FILE 107 / 21 February 2019 / 133 MIN / full

Not Regulation Behavior

Burlingame, CaliforniaListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

James opens by saying the show returns to Burlingame, California for part two of the tale of about 0:00:00

History, in brief

The figures, as told

All figures and comparisons, as told in 2019

The reviews

No rated reviews

No reviews recorded.

In California

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The story

On April 18, 1991 he bought an RG-14 .22 revolver and bullets from a classmate named Lawrence. On April 22 he told his instructor he would miss the next day's class, but gave a classmate, the recently widowed mother of two Fatima Hansen, known as Fanny, a ride home. Neither returned to class on April 23. Hansen's body was found the following night off a desert road outside Indio. She had been shot, stabbed in the neck, abdomen and genitals, her ears and nipples amputated and her eyes wounded, and "I heart Jesus" had been carved into her back.

On April 26 he drove to their house on Sanchez Street in Burlingame and found several days of newspapers, packages on the car bonnet and the cats caged without food or water. He called the police. Officer Frank Pickens arrived at 7.20am, heard dogs barking and found the door from the garage to the kitchen open. Eva Peterson lay in the doorway with a towel stuffed in her mouth and a bullet hole through it, naked from the waist down, with a bullet wound in the right breast, a stab wound in the throat and cuts to a nipple and an eye. She had been killed elsewhere and dragged there. Carol Spadani lay in the living room in a nightgown with duct tape over her nose and mouth; she had been stabbed in the throat, which let her keep breathing, shot behind the right ear, stabbed three times in the abdomen, and half of her right breast had been sliced off. Her death was put down to the gunshot, with stabbing and suffocation as contributing factors. Police ruled out murder-suicide and robbery.

A bank teller in Millbrae identified him as the man who cashed a $200 cheque with Eva's forged signature that day, and he also withdrew $500 from his own savings. He then fled. On April 25 he brandished a gun at Yvette Shelby at a Wyoming rest stop; she escaped and called police, who questioned him and let him go after he claimed the gun had fallen from his car. Margie Rogers, a woman in her 60s working at a truck stop in Grand County, Utah, was then shot twice in the head, her blouse open and bra lifted.

In his wallet police found $710, a $90 cheque and Eva's credit cards, and an address book listing Eva and Carol with the words "death, April 23, 1991", dates not yet public. His car held the loaded .22 revolver, a box of cartridges, duct tape, homemade wire handcuffs, a taser, and a knife sheath that tested positive for blood. The bullets from Eva matched the revolver, and the bullet from Carol matched its rifling but was too damaged for a conclusive finding. A black leather belt carried the names and dates of Carol and Eva in ink and "Fatima N. Hansen, 4-22-91, College of the Desert", and Hansen's military ID was in the car. Blue trousers were stained with semen and blood matching the victims, and a tape in his voice described the Burlingame murders, the assault and mutilation of Hansen, the shooting of Margie Rogers and a woman and child he had eyed at a rest stop. He said he ate and showered between shooting Eva and returning to shoot her again. A handwriting expert matched the belt and address book to him. In a later letter to a pen pal he wrote that he tortured Carol to death in front of her mother.

Detective Barfnecht and Sergeant Hal Haslow interrogated him at the Burlingame police department from 10.30am to 2.30pm, having agreed to keep questioning even if he asked for a lawyer. He waived extradition to California.

The court admitted a sexual letter he wrote to Eva in 1982. Psychologist Vitali Renzanko agreed he was schizophrenic, a sexual sadist and psychotic but legally sane. George Wilkinson diagnosed post-traumatic stress, passive-aggressive personality and sexual sadism, saw malingering, and described serial killers who collect souvenirs. Drs Frick, Wiener and Missett found him competent and malingering. Rosser Donnelly testified about April 22.

On May 10 it found him sane at the time.

The case

Murders of Eva Peterson and Carol Spadani

Victims

Eva Peterson. elderly woman, mother of Carol Spadani; found gagged in the garage doorway, shot through the mouth, sexually assaulted and stabbed
Carol Spadani. wife, whom he met through the prison pen pal programme; found in the living room with duct tape over her nose and mouth, shot behind the right ear, stabbed and mutilated

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 21 February 2019.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Robert Galindau. friend of Carol and Eva who met them for coffee and donuts; found the house on April 26 and called the police
Frank Pickens. Burlingame police officer who entered the garage and found Eva Peterson's body
Detective Barfnecht. Burlingame detective who interrogated
Hal Haslow. sheriff's department sergeant at the interrogation
Dr H. R. Kormos. defence psychiatrist who diagnosed schizophrenia and said could not tell right from wrong
Vitali Renzanko. court-appointed clinical psychologist; found him schizophrenic and a sexual sadist but legally sane
George Wilkinson. psychiatrist who diagnosed PTSD, sexual sadism and malingering, and testified about serial killers
Dr Frick, Dr Wiener and Dr Missett. competency experts who concluded he was competent and malingering
Rosser Donnelly. classmate of and Fanny Hansen who testified about April 22
Yvette Shelby. woman threatened with a gun at a Wyoming rest stop
Linda Kimball. earlier victim, strangled by in 1978
Jane Sanders. woman he raped on a first date and who stayed with him four years
Barry Bortnick. author of the 1997 book Deadly Urges about

The timeline

  1. 1968 is hospitalised and given psychiatric treatment by the military after nearly drowning his first wife in a bath; a VA hospital in Texas diagnoses schizophreniaabout 1:27:52
  2. 1978 strangles and sexually assaults Linda Kimball after she says she is leaving him with their childabout 1:29:48
  3. April 18, 1991 buys an RG-14 .22 revolver and bullets from classmate Lawrenceabout 0:06:19
  4. April 23, 1991 Peterson and Spadani are killed; the journal's last entry is this date, is cited for failing to yield in Burlingame that afternoon, and cashes a forged $200 check in Millbrae (Sanchez Street house)about 0:26:29

Murder of Fatima "Fanny" Hansen

Victims

Fatima "Fanny" Hansen. recently widowed mother of two taking an automotive class at the College of the Desert; shot, stabbed and mutilated, with "I heart Jesus" carved on her back

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 21 February 2019.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

The timeline

  1. April 22, 1991 tells his instructor he will miss class, then drives classmate Rosser Donnelly to a restaurant and gives Fanny Hansen a ride home (College of the Desert)about 0:07:11
  2. April 23, 1991 Neither nor Hansen returns to the evening class (College of the Desert)about 0:07:43
  3. the next night Hansen's body is found off the road in the desert outside Indio; she was shot, stabbed in the neck, abdomen and genitals, her ears and nipples amputated and her eyes wounded (desert outside Indio)about 0:10:11

Murder of Margie Rogers

Victims

Margie Rogers (60s). older woman working at a truck stop, shot twice in the head with her blouse open and bra lifted

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 21 February 2019.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Yvette Shelby. woman threatened at a Wyoming rest stop days earlier

The timeline

  1. April 25, 1991 brandishes a gun at Yvette Shelby in Wyoming and is let go by a patrol officer (Wyoming rest stop)about 0:30:02
  2. between April 25 and 27, 1991 shoots Margie Rogers at a truck stop and fondles her body (Utah truck stop gas station)about 0:32:30

Last meals

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode