CA CA - Chester D. Turner, 1987-98, South L.A.

[mysteriew]

A judge began hearing evidence Monday to decide whether a prison inmate should stand trial on charges of murdering 10 women in a South Los Angeles area known for drugs, violence and prostitution.
The defendant, Chester D. Turner, 38, is serving an eight-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to an unrelated rape in 2002.

Prosecutors say DNA evidence links him to 10 killings between 1987 and 1998, most of them in a 30-block area. The case was brought against him after an investigation by a cold case homicide unit.

Turner slouched in his seat except when he was asked to stand so that a witness in his preliminary hearing could estimate his height. At one point he laughed when the prosecutor and judge joked about a testifying detective's New York accent. Turner also looked over a newspaper article about his case.
http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/11420948p-12164947c.html

 

[SewingDeb]

Isn't DNA amazing? Without it, these cases would have remained in the cold case files.

 

[mysteriew]

A former pizza delivery man, who gave a sample of his DNA as part of a plea agreement in a rape conviction, has now been ordered to stand trial for the murders of 10 Los Angeles women because his DNA linked him to the victims, police said.

Chester D. Turner was ordered to stand trial in the 10 murders by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders after a two-day preliminary hearing in which prosecutors linked Turner to each of the victims.

Turner is accused of killing Paula Vance, 31; Annette Ernest, 26; Anita Fishman, 31; Regina Washington, 27; Mildred Beasley, 45; Andrea Tripplett, 29; Desarae Jones, 29; Natalie Price, 31; Brenda Bries, 31; and one unidentified victim who was in her 20s.
http://crime.about.com/b/a/215537.htm

 

[mysteriew]

Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders ruled during a preliminary hearing that there was sufficient cause to believe Chester D. Turner committed the slayings that occurred from 1987 to 1998.

Turner, 38, is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence in an unrelated rape case. Pounders set a Nov. 15 arraignment date.

Deputy medical examiner Lisa Scheinin testified that all 10 women were strangled, nine had cocaine in their systems, one was 6 1/2 months pregnant and one was between four and five months pregnant.
http://www.islandpacket.com/24hour/nation/story/2861659p-11523549c.html

It took 10 murders and a rape, 11 years for them to finally catch this guy. IMOnoone was looking very hard.

 

[fran]

I heard about this case on KFI640 last night. This is what is so scary about this type of thing. These murders were years ago. Where has this guy been for the past several years? How many unknown victims are there?

We have seen so many cases this year where the perp is in his 40's or older and they're just now linking them to unsolved cases, decades old. I can think of at least 1/2 dozen off the top of my head.

DNA is truly a wonder. I can't wait until they get everyone who should be there, in a National Data base. IMO, they should take DNA from every individual committed to any LE facility. I don't care if it's for armed robbery, get a sample of his DNA. So often times, people who commit violent crimes or even burglary, have at one time or another, left their DNA behind at another scene.

FWIW, I had to almost laugh, if it weren't so tragic, when reading the above article. The defendent's lawyer said, close to a quote,' the DNA doesn't prove murder. It just proves he had sex with these women before they were murdered.'

Well,........I guess he hasn't heard the LE saying, "There is no coincidence when it comes to murder." I guess you would say that X's 10! :slap:

JMHO
fran

 

[Taximom]

Man accused of murdering 10 women, fetus goes on trial in LA

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/04/news/state/030307152202.txt

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- DNA evidence ties a rapist to the murders of 10 women and an unborn fetus of one of those victims, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday during opening statements of a murder trial.

Chester D. Turner, 40, faces the death penalty if convicted of the murders, which spanned an 11-year period, and the special circumstances of multiple murder and murder committed during rape.
Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace said Turner was finally caught after he was arrested in 2002 for raping a woman in Los Angeles.

=========

I wonder if there are others out there ("missing") that LE doesn't know about yet.

 

[daphnec]

LOS ANGELES — A man described by prosecutors as possibly Los Angeles' most prolific serial killer was convicted Monday of murdering 10 women and one victim's unborn baby in the 1980s and '90s.
The jury also found Chester Turner guilty of the special circumstances of multiple murder and murder committed during rape. The six-man, six-woman jury had deliberated since April 26.
Turner did not appear to react as the jury's verdicts were read. He could receive the death penalty in the penalty phase of the trial, scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Only a handful of victims' relatives were present because of short notice of the verdict.
Turner, 40, is already serving an eight-year prison sentence for the 2002 rape of a woman in the run-down Skid Row neighborhood.
His DNA in that rape case linked him to the serial killings that spanned from 1987 to 1998.
Eight of the killings occurred in South Los Angeles when Turner was living in that area, the prosecution said.
One victim was Regina Washington, 27, who was 6 1/2 months pregnant when she was strangled with an electrical cord behind a vacant house in September 1989. Her unborn daughter was one of the murder victims.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269308,00.html

 

[sherri79]

Jury Says Serial Killer Should Die

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007May15/0,4670,SerialKillings,00.html

 

[KarlK]

He'll die alright, most likely of old age while on death row. California doesn't execute much.

 

[joe jones]

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2011...ler?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

charged with 4 more murders

 

[JoeFromLB]

He'll die alright, most likely of old age while on death row. California doesn't execute much.

That's right. It will be 30-40 years before his date with the executioner. He'll be a very old man if he lives until then.

There are some men on Death Row in California who have been there since 1979. Thirty-two years, and no execution date in sight. It's a farce, really.

 

[JoeFromLB]

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2011...ler?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

charged with 4 more murders

He was found GUILTY today of those four murders, which makes him eligible once again for the death penalty. He's already on Death Row for the other killings.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-chester-turner-four-other-murders-20140619-story.html

 

[zwiebel]

Couple more links for that story.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ow-killing-ten-women-guilty-killing-four.html

http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/los-angeles-serial-killer-convicted-in-more-deaths

 

[OkieGranny]

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80970161/

Serial killer Chester Dewayne Turner, already on death row for killing 10 women, on Friday was sentenced to death a second time for the deaths of four more women, prosecutors said.

Turner, 47, is one of Los Angeles' most prolific serial killers, a man once described by prosecutors as a savage sexual predator fixated on violence.

Maxine Johnson, whose sister, Cynthia Johnson, was one of four additional victims, was relieved by the sentence, which she said ensures Turner will be kept "out of civilization."

 

[katydid23]

He will be on 'death row' another few decades. California's system is ridiculous.