John Esposito was sentenced to death by the State of Georgia for a triple murder
According to court documents John Esposito and his girlfriend Alicia Woodward would beat to death an elderly woman in Georgia. A week later they would beat to death an elderly couple in Oklahoma
John Esposito would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Esposito Photos
John Esposito FAQ
Where Is John Esposito Now
John Esposito is incarcerated at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison
John Esposito Case
She’s the daughter of a high school economics teacher, a shy teen-ager who played in a marching band and worked as a waitress before dropping out of high school.
He’s the nephew of a mobster and the son of a killer who once cut off the hands, head and feet of a man he’d shot to death.
Family and acquaintances described Alicia Woodward and John A. Esposito as an odd couple.
Authorities say they’re killers.
Woodward, 18, and Esposito, 21, remained in a Durango, Colo., jail Friday after allegedly bludgeoning three elderly people to death in a two-week, cross-country crime spree.
The violence began last month when Esposito’s car conked out in the parking lot of a Lumberton, N.C., supermarket, and the duo allegedly car jacked a retired 85-year-old librarian who had just finished shopping.
Lola Davis’ car was found later that day in Alabama, with her groceries still in the back seat. Her body was found the next day in a field in Georgia.
Thursday, the bodies of Lawrence Snider, 91, and his wife, Marguarite Snider, 86, were found in a grassy area outside Adrian, Texas. They were reported missing Monday and their ATM card had been used in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma since Saturday to withdraw more than $1,000.
Esposito and Woodward were caught driving the couple’s car in Mesa Verde National Park, near Cortez, Colo., on Wednesday, during a traffic stop.
In court Friday, they signed extradition papers to Georgia and were ordered held pending a hearing next week.
Neighbors described Woodward as a troubled teen-ager who struggled to keep baby-sitting jobs. She ran away once at 16, but returned home. The next year, she dropped out of high school, angering her mother, a teacher.
It’s unclear how Woodward met Esposito, but neighbors said the couple shared a small house in Pemberton Township, about 20 miles east of Camden, earlier this year and skipped out in July, owing nearly $2,000 in back rent and damages, according to The Trentonian newspaper.
Sheriff Ken Pritchett of Morgan County, Ga. said Esposito had practiced satanic rituals for the past two years and had proclaimed that “he was going to live off of other people and Satan was going to take care of him.″
Investigators found letters Esposito had written in New Jersey that were marked with blood drops and always signed “Lucifer,″ he said.
Esposito quit high school in his senior year, joining the U.S. Army Reserve. He was discharged because he didn’t have a high school diploma.
His uncle, Raymond Esposito, is a mobster convicted last November of murder, extortion, kidnapping and other charges along with John Stanfa, head of the Philadelphia mob.
Raymond Esposito, 55, was known in the mob as “the man with half a heart,″ according to his lawyer.
John’s father, Giovanni Esposito, 42, was convicted of manslaughter eight years ago. He shot a man to death and hid the body in a shed for several days before cutting up the body. Only the torso was recovered.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in 1991 and has completed his parole since, said Kim White, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.
The younger Esposito took off for Florida with Woodward on Aug. 31. Less than five weeks later, they were stopped and arrested in Colorado.
Everyone was surprised to hear she was involved in something like this,″ said Steve Richard, a neighbor.That’s what happens when you hang out with the wrong people.″
Authorities in both Oklahoma and Georgia say they’ll seek the death penalty if Esposito and Woodward are convicted of the killings.
That would be fine with Forester M. Davis, Lola’s husband.
If they’re the ones that did it, I hope they burn ’em good,″ he said.I don’t see how people can be that mean.″