David Carpenter
David Carpenter | |
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Born | David Joseph Carpenter May 6, 1930 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Other names | The Trailside Killer |
Conviction(s) | Attempted murder, attempted rape, kidnapping, murder, rape, robbery |
Criminal penalty | Suspended death sentence |
Details | |
Victims | 8–10+ |
Span of crimes | August 19, 1979 – May 2, 1981 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | California |
Date apprehended | May 14, 1981 |
Imprisoned at | San Quentin State Prison |
David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), a.k.a. The Trailside Killer,[1] is an American serial killer and serial rapist known for stalking and murdering a variety of individuals on hiking trails in state parks near San Francisco, California.[2] Carpenter killed at least ten individuals, with two attempted victims, Steven Haertle and Lois Rinna, the mother of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, surviving. He used a .38 caliber handgun in all but one of the killings; a .44 caliber handgun was used in the killing of Edda Kane on Mount Tamalpais.
Early life
David Carpenter, a native of San Francisco, was physically abused as a child by his alcoholic father and domineering mother. As a boy, he had a severe stutter, a persistent bed-wetting problem, and exhibited cruelty to animals. At age 13, Carpenter was incarcerated for molesting two of his cousins.[3] He married in 1955, in a union that produced three children.[4][unreliable source?]
Crimes
Carpenter first attempted murder in 1960, for which he spent seven years in prison. This was committed against Lois Rinna, mother of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna.[5] In 1970, he was arrested for kidnapping and spent a further seven years behind bars. After his release, he became a suspect in the notorious Zodiac murders, although he was eventually cleared.[4][unreliable source?]
From 1979–1981, Carpenter raped and murdered five women in Santa Cruz and Marin counties. His composite sketches were drawn by retired Marin County Sheriff's Department detective Edmond Mauberret. On May 10, 1988, a San Diego jury convicted him on five counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of Richard Stowers, Cynthia Moreland, Shauna May, Diane O'Connell and Anne Alderson. Carpenter also was found guilty of raping two of the women and attempting to rape a third.[6] He was sentenced to die in the gas chamber, and remains on San Quentin's death row.[7][unreliable source?]
Following his conviction for the Marin County murders, Carpenter was tried, and subsequently convicted, by a Santa Cruz jury for the murders of two other women, Ellen Hansen and Heather Scaggs.[8] The same jury also found Carpenter guilty of the attempted murder of Hansen's hiking companion Steven Haertle, the attempted rape of Hansen, and the rape of Scaggs.[8] Hansen, who was a University of California-Davis student, has a memorial scholarship created in honor of her courage during the attack, which allowed Haertle to escape alive.[9] In 1995, the Santa Cruz convictions were overturned due to juror misconduct. The California Supreme Court later reinstated the Santa Cruz convictions.[10]
In December 2009, San Francisco police reexamined evidence from the October 21, 1979, murder of Mary Frances Bennett, who was jogging at Lands End 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, police confirmed the match with a recently obtained sample from Carpenter.[11] Carpenter is still a suspect in the murders of Edda Kane and Barbara Schwartz.[12]
Victims | Status | Location of crime |
---|---|---|
Richard Stowers, 19 | Convicted | Point Reyes National Seashore park, Point Reyes Station, California[13] |
Cynthia Moreland, 18 | Convicted | Point Reyes National Seashore park, Point Reyes Station, California[13] |
Shauna May, 25 | Convicted | Point Reyes National Seashore park, Point Reyes Station, California[14][15] |
Diane O'Connell, 22 | Convicted | Point Reyes National Seashore park, Point Reyes Station, California[14][15] |
Anne Alderson, 26 | Convicted | near Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California[14] |
Ellen Marie Hansen, 20 | Overturned but reinstated | Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz County, California[15] |
Heather Scaggs, 20 | Overturned but reinstated | Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz County, California[16] |
Edda Kane, 44 | Suspected | near Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California[16] |
Barbara Schwartz, 23 | Suspected | near Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California[16] |
Mary Frances Bennett, 23 | Confirmed | Lands End trail, San Francisco, California[16] |
Popular culture
The Trailside killings provide the context for Joyce Maynard's 2013 novel After Her.[17]
See also
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.
- ^ Ramsland, Katherine. "The Trailside Killer of San Francisco: The Man Behind the Predator". TruTV Crime Library. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ a b "David Carpenter | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers". murderpedia.org. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
- ^ Penrose, Nerisha (April 19, 2019). "Lisa Rinna's Mother Lois Was Once Attacked by a Convicted Serial Killer". ELLE.
- ^ "People v. Carpenter (1999)". justia.com.
- ^ "David Carpenter". Serial Killers A-Z. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009.
- ^ a b "People v. Carpenter - 15 Cal.4th 312 S004654 - Mon, 04/28/1997 | California Supreme Court Resources". scocal.stanford.edu.
- ^ Blair-Medeiros, Sara (August 8, 2018). "Scholarships". Women's Resources and Research Center.
- ^ "In re Carpenter - 9 Cal.4th 634 S011273 - Mon, 03/06/1995 | California Supreme Court Resources". scocal.stanford.edu.
- ^ Van Derbeken, Jaxon (February 24, 2010). "DNA ties Trailside Killer to '79 S.F. slaying". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "Boca Raton News - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ a b Smith, Chris (2 December 1980). "Local Slaying Victims, Point Reyes Bodies Identified, Cotati Women and Fiancee Were Shot". Newspapers.com. The Press Democrat. p. 1, 12. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c Bergstrom, Mark (1981-07-31). "5 Trailside Murder Charges". Santa Cruz Sentinel. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c Turner, Wallace (1981-04-05). "SLAYING RENEWS FEARS OF A KILLER IN CALIFORNIA PARKS (Published 1981)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d Keraghosian, Greg (October 25, 2020). "'Do not hike alone': For 21 months, the Trailside Killer terrorized Bay Area's outdoors".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Maynard, Joyce (14 Aug 2013). "Echoes of the Savage and Sublime on Mount Tamalpais". The New York Times.
Sources
- Schechter, Harold (2003), The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers, Ballantine Books, ISBN 978-0-345-46566-5
Further reading
- Graysmith, Robert (April 3, 1991), The Sleeping Lady: The Trailside Murders Above the Golden Gate, Onyx, ISBN 978-0451402554
- 1930 births
- American serial killers
- Male serial killers
- People from San Francisco
- American people convicted of rape
- American prisoners sentenced to death
- Prisoners sentenced to death by California
- People convicted of murder by California
- Living people
- Criminals of the San Francisco Bay Area
- 1960 crimes in the United States
- 1979 murders in the United States
- 20th-century American criminals
- Criminals from California
- American people convicted of attempted murder
- American people convicted of kidnapping
- American people convicted of robbery
- American people convicted of attempted rape
- American male criminals
- Murder in the San Francisco Bay Area
- People with antisocial personality disorder