David Detrich was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the sexual assault and murder of Elizabeth Souter
According to court documents David Detrich and Alan Charlton would pick up Elizabeth Souter, who was hitchhiking, hoping that she would be able to find cocaine. The group would purchase $75 of the drug.
David Detrich became upset due to the poor quality of the drug and would sexually assault Elizabeth Souter in the back of the vehicle before stabbing her to death
David Detrich would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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David Detrich is incarcerated at ASPC Florence
David Detrich Case
Defendant (David Detrich) and Alan Charlton 1 worked together at the Ocotillo Motors wrecking yard in Benson, Arizona. On November 4, 1989, a Saturday afternoon, defendant and Charlton left work and headed to a local bar. Charlton estimated that he and defendant each consumed between twelve and twenty-four cans of beer. Two hours after they started drinking, the men drove to Tucson.
Upon arriving in Tucson, defendant and Charlton visited several more bars and consumed more beer. At some point during the evening, defendant suggested that they “pick up” somebody. When the two men saw the victim, Elizabeth Souter, walking along the Palo Verde bridge, they stopped the car and Souter climbed in. Defendant asked her to help them obtain some cocaine. She agreed and directed the two men to a “roadhouse” where defendant and Souter purchased the cocaine.
The two men and Souter then drove to Souter’s home, where defendant attempted to “cook a spoon,” which entailed dissolving the cocaine in a spoon so that it could be injected. Defendant soon became angry because the syringe would not pick up the cocaine. Defendant began “screaming and hollering that the needle wasn’t any good, or the cocaine wasn’t any good.” Defendant told Souter that she was going to pay for the bad drugs by having sex with him-“He told her they could go in the room or do it right there, or they would do it his way, and she did not want to do it his way.” Three witnesses, Charlton, Tami Winsett, and Caprice Souter (the victim’s daughter), confirmed that defendant was holding a knife against Souter’s throat. Additionally, defendant threatened, “You must not believe me, I will kill you.”
Defendant then told Souter, “Come on bitch, we are going for a ride.” Souter, Charlton, and defendant climbed into Charlton’s car. Charlton drove, defendant sat in the middle, and Souter sat up against the passenger door. Defendant ordered Charlton to drive out of town. Charlton testified that, while stopped at a red light, he looked at defendant and saw that defendant was “humping” Souter and asking her how she liked it. Moments later, Charlton again looked and saw that Souter’s throat was slit. Charlton indicated that defendant then hit her and asked her who “she got the shit off of.” Souter was unable to answer clearly; she just gurgled something. Defendant then hit her with his elbow and asked again who she got the drugs from. She gurgled again in answer. Defendant then asked, “Did you say Mike?” Souter gurgled a third and final time, and Charlton heard no more sounds from her. Although Charlton claims he never saw defendant actually stab Souter, Charlton was himself poked in the arm with the knife three or four times. The pathologist established that Souter was stabbed forty times.
At this point, defendant asked Charlton, “It’s dead but it’s warm. Do you want a shot at it?” Charlton declined. They drove to a remote area approximately fifteen minutes (seven to nine miles) from Souter’s home. Charlton pulled the car over at defendant’s request, and defendant dragged Souter’s body into the desert.
After dumping the body, Charlton and defendant drove to their friend William Carbonell’s house in Tucson. Carbonell testified that the two men showed up at his house at 4:00 a.m. The defendant was covered with blood, but Charlton had blood only on his right side. Approximately an hour later, defendant confessed to Carbonell that he had killed a girl by slitting her throat. Defendant explained that he grabbed the girl at her house and forced her into Charlton’s car at knife point, where defendant killed her. Defendant further explained that he killed Souter because the drugs she had purchased were bad.
After several days, Carbonell called in an anonymous tip to the police, who were able to trace the call to Carbonell. After questioning Carbonell, the police went to Ocotillo Motors and arrested Charlton, who confessed his involvement in the crime. Defendant was arrested in New Mexico several days later in possession of a folding knife. Charlton identified the knife as his; however, he explained that it often fell out of his pants. Charlton confirmed that defendant possessed the knife the night of the murder. Charlton also noticed that defendant had the knife the morning after the murder and that it was covered with blood.
At his first trial, defendant was charged with first degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault.2 The jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual abuse, a lesser included offense of sexual assault. On appeal, we reversed defendant’s convictions in part and remanded the case. We held that the trial court erred in failing to instruct on unlawful imprisonment, a lesser included offense of kidnapping, because the jurors rationally could have found that defendant lacked the requisite intent for the kidnapping charge, but was guilty of unlawful imprisonment. Because the jury could have based its first degree murder finding on a felony murder determination with kidnapping as the predicate felony, the murder conviction, as well as the kidnapping conviction, was reversed. The sexual abuse conviction was affirmed.
Defendant was retried and convicted of the murder and kidnapping charges. Defendant was sentenced to death for the murder and to twenty-one years in prison for the kidnapping.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/az-supreme-court/1068853.html
