According to court documents Robert Harris and his brother Daniel Harris would carjack a vehicle with two sixteen year old teens inside, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, the teens would be driven to a remote location and murdered. The Harris brothers would then use the vehicle to rob a bank
Robert Harris would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Robert Harris would be executed via the gas chamber on April 22 1992
Robert Harris Photos
Robert Harris Case
The defendant, Robert Alton Harris, and his brother, co-defendant Daniel Marcus Harris, abducted two teenage boys. The defendant brutally murdered the boys, and then stole their car.
The investigation revealed that at 10:30 a.m. on July 5, 1978, the defendant and co-defendant left their residence, and drove to a fast food restaurant. Once at the restaurant, the two men abducted two 16-years-old boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker. The defendant held the victims at gunpoint with a 9mm Luger pistol and forced them to drive until they reached an isolated area. Daniel Harris followed in the defendant’s 1963 Ford.
At about 11:45 a.m., the defendant shot and killed both victims in the presence of Daniel Harris. Following the killings, the Harris brothers drove both automobiles to their residence. Later that day they drove the stolen vehicle to a local bank. Donning colored ski masks, the two robbed the bank, netting $2,000 in cash.
The Harrises fled the bank at 12:30 p.m. and drove back to the residence. Robert Harris parked the stolen vehicle in the garage.
At about 1:05 p.m., San Diego police officers, acting on a tip by a witness who had followed the suspects’ vehicle to the residence, apprehended the Harrises. Police recovered 20 unfired rounds of 9mm ammunition from Robert Harris. Clothing and other effects linked to the robbery were found smoldering in the fireplace.
At about 6:20 p.m. that evening, police questioned Daniel Harris who gave a voluntary statement describing in detail the abduction and the killing of the victims by the defendant. Officers went to the scene of the murder and discovered the two murdered victims.
When initially interviewed by authorities, the defendant admitted robbing the bank but denied kidnapping the youths or being responsible for their murders. He later indicated to authorities that his brother, Daniel, had furnished the stolen automobile. The defendant continued to deny any involvement in the murders, indicating that it had been his brother who had suggested the robbery while they were in Porterville, California.
The San Diego District Attorney’s Office filed felony charges of auto theft, kidnapping, murder and burglary against the defendant. The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed bank robbery charges against him.
On March 6, 1979, Robert Alton Harris was convicted in San Diego County, Superior Court of two counts murder in the first degree with special circumstances, and kidnapping.
Co-defendant Daniel Marcus Harris was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to six years in state prison. He was discharged in 1983.
Robert Alton Harris was executed April 21, 1992 in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison – the first execution in California in 25 years.
For his last meal, Harris requested and was given two large pizzas, a bucket of fried chicken, and ice cream. At 6:01 a.m., Harris was escorted into the gas chamber. The execution order was given at 6:07 a.m., and Harris was pronounced dead at 6:21 a.m. The body was removed from the chamber at 7 a.m. and left the grounds at 8:15 a.m.
The Harris execution was scheduled for 12:01 a.m. on the morning of April 21, but a series of four stays issued by individual federal judges delayed the execution until just after 6 a.m. In its order vacating the fourth stay of execution, the U.S. Supreme Court stated, “No further stays of Robert Alton Harris’ execution shall be entered by the federal courts except upon order of this court.”
According to Warden Daniel Vasquez, Harris’ last words were: “You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the grim reaper.”
According to court documents David Mason would murder four elderly woman between March to December 1980. After being arrested Mason would murder a cellmate in 1982
David Mason would be convicted and sentenced to death
David Mason would be executed by way of the gas chamber on August 24 1993
David Mason Photos
David Mason Case
Mason beat, strangled and robbed four elderly victims within a nine-month period. While being held in county jail awaiting trial, Mason killed his cellmate. In addition, Mason was wanted in Butte County for shooting and killing his male lover while the victim was sleeping.
Victim #1: 73-year-old female
The victim knew Mason for several years. She had employed him for odd jobs and even had invited him into her apartment and showed him her alarm system, including panic buttons. On March 6, 1980, Mason took advantage of his position of trust, entered her home, choked her when she tried to escape to activate the alarm, robbed her, tied her up, beat and strangled her to death.
Victim #2: 75-year-old male
On August 18, 1980, Mason beat, strangled and robbed the victim whom he may have known previously.
Victim #3: 72-year-old female
On November 11, 1980, Mason strangled the victim and beat her over the head with a crescent wrench. Her vaginal tissue was cut and bruised.
Victim #4: 75-year-old female
On December 6, 1980, Mason beat, strangled and robbed the victim who had bruises and cuts over most of her body. Her clothes were partially ripped off.
Victim #5: Male cellmate at Alameda County Jail
With help from another inmate, Mason beat and garotted his cellmate to death with a knotted towel on May 9, 1982. He then hung the victim from a heavy shower rod in an attempt to make the murder look like a suicide.
Mason confessed to his crimes in a tape recording, “David Mason-Epitaph,” which he gave to his parents. When questioned by the police, Mason also confessed, providing details of the crimes that were known only to investigators. Mason later recanted his confessions and claimed he confessed because of his desire to die after his lover was murdered.
Then in March 1993, Mason asked the court to allow him to substitute his counsel and indicated he wished to discontinue any appeals filed in his behalf. The court ordered a hearing to determine his mental ability to make an informed decision. After reviewing statements from court-appointed psychiatrists, the judge ruled in Mason’s behalf. In June 1993, the case was returned to the Alameda County Superior Court who issued the execution order for August 24, 1993 the date requested by Mason.
Inmate Mason was executed August 24, 1993 in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison. He was the first condemned inmate to voluntarily waive his appeals on a federal level. The execution was scheduled for 12:01 a.m. At two minutes before midnight, a federal judge called the prison to verify that Mason’s attorney was present should Mason wish to stop the proceedings.
At 12:05 a.m. Mason was escorted onto the chamber. At 12:08 a.m. Warden Daniel Vasquez stepped into the chamber, pointed out the location of Mason’s attorney in the witness area, and asked Mason if he had changed his mind and wished to stop the proceedings.
According to Warden Vasquez, Mason said, “No Warden, I want to proceed; thank you Warden.” At 12:09 a.m. the lethal gas was introduced into the chamber. Mason was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m.
Mason spent his last day visiting with family members. At approximately 6:00 p.m. he was escorted to the death watch cell. Mason was given unlimited use of the telephone to converse with his family members. Mason refused any last meal, requesting only ice water while in the death watch cell. Mason told the warden that he had no final words to impart.
According to court documents Keith Williams would murder Miguel and Salvador Vargas as well as the murder and sexual assault of Lourdes Meza. The murders were committed to cover up the robbery of a vehicle
Keith Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Keith Williams would be executed by lethal injection on May 3 1996
Keith Williams Photos
Keith Williams Case
Victims, Miguel and Salvador Vargas, were found lying face down on the floor in their rural Merced residence on October 9, 1978. Both had been shot in the back of the head. Five days later, Lourdes Meza’s body was discovered in a field some distance from the residence. She had been raped and shot four times.
The investigation revealed that two days earlier, the three victims had gone to a rummage sale at the home of the co-defendant, Robert Leslie Tyson and his wife, Karon Tyson. The defendant, Keith Daniel Williams, was also present. At the sale, Williams offered to buy Miguel Vargas’s car for $1,500. Williams wrote out a personnel check and agreed to wait for the pink slip until the check had cleared the bank.
According to the co-defendant’s wife, Karen Tyson, once the victims had left, Williams began saying that he should have killed them. Mrs. Tyson also stated that Williams continued to talk about the “Mexicans” the next day, stating he was going to “blow them away and take back the check.” He also said that he would need her husband for cover. Mrs. Tyson said that Williams and her husband left for the victim’s home in Merced around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 8.
Mr. Leon Macias, the uncle of the two male victims, was at the Vargas home when the defendant and co-defendant arrived some time before 9:00 p.m. Mr. Macias stated that he, his nephews, Lourdes Meza, his daughter and her girlfriend, and the defendant and co-defendant sat around the dining room table discussing the sale of the car. After some time, his daughter and her friend left and Salvador went upstairs to bed. Mr. Macias stayed until 9:30 p.m., translating for Miguel, then left, telling Miguel that he would return in the morning and go with him to cash the check.
When Macias returned the next morning at 9:00 a.m., there was no answer at the door. He did not investigate. Later, after learning that Miguel had not shown up for work the previous night, Macias returned to the Vargas home and found his nephews murdered. Lourdes Meza was not in the home. Investigators later determined that Lourdes was kidnapped and that she was raped repeatedly before being shot.
Co-defendant, Robert Leslie Tyson, received three concurrent 25-year-to-life sentences for his part in the crimes.
According to court documents William Bonin is believed to be responsible for the murder of at least twenty boys and young men and was convicted of fourteen murders: Dennis Frank Fox (17), Glenn Barker (14), Russell Rugh (15), Lawrence Sharp (17), Marcus Grabs (17), Donald Hyden (15), David Murillo (17), Charles Miranda (15), James McCabe (12), Ronald Gatlin (19), Harry Todd Turner (14), Steven Wood (16), Darin Lee Kendrick (19), Steven Jay Wells (18),
William Bonin would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
William Bonin would be executed by lethal injection on February 23 1996
William Bonin Photos
William Bonin Case
Defendant William Bonin, the “Freeway Killer,” kidnapped, robbed, raped and murdered a total of 14 teenaged boys between 1979 and 1980. His co-defendants were also young men between the ages of 17 and 21. The defendant was sentenced to death in 1982 for 10 murders throughout Los Angeles County. About one year later he was convicted in Orange County of the other four murders, for which he received a second death sentence.
Bonin also was suspected of murdering other males, whose bodies were found around the same period of time in Kern, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino Counties. The defendant William Bonin was not prosecuted for those crimes. The following is a chronological, case-by-case summary of the crimes in each of the two counties from which Bonin received a death sentence.
With the help of four co-defendants, defendant William Bonin kidnapped, robbed, raped and murdered 10 teenaged boys in Los Angeles County between1979 and 1980.
On August 5, 1979, the defendant William Bonin and co-defendant Butts accosted Marcus Grabs, 17, in Newport Beach sometime between 6 and 10 p.m. Marcus, a German student on a backpacking tour of the United States, was sodomized, beaten and stabbed 77 times. His nude body was found the next day beside a road in Malibu, with an orange nylon cord loosely wrapped behind his head and a piece of ignition wire around one of his ankles.
On August 27, 1979, at 1 a.m., the defendant William Bonin and co-defendant Butts picked up Donald Hyden, 15, near the Gay Community Services Center in Los Angeles. His nude body was found at 11 a.m. near Liberty Canyon and the off ramp of the Ventura Freeway. Donald had been strangled by ligature and stabbed. He had been sodomized and it appeared that attempts had been made to cut off his testicles and slash his throat.
On September 9, 1979, in the early morning, David Murillo, 17, was bicycling to the movies in La Mirada when the defendant William Bonin and co-defendant Butts abducted him. David’s nude body was found three days later on a Ventura Highway off-ramp. His head had been bashed in with a tire iron, and he had been sodomized and strangled with a ligature.
On February 3, 1980, in the early morning, the defendant William Bonin, driving a van with co-defendant Miley, picked up Charles Miranda, 15, in West Hollywood. They drove several blocks away, parked, and the defendant sodomized Charles. The co-defendant tried to sodomize him, but was unable to sustain an erection. After the co-defendant took six dollars from Charles, the two men tied his feet and hands together. The defendant wrapped Charles’ shirt around his neck. Using a jack handle, the defendant twisted the shirt like a corkscrew until Charles was dead. The autopsy also revealed a blunt object had been inserted into Charles’ anus. The defendants drove to an alley in downtown Los Angeles, dumped Charles’ nude body, and drove on to Huntington Beach, seeking other victims.
A little while later, they began talking to James McCabe, 12, who said he was on his way to Disneyland. They invited James into the van. While Bonin had sex with him, the co-defendant, Miley, drove. Later, the two men held the victim down, beat him, strangled him with his shirt, and crushed his neck with a jack handle. After taking money out of James’ wallet, the defendants left his body next to a dumpster in the City of Walnut, where it was found Feb. 6.
On March 14, 1980, Ronald Gatlin, 19, was picked up by the defendant in Van Nuys at about 8:30 p.m. Ronald’s nude body was found the next day in Duarte, near the juncture of the 210 and 605 freeways. He had been sodomized and strangled with a ligature. There were wounds to the neck and right ear that apparently had been made by an ice pick and the body showed signs of beating.
Sometime on or after March 20, 1980, the defendant William Bonin and co-defendant William Pugh picked up Harry Todd Turner, 14, in Hollywood. Harry’s nude body was found the morning of March 25 in an alley behind a Los Angeles business. He had been beaten, sodomized, and strangled by ligature.
On April 10, 1980, Steven Wood, 16, was picked up by the defendant at about 12:15 p.m. in Los Angeles. Steven’s nude body was found the next morning in an alley behind an industrial complex near the Pacific Coast Highway and Long Beach Freeway. He, too, had been beaten, sodomized and strangled by ligature.
On April 29, 1980, at 9:15 p.m., the defendant William Bonin and co-defendant Butts accosted Darin Lee Kendrick, 19, in the parking lot of a supermarket in Stanton. Darin had been collecting shopping carts and was lured into the van on a pretext of being sold some drugs. His nude body was found the next morning in an industrial park in Carson near the Artesia Freeway. In addition to being sodomized and strangled by ligature, Darin apparently was forced to ingest chloral hydrate which left him with caustic chemical burns on his mouth, chin, chest and stomach. Darin also had an ice pick through his right ear that caused a fatal wound to the upper cervical spinal cord.
On June 2, 1980, at about 5:40 p.m., the defendant William Bonin and co-defendant James Munro were driving a van in Downey when they picked up a hitchhiker, Steven Jay Wells, 18. Initially, Steven agreed to have sex with the defendant. Later, he allowed himself to be tied up, expecting to be paid for having sex with a friend of the defendant’s. The defendant and co-defendant tied Steven up, took his money, beat him, then strangled him with his T-shirt. They placed Steven’s body in a cardboard box and carried it out to the van. At about 8 p.m., they drove to the residence of co-defendant Butts who told them to take the body and “drop it off somewhere.” Co-defendant Munro and the defendant then drove to Huntington Beach where they left Steven’s nude body at the rear of a closed gas station, where it was found June 3.
The defendant was apprehended after co-defendant Pugh, 17, was arrested on auto theft charges on May 29, 1980. He told detectives that he had accepted a ride home from a party with the defendant, who had talked about killing young boys. The defendant was placed under surveillance beginning June 2, 1980.
On June 11, 1980, his van was followed to Hollywood. He was observed talking to five different young men standing on street corners before 15-year-old Harold T. entered his van. The defendant parked, with Harold still inside, in a vacant lot on Santa Monica Boulevard. Despite Harold’s resistance, the defendant orally copulated him. Shortly thereafter, the defendant was apprehended in the act of raping and sodomizing Harold. The police found a length of white nylon cord and three knives in the van.
(Information for this summary was compiled from the probation officer’s report and/or other court documents from the defendant’s file.)
During the same time period as the Los Angeles murders, defendant Bonin and two co-defendants murdered four other young men in Orange County.
On December 2, 1979, the body of Dennis Frank Fox, 17, was found along Ortego Highway about five miles east of the San Diego Freeway. On March 22, 1980, the bodies of Russell Rugh, 15, and Glenn Barker, 14, were found a few miles farther east along the same road. On May 18, 1980, the body of Lawrence Sharp, 17, was found in a trash bin behind a service station in Westminster.
The four victims were all hitchhikers whom the defendant had picked up in his van, and then killed by strangulation. The defendant was assisted in most or all the crimes by two other men, co-defendants Miley and Munro. All of the victims’ bodies showed signs of physical beating and the cause of death of each victim was strangulation by ligature. Marks on the body of at least one of the victims indicated that a bar or other similar object had been placed between the ligature and the neck and then twisted, to effect greater compression. Other marks also indicated that the hands and feet of all the victims had been bound, or handcuffed, and the victims had been sodomized.
Defendant Bonin was convicted of these four Orange County murders while already on Death Row for the 10 others he committed in Los Angeles County.
According to court documents Thomas Thompson would sexually assault and murder Ginger Fleischli. When he was arrested Thompson would tell police he had consensual sex with Ginger Fleischli and denied murdering her
Thomas Thompson would be convicted and sentenced to death
Thomas Thompson would be executed by lethal injection on July 14 1998
Thomas Thompson Photos
Thomas Thompson Case
On Sept. 14, 1981, farm workers in a rural area of Irvine, in Orange County, discovered in a shallow grave the body of Ginger Lorraine Fleischli wrapped in a sleeping bag and a pink blanket, and secured with a rope. Ginger had been raped and stabbed with a knife five times in and around one ear. Her head was wrapped in duct tape, two towels, a sheet and her jacket. She had cuts on her wrists and ankles. Investigators linked offender Thomas Thompson and crime partner David William Leitch to the murder.
On the evening of Sept. 11, 1981, Ginger had gone to a pizza parlor with Tracy Leitch, the offender, known to the party by the alias “Thomas Michael Young,” and his crime partner, David Leitch, who was Tracy’s ex-husband. Ginger had lived with the crime partner for a time after he had separated from Tracy, but at the time of her murder she and Tracy had been roommates for two weeks. The offender was living with his crime partner. The two males were planning a money-making scheme together.
When the group left the pizza parlor, Tracy and the crime partner gave the offender and Ginger a ride to a bar. At about 9:30 p.m., a man named Afshin Kashani joined Ginger and the offender at the bar and at about 1 a.m. the trio walked to the one-room apartment that the offender and his crime partner shared. The offender and Afshin smoked hash and Ginger left to get a soda at a nearby liquor store. While she was gone, the offender told Kashani that he wanted to have sex with Ginger that night. Kashani left the apartment before Ginger returned. When Ginger came back, the offender raped her. Then he killed her after she told him she would report the matter to the police.
Three days after her murder, Ginger’s wrapped body was found. A single-edged knife, later determined to belong to the crime partner, had been thrust at least two inches into her ear. It had severed the carotid artery, causing massive bleeding and ultimately her death. Ligature marks on her wrists and ankles indicated that she had been bound or handcuffed during the night of the murder. Ginger’s shirt and bra were cut in the front and pulled down to her elbows, completely exposing her breasts. She was not wearing any shoes, socks, or underwear. Her jeans were fully zipped but unbuttoned. A vaginal swab revealed semen consistent with Thompson’s blood type.
Ginger’s blood was found in the offender and the crime partner’s apartment on the carpeting, padding and concrete underneath the carpeting. Fibers matching the blanket in which Ginger was wrapped were found in the trunk of the crime partner’s car. Additionally, a footprint matching that of the crime partner was found next to where Ginger’s body was dumped.
The investigation suggested that the crime partner also wanted Ginger killed because he felt that she was interfering with his efforts to reconcile with his ex-wife. Tracy later said that on the night of the murder, Ginger asked her, “Do you think David [Leitch] would have Tom [Thompson] kill me?” Tracy also reported that people had told her the offender often carried a gun. She told investigators that “No one really knew Tom but everyone thought he was strange and weird.”
After Ginger’s murder, the offender and his crime partner fled to Mexico. The crime partner was arrested when he returned to the United States and Mexican authorities located the offender.
Thomas Thompson was convicted of forcible rape and first degree murder with the special circumstance of murder during the commission of rape. He was sentenced to death by Orange County on Aug. 17, 1984.
Crime partner David Leitch was found guilty of second degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life on July 19, 1985
