Number Of Slayings Linked To 2 Southland Gays Reduced To 28
by Bill Farr
In what still looms as the largest homosexual murder case since the Houston mass slayings, Riverside County’s sheriff yesterday said the number of possible homicides linked to two Redondo Beach men has been reduced from 43 to 28. Sheriff Ben Clark made the statement to newsmen as Patrick Kearney, 37, and David Hill, 34, were ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bond on each during a court appearance in Riverside. Handcuffed to sheriff’s deputies and reportedly wearing bulletproof vests under sweatshirts, the two admitted homosexuals were arraigned on two Riverside County homicide charges with which they were originally charged.
They did not enter a plea immediately. The next hearing was set for July 15. Hill was represented by a public defender. Kearney said he was seeking a private attorney. The pair are accused of killing eight teenage boys and young men in Southland counties dating back to 1975. But authorities said after questioning them that the toll might go much higher. Sheriff’s officers had previously said statements by Kearney and Hill indicated they might have been responsible for 43 murders, but Sheriff Clark said Monday that number had been reduced to 15 “workable” and 13 “possible” homicides.
The sheriff said the span during which the killings took place started in 1970 rather than 1967 as previously reported. Accused murderers Patrick Kearney, foreground, center, with glasses, there have been no Valley residents identified as victims. Kearney, Monday accompanied Imperial County deputies on a five-hour search of an area about 15 miles east of Calexico near the U.S.-Mexican border where he indicated bodies of two other victims had been left. Although no bodies were found, Imperial County Coroner Lon Hettinger said Kearney pointed out two places where unidentified corpses had been found, one in February 1973 and the other in April 1976.
Hettinger said police were now trying to identify those two bodies based on information supplied by Kearney. Both victims were male, but no other information was available. Their case was similar to that of two Houston youths who were charged in 1973 with murdering 27 young men over a three-year period. Farm labor contractor Juan Corona was convicted that same year of killing 25 itinerant workers in Northern California. United Press International said Sheriff Clark wouldn’t confirm that the bulges beneath the suspects’ shirts at their arraignment yesterday were bullet proof vests but said full precautions were being taken. Clark told a news conference the two men had been given proper “Miranda Warnings” their right to remain silent and to have an attorney present at all times during questioning.
