CA CA - Robert L Ransom, Jr, L.A., spree killer

A grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday charged a Los Angeles man – who was already awaiting trial for allegedly kidnapping, raping and setting a 16-year-old girl on fire – with capital murder for the killings of three more people.

Robert Lawrence Ransom Jr., 31, pleaded not guilty to the March 1 murder of Margarite Evans, 19, and the March 5 murders of Gisella Yauli and her son, Dillon Reyes...

The indictment also charges Ransom with rape, attempted murder, kidnapping to commit robbery and second-degree robbery of a 16-year-old girl, who was forced into a white van last March 20. He had already been charged last year in connection with that attack, in which the girl eventually managed to escape.

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On March 2, 2014, Margarite Evans, 19, was found shot near the corner of West 93rd Street and South Grand Avenue. She later died.

Three days later, 28-year-old Gisella Yauli and her 1-year-old son, Dillon Reyes, were found dead in their home in the 100 block of East 50th Street after a fire broke out there. Investigators said it appeared the fire was intentionally set and found evidence that Yauli had been tied up in a bedroom. Yauli and her baby died of smoke inhalation.

About two weeks later, Ransom allegedly kidnapped a 16-year-old girl as she was walking home from high school. Police say Ransom approached her on East Gage Avenue near South San Pedro Street and used a knife to force her into a white van. Police say Ransom drove her to another location and raped her. The teenager was able to escape near Imperial Highway and New Hampshire Avenue. A witness told investigators the girl had been bound and was drenched in gasoline.

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