FILE 234 / 29 July 2021 / 78 MIN / full

Sickness, Solvent & Snuff Films

Borrego Springs, CaliforniaListen

The town

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

It's Barrego Springs, California. It's in the middle of a big state park. It's in San Diego County. about 0:08:50

History, in brief

Town note

The village sits on the floor of the Borrego Valley, at the westernmost extent of the Sonoran Desert.

about 0:09:44

Town note

Borrego Springs is a designated International Dark Sky Community, recognised by the International Dark Sky Association.

about 0:10:13

Town note

There are no stop lights in the town, and outside lighting is kept to a minimum at night to protect views of the stars; residents can be fined for light pollution.

about 0:10:35

Town note

The area east of town was used during the Second World War as a Navy training centre, the Borrego Valley Maneuver Area.

about 0:11:35
All 8 history facts

Town note

The village sits on the floor of the Borrego Valley, at the westernmost extent of the Sonoran Desert.

about 0:09:44

Town note

Borrego Springs is a designated International Dark Sky Community, recognised by the International Dark Sky Association.

about 0:10:13

Town note

There are no stop lights in the town, and outside lighting is kept to a minimum at night to protect views of the stars; residents can be fined for light pollution.

about 0:10:35

Town note

The area east of town was used during the Second World War as a Navy training centre, the Borrego Valley Maneuver Area.

about 0:11:35

Town note

Christmas Circle is the big roundabout where everything in town happens.

about 0:12:14

Town note

Sculptor Ricardo Breceda made more than one hundred large metal animal statues at Galleta Meadows Estates, many of them prehistoric animals and desert creatures.

about 0:12:23

Town note

One of the sculptures is a huge sand dragon that looks like the sand worm from Beetlejuice.

about 0:12:53

The figures, as told

Religious

45%

Biggest faith: Catholic share, 26 or 27%

about 0:16:58

Who lives here

White about 75% · Black 6% · Hispanic 15.6%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▲ about one third high

about 0:25:53

Violent crime
exactly the national average

about 0:25:58

Money

Median home value$214,200
Two-bedroom rent$1,480
Median household income$38,264
Cost of living103

For sale

$30,750

Two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,394 square foot trailer

about 0:21:36

For sale

$1,975,000

Four-bedroom, six-bath, 4,660 square foot house with a six-car garage and lap pool

about 0:22:03
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2021

Population

"2077"

Comparison: "down 7% since 1990". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:15:21

Median age

"59"

Comparison: "almost 38 in the rest of the country". No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:15:47

Married population

"about 55%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:16:16

Single with no children

"2.4%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:16:27

White population

"about 75%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:16:34

Black population

"6%"

Comparison: "about half the national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:16:34

Hispanic population

"15.6%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:16:48

Religious population

"45%"

Comparison: "about half the country". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:16:58

Catholic share

"26 or 27%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:15

Jewish share

"0.6%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:29

Eastern faith share

"1.5%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:33

Muslim share

"0.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:38

Voted Democrat

"60%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:45

Voted Republican

"37%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:45

Voted independent

"2%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:45

Unemployment rate

"about normal"

Comparison: "the rest of the country". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2021 about 0:17:57

Household income

"$38,264"

Comparison: "national average about $57,500". No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:07

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting jobs

"18.3%"

Comparison: "1.3% nationally". No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:28

Construction jobs

"20.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:18:39

Cost of living index

"103"

Comparison: "100 is the national average; California overall is 150". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2021 about 0:19:40

Median home cost

"$214,200"

Comparison: "slightly below the national figure". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:20:08

Average two-bedroom rent

"$1,480"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:20:30

5.58 acres of land

"$3,998"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:21:00

Two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,394 square foot trailer

"$30,750"

No direction stated.

As told in 2021 about 0:21:36

Four-bedroom, six-bath, 4,660 square foot house with a six-car garage and lap pool

"$1,975,000"

Comparison: "less than one acre of desert land". Direction: below.

As told in 2021 about 0:22:03

Property crime rate

"about one third high"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.

As told in 2021 about 0:25:53

Violent crime rate

"exactly the national average"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: about the same.

As told in 2021 about 0:25:58

The reviews

3.3 / 5 · average of 3

3 stars

“A resident of more than fifteen years says the town has a first-person point of view of the desert; May through August reaches 110 degrees and September through April is cool.”
about 0:13:37

2 stars

“The winter is cool and pleasant, but in summer the heat waves and sandstorms hit hard.”
about 0:14:11

5 stars

“The reviewer loves how intimate and caring the hometown is, says there are few opportunities while in high school but endless opportunities once you leave, and that fun is only a drive away; the hosts think it sounds sarcastic.”
about 0:14:24

In California

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  3. A Strange FunLake Havasu City, Arizona · 9 May 2019235 km / 146 miShow on map
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The story

Borrego Springs is a small town on the floor of the Borrego Valley in San Diego County, California, on the western edge of the Sonoran Desert and surrounded by the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. That July, Julie McGettrick, who worked for him at a cocktail lounge called the Villa d'Italia in Orange County, said he asked her to help him find young girls to photograph. He drove her to Yucca Valley to look for a place to carry out the plan, and told her he wanted the girls cut up and bleeding but still conscious for the pictures. McGettrick posed nude for him in the desert because she was frightened of him, and a few days later she approached another employee, Vicky Pendleton, about posing as well. When she woke he was standing over her with a gun. He put the gun to her head and told her she had better urinate on him or he would kill her; she was too frightened to do it, and he forced her to perform oral sex. She told him she would help with his plan, and he gave her $50 and let her go.

After about two hours of drinks he offered her $1,000 to find girls for photographs in which they would be killed, preferably girls of 13 or 14. Williams went to the police. She agreed to wear a recorder and introduced two undercover officers, Balcom and Reynolds, as women interested in posing. Deputies from San Bernardino and Orange County moved in. In and around the cabin police found handcuffs, ropes, chains, knives, saws, a cleaver, a .22 rifle, a .38 revolver, pornographic books and a shovel.

Phillips posed tied up for an hour of Polaroid photographs and was paid $40. She refused.

The woman woke three days later and was allowed to leave. Lee introduced Margaret Kruger, who was 16, and her roommate Beth Jones, who was 19, both living in Anaheim. The two girls agreed to pose for $500.

After about an hour the girls undressed. Kruger asked where the camera was. For 15 minutes he paced back and forth shouting instructions while no photographs were taken. He then cut Margaret Kruger's neck with a razor blade and sucked at the wound for ten minutes.

The two men drove to a bar in Borrego Springs and had several drinks, then returned. They threw the sheets, ropes and clothing into a dumpster behind a supermarket in Borrego Springs and drove back to the shop.

On Easter Sunday 1983 a photographer and his wife found the bodies in the Anza-Borrego desert. Animals had disturbed the grave, but forensic odontologist Norman Sperber matched dental charts and X-rays and identified Margaret Kruger and Beth Jones. Police said the girls had thought they were being paid $500 for a pornographic film. Anaheim detective Larry Johnson said they were two girls without jobs who needed money. The men fled to Loreto, Mexico.

They questioned him, then beat him for 20 minutes, and that evening told him they were taking him to the beach. The statement was typed and signed after he was told it would not be given to the United States, and then he was handed over to American officers along with a copy.

In the penalty phase the state relied on the 1977 case and the earlier attacks, while the defence offered his childhood in an orphanage and with an abusive alcoholic foster father, his service in the Marines and his rescue of two drowning sailors. No death notice could be found for him; he would have been 92 in 2021.

The case

Murder of Margaret Kruger and Beth Jones

Victims

Margaret Kruger (16). from Anaheim; agreed to pose for $500; known by her mother as my little maverick
Beth Jones (19). Kruger's roommate in Anaheim; her brother said she had recently got in with a biker crowd

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 29 July 2021.

Accused

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Pamela Sue Williams. hitchhiker who used the name Debbie Adams and became a police informant in 1977
Dana Lee. introduced to Kruger and Jones
Terry Alman. the girls' roommate, who raised the alarm when they did not return
George Stevens. known as Dave; staying with the girls and saw them leave the apartment
Leoncio Mondragon Garcia. shop employee who saw and leave the shop
Julie McGettrick. cocktail lounge employee who testified about 1976 proposition
Patricia Kruger. Margaret Kruger's mother
Kent Jones. Beth Jones's brother
Jean Jones. mother of one of the victims
Henry Acres. fellow shop owner who gave alibi evidence for
Donald Hemer. Margaret Kruger's boyfriend
Karen Bobey. acquaintance who thought she saw the girls at the Garden Grove Mall
Norman Sperber. forensic odontologist who identified the skulls
Larry Johnson. Anaheim police detective
Detective Grace. Anaheim missing persons detective
Bob. man in Victoria told to make sure had food and shelter
Balcom. undercover police officer in the 1977 sting
Reynolds. undercover police officer in the 1977 sting
Attorney Rakakis. district attorney who interviewed in California

The timeline

  1. 1929 is born.about 0:26:46
  2. July 1976 Julie McGettrick, who works at the Villa d'Italia cocktail lounge, says asks her to help him find young girls to photograph, torture, kill and dismember, and drives her to Yucca Valley to look for a location. (Villa d'Italia)about 2:07:29
  3. July 1977 meets Pamela Sue Williams while she is hitchhiking in Santa Ana; she gives him the false name Debbie Adams, and after about two hours in a bar he proposes snuff photographs and offers her $1,000 to find girls, preferably 13 or 14.about 0:31:09
  4. November 14, 1977 makes bail after it is reduced from $250,000 to $100,000.about 0:57:42
  5. 1979 introduces Kathy Phillips, a heroin addict, to .about 1:11:19
  6. 1981 begins working for at his furniture refinishing shop, paid in food, beer, lodging in a boat behind the shop and occasional cash. ( upholstery shop)about 1:08:24
  7. Phillips poses tied up for about an hour of Polaroid photographs and is paid $40. ( upholstery shop)about 1:13:05
  8. two weeks later asks Phillips to find young women for a film in which they will be killed on camera, offering her a share of about $35,000.about 1:13:31
  9. about a month later asks Phillips again; she refuses and stays away from the desert, though she keeps visiting the shop for heroin. ( upholstery shop)about 1:20:23
  10. early to mid 1982 stops seeing or speaking to his wife of 33 years.about 1:21:39
  11. early 1982 is called to Costa Mesa house and finds an unconscious naked woman on a sofa bed; says he drugged her and makes pose with her. ( house)about 1:23:32
  12. early 1982 and scout the desert near Indio and choose a spot between two hills for photography. (Desert grave site)about 1:26:10
  13. July 1982 Dana Lee meets , and in early August asks Lee to find young women for nude photographs, offering $50 to $100 per introduction.about 1:26:22
  14. August 1982 Lee introduces Margaret Kruger, 16, and her roommate Beth Jones, 19, who agree to pose for $500. (Girls' apartment)about 1:27:13
  15. August 13, 1982 Kruger and Jones leave their Anaheim apartment about 1.30 a.m. and meet at the 7-Eleven parking lot. (7-Eleven parking lot)about 1:28:43
  16. August 13, 1982 In the desert, lays a sheet and makes drinks; after about an hour the girls undress and ties their hands and feet. (Desert grave site)about 1:34:24
  17. August 13, 1982 returns from the car with a loaded rifle instead of a camera and orders the girls to perform sex acts while he paces and shouts instructions. (Desert grave site)about 1:35:26
  18. August 13, 1982 cuts Margaret Kruger's neck with a razor blade and sucks the wound for ten minutes. (Desert grave site)about 1:37:13
  19. August 13, 1982 chokes Beth Jones and then beats her with the rifle butt until she dies; Kruger is already dead. (Desert grave site)about 1:39:38

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic 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