program keypunch
operator, was killed after an intruder broke into her Burbank apartment by
jimmying window louvers. Her nude body was found on the floor, propped up
by pillows.
(source: Orange County Register)
12-year-old O.C. girl in 1979.
Rodney James Alcala, a former death-row inmate whose 2 convictions for
killing a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl in 1979 were both reversed,
again pleaded not guilty in that slaying today, and to 4 other killings in
Los Angeles County.
Alcala, 62, has been in custody since July 1979 when he was arrested for
the abduction and murder of Robin Samsoe, a Huntington Beach ballet
student who disappeared from her neighborhood on June 20, 1979. Her
decomposing remains were discovered 12 days later in the San Gabriel
Mountains.
While he was awaiting a 3rd trial in the Samsoe case, he was indicted on
the 4 Los Angeles County slayings based on DNA evidence. DNA testing did
not exist in 1979.
Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno ruled earlier that the 4 Los
Angeles County cases can be prosecuted along with the Samsoe case in
Orange County.
While 2 of Samsoe's brothers and a sister-in-law watched from the
courtroom gallery, Alcala officially pleaded not guilty to all 5 cases
today. Members of Samsoe's family have been in court for every hearing on
the case sine 1979.
He is scheduled to face a jury Nov. 6, but court-appointed defense
attorney George Peters said he would need more time to prepare a defense
because of the new cases. The trial will probably not get under way until
mid 2007, Peters said.
These are the 4 Los Angeles County slayings:
- Nov. 10, 1977: Jill Barcomb, 18, of Oneida, NY, had been in Southern
California for about 3 weeks when her body was found on a dirt path on
Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. She was in a knee-to-chest position and
naked from the waist down. She had been strangled with a pair of blue
slacks and beaten. There were signs of sexual assault.
- Dec. 16, 1977: Georgia Wixted, 27, was found in her Malibu home, naked,
battered and sexually assaulted. A hammer was found next to her body.
Wixted, a nurse at Centinela Hospital, was born in New York. 2 types of
blood were found in her apartment. Alcala was linked to her murder in 2003
after his DNA popped up when authorities tested a sample found at the
scene.
- June 24, 1978: Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica, was found naked and
dead in the laundry room of a large apartment complex in El Segundo,
according to the LA County coroner's office. Lamb, a legal secretary, had
been sexually assaulted and strangled with a shoelace. The apartment
manager found her body, but residents said they had never seen her before,
according to published reports.
- June 14, 1979: Jill Parenteau, a 21-year-old computer program keypunch
operator, was killed after an intruder broke into her Burbank apartment by
jimmying window louvers. Her nude body was found on the floor, propped up
by pillows.
(source: Orange County Register)