David Carpenter
| David Carpenter | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Joseph Carpenter |
| Also known as | The Trailside Killer |
| Born | May 6, 1930 San Francisco, California |
| Conviction | Attempted murder, attempted rape, kidnapping, murder, rape, robbery |
| Sentence | Death |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims | 5-9+ |
| Span of killings | August 19, 1979–December 28, 1980 |
| Country | USA |
| State(s) | California |
| Date apprehended | May 14, 1981 |
David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), aka the Trailside Killer,[1] is an American serial killer known for stalking and murdering women on hiking trails near San Francisco, California.[2]
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[edit] Early life
Born and raised in San Francisco, Carpenter was physically abused as a child by his alcoholic father and domineering mother. As a boy, he suffered a severe stutter and a bed-wetting problem, and tortured animals. At 17, he was incarcerated for molesting two of his cousins.[3]
He married in 1955, a union that produced three children.
[edit] Crimes
Carpenter committed an attempted murder in 1960, for which he spent seven years in prison. In 1970, he was arrested for kidnapping, and spent a further seven years behind bars. After his release, he was a suspect in the notorious Zodiac murders, although he was eventually cleared.
From 1979-1980, he raped and murdered five women and was suspected of killing at least two others. He was eventually arrested and found guilty of the murders, for which he was sentenced to die in the gas chamber. He remains on San Quentin's death row.[4]
On May 10, 1988, a San Diego jury convicted Carpenter of first degree murder in the slayings of Richard Stowers, Cynthia Moreland, Shauna May, Diana O'Connell and Anne Alderson. Carpenter was also pronounced guilty of raping two of the women and attempting to rape a third.[5]
In December 2009, San Francisco police reexamined evidence from the October 21, 1979, murder of Mary Frances Bennett. Bennett, 23 years old at the time of her murder, had been jogging at Lands End, San Francisco, when she was attacked and stabbed to death. A DNA sample obtained from the evidence was matched to Carpenter through state Department of Justice files. In February 2010, San Francisco police confirmed the match with a recently obtained sample from Carpenter.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Schechter, p. 102.
- ^ Clifford L. Linedecker (1997). Smooth Operator: The True Story of Seductive Serial Killer Glen Rogers. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks. pp. intr. at xi. ISBN 0-312-96400-5.
- ^ "The Trailside Killer of San Francisco"
- ^ David Carpenter; Serial Killers A-Z
- ^ www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/serialkillers/carpenter.html
- ^ Van Derbeken, Jaxon (February 24, 2010). "DNA ties Trailside Killer to '79 S.F. slaying". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/24/MNE61C5UFR.DTL.
[edit] Sources
- Schechter, Harold: The Serial Killer files (2007)
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- American serial killers
- 1930 births
- People from San Francisco, California
- American rapists
- American prisoners sentenced to death
- Prisoners sentenced to death by California
- People convicted of murder by California
- Living people
- American people convicted of child sexual abuse
- People with nocturnal enuresis
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