Gerald Parker

Gerald Parker
Inmate Mugshot 2007
Born 1955 (age 62–63)
Other names The Bedroom Basher
The Bludgeon Killer
Criminal penalty Death
Conviction(s) Murder
Rape
Details
Victims 6
Span of crimes
 1978–1979
Country USA California

Gerald Parker (born around 1955) is a serial killer who raped and murdered five Orange County, California women. A sixth victim who was pregnant at the time of the attack survived, but her child was delivered stillborn. The crimes took place in 1978 and 1979, but Parker was not identified as the killer until 1996. Parker confessed to the murders, and was sentenced to death on January 21, 1999.[1]

Background

The public record of Parker's offenses began with a term in Juvenile Hall in the 1960s for glue-sniffing.[2] Parker received a six-year prison term for the 1980 rape of a 14-year-old girl from Tustin, California.[1][3] At the time of the murders he was stationed at the El Toro, California, Marine Air Station.[1]

Crimes

In 1978 and 1979 Parker raped and murdered five Orange County, California, women. He also attacked a sixth woman who was pregnant; she survived but her child was stillborn.[1] The women were murdered by bludgeoning them with a 2x4 piece of lumber, a hammer, or a mallet.[1] For this reason he was nicknamed the "Bedroom Basher."[4]

Kevin Lee Green, the husband of the woman who survived the attack, was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 16 years in prison before he was freed in 1996.[4]

Green was exonerated when new DNA technology identified Parker's involvement in the crimes in 1996.[5] Parker, who was already in prison at the time, was confronted with the evidence and confessed.[6] He was convicted in October 1998 on six counts of first degree murder, six counts of first degree rape, and one count of first degree attempted murder.

In January 1999, Parker was sentenced to death by lethal injection, plus life without possibility of parole, plus 64 years in prison.[4] In June 2017, the California Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Cekola, Anna; H. G. Reza (20 August 1996). "O.C. Grand Jury Heard Parker Admit 6 Killings". Los Angeles Times.
  2. ↑ Granberry, Michael (15 July 1996). "Relative of Alleged Serial Killer Cites Life of Losses". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ↑ "Releases JUSTICE DELAYED / DNA EVIDENCE FREES ONE MAN, POINTS TO ANOTHER IN 1979 CASE : Heating the Cold Trail of the 'Bludgeon Killer'". Los Angeles times. June 22, 1996.
  4. 1 2 3 Yi, Daniel (22 January 1999). "Man Sentenced to Death in Killings". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Hua, Thao; H. G. Reza; Lee Romney (22 June 1996). "New Suspect Charged as Man Held 17 Years Is Freed". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ↑ Keppel, Robert D.; Birnes, William J. (2003). The Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations: The Grisly Business Unit. Academic Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780124042605.
  7. ↑ "Death penalty is upheld for Orange County serial killer". Los Angeles Times. June 5, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.


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