1977 PG&E Double Homicide

[looking4justice]

Jul 18, 2018 3:44:06 GMT oldguy said:

Jul 18, 2018 0:09:34 GMT looking4justice said:

Speaking of ballistics...here is a photo of the PG&E vehicle showing a large caliber gun shot above the door. I need to ask oldguy to weigh in on this as he pointed out (prior to JJD arrest!!) that the likely ammo used in the Maggiore murders as being a large caliber "super vel" police issue, if I recall correctly...

Hi looking4justice...

I zoomed in, enlarged  got a magnifying glass and looked at this exit hole . I wish I could digitally enhance it. I guess it is shadows around the perimeter but they make it appear the metal is indented, not blown out.


However, the raggedness of the hole indicates it is an exit hole and very likely from a high speed hollow point round.  The expansion of the hollow point is what leads to the greater diameter.  A .357 projectile (the actual bullet diameter a .38 Special round) can easily expand to .60.

The disparity between the two stories, one written contemporaneously and one in 2017 is interesting...the old stories talk of a a "high caliber weapon" possibly a sniper, but the 2017 story states it was a .38 caliber revolver. I am sure the 2017 story benefits from forensic analysis not available just after the crime. The stories also appear to disagree on the number of rounds fired.

It would appear the assailant fired at least 3 rounds, one in each victim and the one on the photo. I think the pictured exit hole was made by a round that missed the intended target. The height of this hole is interesting. Was the victim targeted starting to rise in their seat and the assailant really really wanted head shots? Very possible.  It is hard to tell angle, but if JJD got into a crouch to fire- the missed round would angle up.  Firing from a crouch was commonly taught to LE  then. Indeed the only photo of Carol Daly with a weapon that I am aware of shows her in a crouch.

 My thinking is, this could  possibly have been a Super Vel round from a 4" or 6" duty weapon. That very hot round was just below .357 magnum power level and would easily penetrate the sheetmetal.

Other thoughts...this was a pretty remote area in 1977. So what was the need to execute the two?

Well if JJD were in uniform....big need to execute.

This was just two week after the Ripon Court shooting 2.16.77. EAR had a small hiatus from that shooting to attack #14 on March 8th. That attack involved a first, sustained physical torture. EAR was allowing greater expression of his sadism. The next attack involved an ax, and then shortly, a couple. So a sudden eruption of lethal violence is not surprising.

Good work...I think this could be JJD

Oh BTW, did you e-mail Cathy Locke, author of the Sac article?

Good morning oldguy! Great thoughts on this and I really appreciate your ballistics impression. You know it is very uncanny-but I had the exact same vision of the perp taking the knee to aim for headshots, as you said a classic LE firing position, it's hard to not put JJD's face on this. There is another photo in my links above that show the position of the PG&E vehicle when it was found and the photo appears to have been taken from a high position of the driveway looking down towards the road where the vehicle was stopped in a drainage rut, apparently it had already been put in drive when the shots were fired, and with a higher ground position of the driveway, a knee position would have been the most accurate given the movement of the truck.

With nick's permission I did email Cathy Locke. As luck would have it the day I contacted her was her last day of work, she was retiring. Anyways she got me in contact with her successor, I have his email and I gave it to nick so he could fill out some blanks. I'm not sure whether or not nick got a chance to talk with him because it all happened right when nick started having some big personal events. I will follow up with the reporter and ask him if he got in touch with LE about this case. I agree that JJD is REALLY good for this. If Sac LE found guns at JJD's house perhaps a striation comparison could be possible.

[looking4justice]

I think he was in uniform too and probably unmasked. It's possible the poor lady didn't even actually see JJD-or maybe she did get a gander of his freaky wide-eyed face in uniform. If JJD in part picked his victims because he knew them, or he had staked them out for some time prior, then he might have known they were at the hospital with their son who was getting an operation when all this happened. He might have foregone his usual casual dress MO due to this knowledge.

This kind of brutal (and very accurate) gunning down is not typical of a petty thief or thieves, in my opinion. That coupled with JJD's standard ransacking, moving of the gun, and not taking it...

[magnumforce73]

Jul 7, 2018 21:37:55 GMT looking4justice said:

Hi all-I want to give this subject it's own thread. nick brought this to folks' attention and he may have already created a thread about it but I can't find it anywhere. I can only find a small discussion that is buried in the Hawkley-Wanner thread.

nick-Please weigh in on this if you have time!

What really stands out about this crime is that the house was located on Auburn-Folsom Rd., a highway/rd that JJD would have traveled as an Auburn Police Officer and someone who frequented (lived in??) Roseville.

The cold brutality is also startling and very reminiscent of the Maggiores: the perp shot both PG&E workers from the street side of their company vehicle apparently after one of them placed a service/outage notice on the front door handle.

I think JJD is very good for this crime. Scenario: JJD has stressful day at work, needs to blow off some steam, decides to check out the house that caught his eye, breaks-in and lurks around maybe while in uniform even, PG&E worker happens on the scene, JJD thinks they got a look at him (maybe they did), he makes a split decision to eliminate them-he does his usual casual walk-up to the PG&E vehicle (or maybe they ran) and he shoots them at close range and flees.

Original article text:
Desert Sun, 3 March 1977 PDF Issue PDF (61.11 MB) Locked

"Two Utility Employes Are Killed
ROSEVILLE (UPI) - Two utility company employes delivering a notice to a remote home of a planned power outage were gunned down at close range Wednesday apparently after they interrupted a burglary. "We have little or no leads on the situation at this time," said Placer County Sheriff's Capt Donald Nunes, noting that no neighbors or passersby in the picturesque foothill area near Folsom Lake reported hearing or seeing anything suspicious. The bodies of William Harrington, 55. of Auburn, and Carla Burkarl. 28. of Citrus Heights, both employes of Pacific Gas & Electric Co., were discovered draped over each other in a utility truck by a passing motorist who thought they had been in a car accident. Harrington was an electrical line patrolman with the company for 16 years. Mrs. Burkart, the mother of two. had worked at PG&E for one month. Scott said the two had placed a notice of the impending power cutoff on the Williams’ door when they were spotted by burglars in the house. They returned to the truck. Scott said, “where they met their death by gunshot wounds. Both were shot in the head.” He said at least two shots were fired from a high-cali-ber weapon at close range in the driveway. The PG&E truck then rolled downhill about 200 feet where it was stopped when it became entangled in brush in a vacant field, Scott said. “The poor people can’t even do a simple job like notifying people that the power is going to be turned off without facing homicide," said one sheriff’s deputy. A 4>/i-hour search of the oak tree-studded area by about 40 sheriff’s deputies, California Highway Patrol officials, and local police officers and two helicopters was called off about 4 p.m. with no trace of the suspect or suspects, authorities said, Nunes said they would continue their house-to-house canvass Thursday. Wesley Williams, a contactor and owner of the ranchstyle home, said the burglars ransacked two bedrooms and moved his pistol from the closet"

cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19770303.2.30


www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article187688733.html


www.auburnjournal.com/article/1/20/17/future-murderer-investigates-murder-video-report

Hi l4j--

Welcome back--don't remember seeing you in awhile.

Ya know, this cold case reads like the opening of the third Dirty Harry film, The Enforcer in which the young, psychopathic Vietnam vet-cum-Peoples' Liberation Strike Force leader brutally murders two PG&E workers for their truck.

I agree with your stated scenario--this has features that are congruent with J.J.D. idiosyncrasies.  In particular, this does read eerily similar to the Maggiore shootings--and like that incident, it probably happened for the same reason: J.J.D. happened to be doing his thing without a mask, and he was caught in the act (and probably in an Auburn uniform, as you stated).  It also has a similarity to the Snelling shooting in Visalia in Sept. 75: the shooter deliberately stood still, waiting for Prof. Snelling to emerge through the door; he had no fear because he wanted a reason to shoot someone.  For the sake of this argument, let's assume J.J.D. is the 77 PG&E shooter: this shooting happened just under a month after the Ripon Court shooting.  With that in mind, there are four instances (pre-ONS) of J.J.D. using a firearm in commission of his crimes:
- 11 Sept. 75: Prof. Snelling (Tulare Co.)
- 10 Dec. 75: Det. McGowen, V.P.D. (Tulare Co.)
- 16 Feb. 77: Rod Miller, Ripon Ct. (Sac)
- 3 Mar. 77: PG&E Workers, Placer Co. (J.J.D.?)

With all the burglarizing, prowling, and other movement, it's a miracle that J.J.D. wasn't caught or confronted in the act more frequently than what he was--and this exercise is merely a listing of four incidents out of over one hundred incidents going back to at least late 72/early 73.  He packed a pistol for a reason--his own insurance policy.

The ransacking is one thing; it's the moving of a pistol from one place to another inside the house that raises my brow.  That's Classic J.J.D.

mf73

[oldguy]

Jul 18, 2018 16:52:57 GMT looking4justice said:

I think he was in uniform too and probably unmasked. It's possible the poor lady didn't even actually see JJD-or maybe she did get a gander of his freaky wide-eyed face in uniform. If JJD in part picked his victims because he knew them, or he had staked them out for some time prior, then he might have known they were at the hospital with their son who was getting an operation when all this happened. He might have foregone his usual casual dress MO due to this knowledge.

This kind of brutal (and very accurate) gunning down is not typical of a petty thief or thieves, in my opinion. That coupled with JJD's standard ransacking, moving of the gun, and not taking it...

It is very uncommon behavior for a burglar.  

This seamless, almost casual transition from confrontation to multiple execution is utterly reminiscent of Brian and Katie's murder. I am tempted to name the Maggiore killings "PG&E redux."

[1fstlx]

All very intriguing and makes a lot sense, hmmm? but...

[beaumontlivingstone]

I think GSK is responsible for the PG&E murders, along with Eva Davidson Taylor, Jennifer Armour, Donna Richmond. Possibly the Granite Bay murders. Not convinced about being responsible for Dorothy Jane Scott murder, but I suppose he is capable of anything!

[oldguy]

Interesting...a March 28 1977 article posted on newspapers.com says the murder weapon was a .38 caliber revolver. So within the first 3 weeks they resolved the "high powered weapon" and "sniper" issue.

That article and several latter ones flatly state the revolver caliber. So one or more bullets were recovered from the victims. If the projectiles revealed a faster twist rate (how much distance in the barrel to force one complete revolution) such as 1:14 (Colt) or 1:17 (Charter Arms) they might have released that information. If it were 1:16 the murder weapon would almost certainly have been a Ruger single action (i.e., cowboy style) firearm. Now that would just about eliminate JJD. EAR would never carry such a heavy and inefficient weapon.

My guess is the twist rate was 1:1875 which Ruger used for all it's double action .38 spl and .357 magnum revolvers. As did all S&W with the rare exception of a few special runs. That 1:875 finding would be so common they might not release it. BTW, the 1:1875 twist allows the same propellant to generate higher velocity than a faster twist.)

So....the murder weapon was not a Colt and not a Charter Arms. (EAR is believed to have carried and used a Charter Arms in several home invasion attacks-the smallest and lightest .357 magnum revolver in existence in the 1970's-it was great fence jumping equipage.)

In the 1970's bullet construction was almost primitive compared to today. Engineers did not know how to make a hollow point expand reliably unless you jacked up the velocity way high. And they frequently did not expand at all if they encountered fabric as the material would stuff the cavity and preclude expansion. Fabric like say, the roof lining of a vehicle.

Now..looking at the exit hole and it's diameter it appears really high velocity was in play here. The longer the barrel, the higher the velocity from the similar rounds. The high velocity here might well have been from a 6" barrel S&W revolver..

LE of the 1970's in California was home to mucho 6" Smiths. Unlike their east coast counterparts who always used 4" (or even 3") barrels, LAPD, LASO, and CHP allowed and warmly endorsed the 6" option.

Well, looking closely at the photo of JJD and his partner getting ready for a community ball game it looks VERY much like a 6" Smith is in his partner's holster.

In other words...good chance the murder weapon duplicated their duty weapon!

[cleopatra]

Jul 7, 2018 21:55:21 GMT looking4justice said:

Another more detailed article:

www.newspapers.com/image/?spot=19775960&fcfToken=305074506c58436747336b3443433168636351665163495236765a57643174664f6770663831454d61734f726d5843664f6c654f7a46492f39722f6b30576275

Text excerpt: "Wesley Williams owner of the burglarized home at... Lone Place...said his wife is usually home during the day but Wednesday they were both at Roseville Community Hospital....According to Williams several chests of drawers in the bedroom of his home had been ransacked.."

Interesting how the word RANSACKED comes up...

[drewogatory]

Jul 21, 2018 17:51:17 GMT oldguy said:

Interesting...a March 28 1977 article posted on newspapers.com says the murder weapon was a .38 caliber revolver. So within the first 3 weeks they resolved the "high powered weapon" and "sniper" issue.

That article and several latter ones flatly state the revolver caliber. So one or more bullets were recovered from the victims. If the projectiles revealed a faster twist rate (how much distance in the barrel to force one complete revolution) such as 1:14 (Colt) or 1:17 (Charter Arms) they might have released that information. If it were 1:16 the murder weapon would almost certainly have been a Ruger single action (i.e., cowboy style) firearm. Now that would just about eliminate JJD. EAR would never carry such a heavy and inefficient weapon.

My guess is the twist rate was 1:1875 which Ruger used for all it's double action .38 spl and .357 magnum revolvers. As did all S&W with the rare exception of a few special runs. That 1:875 finding would be so common they might not release it. BTW, the 1:1875 twist allows the same propellant to generate higher velocity than a faster twist.)

So....the murder weapon was not a Colt and not a Charter Arms. (EAR is believed to have carried and used a Charter Arms in several home invasion attacks-the smallest and lightest .357 magnum revolver in existence in the 1970's-it was great fence jumping equipage.)

In the 1970's bullet construction was almost primitive compared to today. Engineers did not know how to make a hollow point expand reliably unless you jacked up the velocity way high. And they frequently did not expand at all if they encountered fabric as the material would stuff the cavity and preclude expansion. Fabric like say, the roof lining of a vehicle.

Now..looking at the exit hole and it's diameter it appears really high velocity was in play here. The longer the barrel, the higher the velocity from the similar rounds. The high velocity here might well have been from a 6" barrel S&W revolver..

LE of the 1970's in California was home to mucho 6" Smiths. Unlike their east coast counterparts who always used 4" (or even 3") barrels, LAPD, LASO, and CHP allowed and warmly endorsed the 6" option.

Well, looking closely at the photo of JJD and his partner getting ready for a community ball game it looks VERY much like a 6" Smith is in his partner's holster.

In other words...good chance the murder weapon duplicated their duty weapon!

I'm not sure twist rate would be something the police would release, since it's meaningful to so few people. And .357 projectiles could just as easily be .355 or .356. EAR had a 1911 style handgun in a few attacks I'm sure, could have been a Super. And Rodney Miller was shot with a 9.  Who knows though, he was clearly reading the gun magazines of the day.

[arlington]

The article mentions “burglars” as in plural. Maybe I missed it but how do they know it wasn’t just a single perp?

It seems obvious the PG&E employee was hanging a notice and saw a burglary in process, and returned to the vehicle where they were killed.

I think it’s likely the perp knew the PG&E employee, or otherwise felt they could identify him, otherwise why not flee the other direction rather then murder two people of which the only benefit would be their silence.

Was it DeAngelo? Possibly, worth continuing to look into. Would be great if there were any old employment records at the Auburn PD that reflected schedules where it could be known where DeAngelo was on given days, or his shifts.

Maybe there was a patrol car out front.

[oldguy]

Jul 22, 2018 1:39:39 GMT drewogatory said:

Jul 21, 2018 17:51:17 GMT oldguy said:

Interesting...a March 28 1977 article posted on newspapers.com says the murder weapon was a .38 caliber revolver. So within the first 3 weeks they resolved the "high powered weapon" and "sniper" issue.

That article and several latter ones flatly state the revolver caliber. So one or more bullets were recovered from the victims. If the projectiles revealed a faster twist rate (how much distance in the barrel to force one complete revolution) such as 1:14 (Colt) or 1:17 (Charter Arms) they might have released that information. If it were 1:16 the murder weapon would almost certainly have been a Ruger single action (i.e., cowboy style) firearm. Now that would just about eliminate JJD. EAR would never carry such a heavy and inefficient weapon.

My guess is the twist rate was 1:1875 which Ruger used for all it's double action .38 spl and .357 magnum revolvers. As did all S&W with the rare exception of a few special runs. That 1:875 finding would be so common they might not release it. BTW, the 1:1875 twist allows the same propellant to generate higher velocity than a faster twist.)

So....the murder weapon was not a Colt and not a Charter Arms. (EAR is believed to have carried and used a Charter Arms in several home invasion attacks-the smallest and lightest .357 magnum revolver in existence in the 1970's-it was great fence jumping equipage.)

In the 1970's bullet construction was almost primitive compared to today. Engineers did not know how to make a hollow point expand reliably unless you jacked up the velocity way high. And they frequently did not expand at all if they encountered fabric as the material would stuff the cavity and preclude expansion. Fabric like say, the roof lining of a vehicle.

Now..looking at the exit hole and it's diameter it appears really high velocity was in play here. The longer the barrel, the higher the velocity from the similar rounds. The high velocity here might well have been from a 6" barrel S&W revolver..

LE of the 1970's in California was home to mucho 6" Smiths. Unlike their east coast counterparts who always used 4" (or even 3") barrels, LAPD, LASO, and CHP allowed and warmly endorsed the 6" option.

Well, looking closely at the photo of JJD and his partner getting ready for a community ball game it looks VERY much like a 6" Smith is in his partner's holster.

In other words...good chance the murder weapon duplicated their duty weapon!

I'm not sure twist rate would be something the police would release, since it's meaningful to so few people. And .357 projectiles could just as easily be .355 or .356. EAR had a 1911 style handgun in a few attacks I'm sure, could have been a Super. And Rodney Miller was shot with a 9.  Who knows though, he was clearly reading the gun magazines of the day.

We look at probability in the absence of actual knowledge: enumerated below are points I considered before writing my post...

1. LE would have scoured the area for ejected cartridge cases-found nothing.

2. EAR did use a 9mm the month before, and he also ejected a live round, very likely b/c he was not sure the chamber was charged. (A veteran crime scene specialist on this board guessed this was the most likely reason.) As a 1970's LEO, revolvers were his thing.

3. A .38 Super? The twist rate is 1:16..that would have gotten LE's attention as it is not common. But they stated the weapon was a revolver. And of course, prior to the 1980's and IPSC the .38 Super  (a .356 diameter round) was  uncommon-once you got away from the Mexican border.  A .38 Super hollow point in 1977? In the absence of a market, what manufacturer loaded/sold that? How many were available?

EAR did use a 1911 beginning with his first couples' attack in April 1977. I suspect he did so as it looked "badder." He abandoned it latter..I think because he discovered how much "fun" it was to cock a gun in someone's face. And he realized it takes 2 hands to decock a 1911. Interestingly, in that attack (#16)  EAR said "I have a .45 with 14 shots and two clips." (Case Files of..p.147.) This is telling as his use of "clips' shows little semiautomatic familiarity..and if he had 14 rounds it means he neglected to top off his magazine after chambering a round. Any veteran 1911 shooter would have done that... 

Yes, bullet diameter is tricky..you have normal specs and reality. Just to make things more complicated, Lee Jurras formed his Super Vel  ".357" to .3565 as he thought that increased velocity.

So..in my thinking, a Smith 6" barrel revolver seems most likely.

[drewogatory]

"A .38 Super hollow point in 1977? In the absence of a market, what manufacturer loaded/sold that? How many were available?"

Probably none. Heck, almost no one sells them now! We always has Supers in the family,maybe I'm overestimating the popularity in the 70's. My dad carried one as his duty weapon in the late 40's/early 50's though. But, I think your logic is sound, just by numbers alone it's probably a Smith.

[looking4justice]

Jul 21, 2018 17:51:17 GMT oldguy said:

Interesting...a March 28 1977 article posted on newspapers.com says the murder weapon was a .38 caliber revolver. So within the first 3 weeks they resolved the "high powered weapon" and "sniper" issue.

That article and several latter ones flatly state the revolver caliber. So one or more bullets were recovered from the victims. If the projectiles revealed a faster twist rate (how much distance in the barrel to force one complete revolution) such as 1:14 (Colt) or 1:17 (Charter Arms) they might have released that information. If it were 1:16 the murder weapon would almost certainly have been a Ruger single action (i.e., cowboy style) firearm. Now that would just about eliminate JJD. EAR would never carry such a heavy and inefficient weapon.

My guess is the twist rate was 1:1875 which Ruger used for all it's double action .38 spl and .357 magnum revolvers. As did all S&W with the rare exception of a few special runs. That 1:875 finding would be so common they might not release it. BTW, the 1:1875 twist allows the same propellant to generate higher velocity than a faster twist.)

So....the murder weapon was not a Colt and not a Charter Arms. (EAR is believed to have carried and used a Charter Arms in several home invasion attacks-the smallest and lightest .357 magnum revolver in existence in the 1970's-it was great fence jumping equipage.)

In the 1970's bullet construction was almost primitive compared to today. Engineers did not know how to make a hollow point expand reliably unless you jacked up the velocity way high. And they frequently did not expand at all if they encountered fabric as the material would stuff the cavity and preclude expansion. Fabric like say, the roof lining of a vehicle.

Now..looking at the exit hole and it's diameter it appears really high velocity was in play here. The longer the barrel, the higher the velocity from the similar rounds. The high velocity here might well have been from a 6" barrel S&W revolver..

LE of the 1970's in California was home to mucho 6" Smiths. Unlike their east coast counterparts who always used 4" (or even 3") barrels, LAPD, LASO, and CHP allowed and warmly endorsed the 6" option.

Well, looking closely at the photo of JJD and his partner getting ready for a community ball game it looks VERY much like a 6" Smith is in his partner's holster.

In other words...good chance the murder weapon duplicated their duty weapon!

Whoa. You're right on the photo of the holster-my Dad said he thought they were carrying a 6" Smith too! Oldguy...you're amazing!!

[looking4justice]

Jul 22, 2018 5:09:14 GMT arlington said:

The article mentions “burglars” as in plural. Maybe I missed it but how do they know it wasn’t just a single perp?

It seems obvious the PG&E employee was hanging a notice and saw a burglary in process, and returned to the vehicle where they were killed.

I think it’s likely the perp knew the PG&E employee, or otherwise felt they could identify him, otherwise why not flee the other direction rather then murder two people of which the only benefit would be their silence.

Was it DeAngelo? Possibly, worth continuing to look into. Would be great if there were any old employment records at the Auburn PD that reflected schedules where it could be known where DeAngelo was on given days, or his shifts.

Maybe there was a patrol car out front.

I also wonder why they keep saying "burglars." There is nothing released in the articles that indicates more than one person, maybe they are holding back and maybe it was a veiled threat to some local thieves they were familiar with that they thought were good for the crime.

Another interesting fact in terms of burglary stealth was that the doorknob was either missing or had been knocked off. The PG&E worker (most likely the woman as the man was driving) would have noticed the doorknob immediately and might have either knocked and/or looked inside; "hello perp." In terms of JJD's MO for this, I think he might have started out thinking it might be a good place to hit again but then decided to just do a good-old-fashioned Visalia Ranscaking to blow-off steam, in which case the doorknob wouldn't have mattered at the time. Also-the location was very rural, so the PG&E workers showing up was a pretty outrageous case of bad luck.

Did the worker know the perp? Possible, but I'm not sure how likely. Burkhart was from Citrus Heights and Harrington was from Auburn. 

The duty logs. That is a huge question really isn't it for a lot of JJD's crimes. I really wonder how many he committed on duty and when he was on duty with other people. Don't assume that he always patrolled with someone else. JJD's duty logs will tell us a lot if there are any from that period left.

[arlington]

What conditions would need to be present for the “burglar” to decide he needed to kill the workers?

If the female employee ran into the burglar, or at minimum saw him, he’d have to either be wearing a mask (unlikely given the home was empty), holding a firearm (again unlikely given nobody was there) or a uniform of some kind that identified him.

Otherwise wouldn’t the female employee just think he was the homeowner?

What’s the chances this was DeAngelo in full police uniform with his police cruiser in the driveway? The female witnesses him ransacking or robbing, hurries back to the vehicle only to be pursued by the perp, who has it in his mind he needs to kill them. Why?