DNA TIES PRISONER TO 2 OF 6 SERIAL KILLINGS FROM 1976

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) -- DNA evidence linked an Oregon prisoner to at least two of the six serial killings of young women that terrified the San Francisco Bay Area and a city in Nevada four decades ago, investigators say. He is suspected of the other slayings.

The San Mateo district attorney's office charged Rodney Halbower, 66, on Thursday with two counts of murder during the course of rape for the deaths of Paula Baxter, 17, and Veronica Anne Cascio, 18.

Their deaths were among six police say are connected and occurred between January and April 1976 in California and Nevada. Five of the bodies were found in the suburbs immediately south of San Francisco, including one near Gypsy Hill Road, giving the killings their nickname. A sixth body was found in Reno.

DNA evidence linking Halbower to both killings was found on Baxter and Cascio, San Mateo Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.

FULL story at link.



This undated photo provided by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office shows Rodney Halbower. Northern California prosecutors have charged Halbower, an Oregon prison inmate, with two counts of murders connected to a string of serial killings of young woman that terrified the region during the first four months of 1976. (AP Photo/San Mateo County Sheriff's Office)

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GYPSY_HILL_MURDERS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-01-23-10-22-53

[Sunlei]

1. A woman also spent 30 years in prison & the DNA now grants her a new trial & release

A woman who was convicted in 1980 of killing Mitchell and spent more than 30 years in a Nevada prison was granted a new trial that is scheduled for July and ordered released on her own recognizance in September

[mountain grammy]

3. Yeah. geez.

[bluestateguy]

2. That'll make a good episode of Cold Case

Maybe with an Elton John musical score in the background.