Arrested Homosexuals May Explain 43 Deaths
by Los Angeles (AP)
Investigators in five Southern California counties say the questioning of two admitted homosexuals arrested on murder charges may link as many as 43 grisly murders of young men The bodies of eight men have been discovered in the area in the past two years, but Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Marvin Cavanaugh said 30 to 35 more bodies may be found on top of that.” Some of the purported murders may explain the disappearance of men as long ago as 1967. Cavanaugh said Patrick Kearney, 37. and David Hill, 34, remained Sunday in Riverside County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail Both men surrendered Friday, a month after the Riverside County district attorney’s office issued warrants charging the men in two killings.
The two men, former roommates m suburban Redondo Beach, face arraignment Tuesday in Riverside Municipal Court. “The suspects are making their statements willingly and voluntarily,” said Sam Lowery, chief of Riverside County sheriff’s office operations Los Angeles County Deputy Mike Santander said the two men have made statements about other possible murders since 1967, but links have not been confirmed. All eight victims found along well-traveled highways in Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties, were nude and had either suffered gunshot wounds to the head or were mutilated or both, said Cavanaugh. Investigators said the bodies appeared to have been dumped after a brief stop by a car.
Lowery said, “We know the majority of the victims had homosexual backgrounds. Four of the dead young men, aged from about 16 to 28, were found stuffed in plastic bags, leading detectives to call the killings “The Trash Bag Murders.” Three of the victims have not yet been identified, said authorities. A Riverside County investigator said, “robbery did not figure as a motive in the killings, only sex.” Authorities said the victims appeared to have been picked up, apparently willingly, at several locations in Los Angeles County, including spots frequented by homosexuals. Investigators from the four counties where bodies have been found met in Riverside Saturday to discuss the cases along with detectives from nearby Imperial County, where bodies of men killed in a similar manner have been found in recent years.
Lowery said investigators from throughout the area planned to search for more bodies after the holiday weekend. The deputy declined to speculate whether Kearney and Hill would accompany any of the searchers. Kearney and Hill fled to El Paso, Texas after the warrants were issued, Lowery said, but returned to surrender after receiving pressure from their families, who had been interviewed by detectives and had seen news accounts “They walked in during the lunch hour Funday, walked up to the complaint desk, pointed to the (wanted) poster on the wall and said they wanted to give themselves up.” Lowery said Kearney was employed by the Hughes Aircraft Corp near his home, and his roommate was unemployed during the past year. Lowery said both men admitted to authorities that they were homosexuals, but further details on the men’s background were not immediately available. Kearney and Hill have been booked for investigation of murder in the deaths of John Otis Lamay, 17, of El Segundo, and Arturo Marquez, 24, of Oxnard, whose bodies were both found in Riverside County.
