Almost Trailside: A True Story (16 page)

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Authors: Kathy Rocco

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Will the public ever know the extent of David Carpenter’s killing appetite?

Will grieving families ever know who killed or abducted their missing sons and daughters and what actually happened to them?

One has to wonder…

Only one person knows the answers to these questions, and that is David Carpenter, himself.

It has been speculated that David Carpenter’s severe stuttering was so disarming that it may have made sympathetic women more vulnerable to an attack. And, that he murdered his rape victims and their companions because a middle-aged bald man with an extreme stutter would be easy to identify.

This does make sense. However, he did murder a number of victims,
without
performing the act of rape. What drives a person to consciously calculate and perform such horrible acts against other human beings?

David Carpenter is a complex man. People who have encountered or interviewed David Carpenter have felt an immediate sympathy for him because of his severe speech impediment. He has been found to be quite charming and seems to be well-liked among the Death Row community of inmates at San Quentin State Prison in California.

David Carpenter spends his time researching court cases and staying up with the laws pertaining to his case, as he works on his on-going appeal. His claims of innocence have been, and continue to be, rejected at every level of the judicial system. But yet, he continues to research and write letters of appeal to the courts.

Since 1977, more than 130 death penalty sentences have been reversed in the State of California. David Carpenter continues to seek a reversal in his own case.

David Carpenter has been on San Quentin’s Death Row for thirty years, since 1984. Prior to that, he had been incarcerated for a total of twenty-two years. He knows the prison system well. It has been his home for the majority of his lifetime.

California tax payers pay on average about $175,000. a year for
each
Death Row inmate. A major portion of these costs is the $90,000. a year it costs to keep an inmate on Death Row instead of locked up in the general prison population.

It has cost the California tax payers $5,250,000. to keep David Carpenter, the Trailside Killer, on Death Row for the last thirty years. It’s likely, that he can easily live another twenty years on Death Row, at the tax payer’s expense, unless the court’s death penalty decision is upheld.

The luxury of freedom has been taken away from David Carpenter, through his incarceration, but he has every other luxury that a man might need or want.

He is a devout Catholic attending weekly church services and has a good relationship with his priest, enjoying conversations with him often. He watches his favorite television programs, keeps up with his favorite sports teams, and listens to his favorite music. He has access to library books, research materials, and other media. He eats well but doesn’t have to shop for food, prepare or pay for his meals. He pays no utility bills but has the luxury of water and electricity. He visits with friends and relatives in person and in written correspondence. He has regular medical attention and care, rendering him relatively healthy despite some minor heath issues which he has under control. He doesn’t pay for hospital or doctor services, or for prescription medicines. He doesn’t have to worry about making a living or paying rent. He is not subjected to air pollution, environmental hazards, traffic jams, bridge tolls, car
insurance, etc. or the possibility of sustaining an injury or having an accident.

He is perfectly content. In none of his interviews has he said or indicated that he is sad, depressed, unhappy, or suicidal. He says he is “doing well”.

The general public is furious that the court’s death penalty decision has not been upheld and acted upon. That, thirty years later, David Carpenter’s case appears to still be open in the Federal Courts.

Several trials, dozens of jurors, Judges, Lawyers, millions of dollars, and hard cold facts have not been enough to uphold the death penalty decision.

There are twelve known victims who David Carpenter stalked and brutally killed either by shooting them or stabbing them multiple times, one of whom lived to positively identify David Carpenter as the man who shot him leaving him in the bushes for dead, and who shot his girl friend in the head point blank, killing her instantly.

Yet, David Carpenter lives, and lives well, even though incarcerated on Death Row in San Quentin.

At age 84 years old, he has lived well past the life expectancy age of the normal man on the street even though thirty years ago, he was sentenced to death for his crimes.

At trial, the jury found special circumstances that warranted the death penalty, those being: committing multiple murders, committing during a rape, and lying in wait. It was also proven that his gun was the one that shot the victims and there were many eyewitness testimonies.

Why
is
this cold-blooded murderer and rapist allowed to live after several trials all produced the same death penalty decision for his multiple rape and murder convictions?

For years, David Carpenter has been a suspect in other slayings and missing person’s cases, but concrete and affirmable evidence as well as eyewitness accounts have been lacking.

If David Joseph Carpenter, the notorious serial killer and rapist, had anything to do with
any
of them, you can bet that any discovery will be a gruesome one.

May God have mercy on his soul and on those who have been victimized by him…known and unknown, living and deceased.

The End

Every life is a journey of precious memories,
We never know where our journey will lead,
Treasure family, friendships, and beauty in all forms,
Marvel at the sun, the stars, and the scenery along the way,
Learn from the challenging ups and downs of the road,
Live every day under the beautiful umbrella of faith and love,
For we never know when or where our journey will impede
.

Kathy Rocco

REFERENCES

City of Grants Pass: Our History

Department of Psychology, Radford University, Radford, A 24141-6946 David Carpenter “The Trailside Killer”

Georgetown Lake, Montana - Fishing and Real Estate

http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpres/?p=8132

http://serialkillers.briancombs.net/1516/victims-of-david-carpenter

http://www.beachboardwalk.com/history

http://www.hwy9.com/Community/Zayante.aspx

http://www.lompico.org/history.html

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=546

http://www.roaringcamp.com/history