Marcus Wesson

Last updated

Marcus Wesson
Marcus Wesson mug shot.jpg
Born
Marcus Delon Wesson

(1946-08-22) August 22, 1946 (age 78)
Kansas, [1] U.S.
Criminal statusIncarcerated
Children16+
Conviction(s) First degree murder with special circumstances
Criminal penalty Death ( de jure ) [2]
Details
Victims9
DateMarch 12, 2004
Location(s) Fresno, California
Target(s)Family
WeaponsStainless-steel Ruger MK II Target .22 caliber handgun

Marcus Delon Wesson (born August 22, 1946) is an American mass murderer and child rapist, convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder and 14 sex crimes, including the rape and molestation of his underage daughters. His victims were his children, fathered through incestuous sexual abuse of his daughters and nieces, as well as his wife's children. [1] [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Marcus Wesson was born in Kansas, the eldest of four children of Benjamin and Carrie Wesson. His mother raised him in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. [4] Wesson claimed that his mother was a religious fanatic. His father was an alcoholic child abuser who abandoned his family when Wesson was a child. [5] By the early 1960s, the family had moved to San Bernardino, California.

After dropping out of high school, Wesson joined the U.S. Army, serving from 1966 to 1968 as an ambulance driver, which included a deployment in the Vietnam War. [6] [7]

Abuse

Shortly after leaving the military, Wesson moved in with an older woman, Rosemary Solorio, and her eight children in San Jose, California. [6] In 1971, Solorio gave birth to Wesson's son. In 1974, Wesson began sexually abusing Solorio's eight-year-old daughter Elizabeth. [8] Wesson married Elizabeth when she turned 14 and he was 34. [7] Four months later, she gave birth to her first child. Eventually, the couple had 10 children together, including one infant who died. [7] [9]

One of Elizabeth's younger sisters left her own seven children with them, claiming that her drug problem made her unable to care for them. Wesson never held a steady job; he lived off welfare and forced his working adult children to give him all their earnings. [10] [11] In 1989, Wesson was convicted of welfare fraud and perjury. [12] [13] [14] The family often lived in run-down shacks, boats, and vacant houses. [7]

Wesson was abusive towards his wife and children. He prevented Elizabeth from participating in the children's upbringing. He homeschooled the children and taught them from his own handwritten Bible that focused on Jesus Christ being a vampire. He told the children that he was God and had them refer to him as "Master" or "Lord." He taught the children to be prepared for Armageddon and said that the girls were destined to become Wesson's future wives. Wesson's school "curriculum" involved teaching girls oral sex as young as 8 or 9. [7] Their domestic responsibilities included washing Wesson's dreads and scratching his armpits and head. [7] The girls were not allowed to talk to their male siblings or their mother. [8] Both male and female children were physically abused. [8] Wesson raped two daughters and three nieces beginning at age eight; [9] all five girls became pregnant.

Murders

Before March 12, 2004, Wesson had declared his intention to relocate his daughters and their children to Washington state, where Wesson's parents lived. [15] On March 12, 2004, several members of Wesson's extended family, along with two nieces who rebelled against him, converged on his family compound demanding the release of their children. [15] [16] Fresno police were summoned to what was described as a child custody issue, and a standoff ensued. [17] Wesson told the police to wait at the door and disappeared into the home. When he came back to the door, his clothes were bloodied. [7]

Fresno police testified they did not hear gunshots being fired shortly after, though other witnesses at the standoff testified they did hear gunshots fired at that time. [18] In the aftermath, police discovered nine bodies, including two of Wesson's daughters and a total of seven of their children, in a bedroom filled with antique coffins. [15] [18] Each victim had been fatally shot through the eye. Wesson's other children, who were not present inside the house, survived the incident. [18]

Victims

Trial

At Wesson's trial, the prosecutor was Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Gamoian. Wesson was represented by public defenders Peter Jones and Ralph Torres. They presented the defense that his 25-year-old daughter Sebhrenah committed all the murders, including of her son Marshey, and then committed suicide. [21] The murder weapon, a .22 caliber handgun, was found with her body, and Sebhrenah's DNA was found on the gun, which lent credence to Wesson's claim. [18] There was also no gunpowder residue on Wesson's hands at the time of his arrest. [22] The jury declined to find that Wesson fired the fatal shots but convicted him of murder anyway, presumably finding that he had pressured his children into entering a suicide pact. [21]

Conviction and sentence

Wesson was convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder on June 17, 2005, and also found guilty on 14 counts of forcible rape and the sexual molestation of seven of his daughters and nieces. Wesson was sentenced to death on June 27, 2005, and is currently in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. [23] [24]

The house that the murders took place in was later demolished. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Shipman</span> English doctor and serial killer (1946–2004)

Harold Frederick Shipman, known to acquaintances as Fred Shipman, was an English doctor in general practice and serial killer. He is considered to be one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history, with an estimated 284 victims over a period of roughly 30 years. On 31 January 2000, Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 patients under his care. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order. On 13 January 2004, one day before his 58th birthday, Shipman hanged himself in his cell at HM Prison Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred West</span> English serial killer (1941–1995)

Frederick Walter Stephen West was an English serial killer, who committed at least twelve murders between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire, the majority with his second wife, Rose West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Bell</span> English killer (born 1957)

Mary Flora Bell is an English woman who, as a juvenile, killed two preschool-age boys in Scotswood, an inner suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1968. Bell committed her first killing when she was ten years old. In both instances, Bell informed her victim that he had a sore throat, which she would massage before proceeding to strangle him.

Tracey Avril Wigginton, known as the "Lesbian Vampire Killer", is an Australian murderer who achieved notoriety for killing Edward Baldock in 1989, supposedly to drink his blood. This was described as "one of the most brutal and bizarre crimes Australia has ever seen." Wigginton was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991, and was paroled in 2012.

This is a timeline of major crimes in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Sylvia Likens</span> 1965 child murder in Indianapolis, US

Sylvia Marie Likens was an American teenager who was tortured and murdered by her caregiver, Gertrude Baniszewski, many of Baniszewski's children, and several of their neighborhood friends. The abuse lasted for three months, occurring incrementally, before Likens died from her extensive injuries and malnourishment on October 26, 1965, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Brothers</span> American mass murderer on death row (born 1962)

Vincent Edward Brothers is an American mass murderer convicted of killing his wife, their three children and his mother-in-law. Brothers previously was the former vice principal of John C. Fremont Elementary School in Bakersfield, California and holds a master's degree in education from California State University Bakersfield and a bachelor's degree from Norfolk State University.

Futoshi Matsunaga is a Japanese serial killer who both defrauded and tortured his victims in what is collectively known as the Kitakyūshū Serial Murder Incident. Matsunaga was convicted of six counts of murder and one count of manslaughter between 1996 and 1998 and sentenced to death. He murdered his victims with an accomplice, Junko Ogata, who received a life sentence.

A familicide is a type of murder or murder-suicide in which an individual kills multiple close family members in quick succession, most often children, spouses, siblings, or parents. In half the cases, the killer lastly kills themselves in a murder-suicide. If only the parents are killed, the case may also be referred to as a parricide. Where all members of a family are killed, the crime may be referred to as family annihilation.

Sara Jane Payne, MBE is a British media campaigner known for her campaign for parents' right for a controlled access to the sex offender registry, spurred by the murder of her daughter Sarah in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Ferguson</span> Australian sex offender

Dennis Raymond Ferguson was an Australian sex offender convicted of child sexual abuse. In 1988, he kidnapped and sexually abused three children, and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Ferguson was forced by public hostility and news media attention to relocate his residence on numerous occasions, from various locations in New South Wales and Queensland.

Neveah Janey Gallegos was a child in Denver, Colorado who was murdered by her mother's live-in boyfriend. After her death, Denver's Department of Human Services said that they would make improvements to their agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal</span> Sexual abuse scandal in England

The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consists of the organised child sexual abuse of girls that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England, from the late 1980s until 2013 and the failure of local authorities to act on reports of the abuse throughout most of that period. Researcher Angie Heal, who was hired by local officials and warned them about child exploitation occurring between 2002 and 2007, has since described it as the "biggest child protection scandal in UK history", with one report estimating that 1,400 girls, primarily from care home backgrounds, were abused by "grooming gangs" between 1997 and 2013. Evidence of the abuse was first noted in the early 1990s, when care home managers investigated reports that children in their care were being picked up by taxi drivers. From at least 2001, multiple reports passed names of alleged perpetrators, several from one family, to the police and Rotherham Council. The first group conviction took place in 2010, when five British-Pakistani men were convicted of sexual offences against girls aged 12–16.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Huckle</span> British convicted sex offender (1986–2019)

Richard William Huckle was an English serial child rapist. He was arrested by Britain's National Crime Agency in 2014 after a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police and convicted in 2016 of 71 charges of sexual offences against children, committed while he served as a Christian missionary and a freelance photographer in Malaysia.

In October 2019, a 61 year-old man from South Wales was sentenced for 33 years for serious sexual offences against three of his daughters, spanning 20 years, one of whom was also his granddaughter. He frequently raped his daughters from the ages of 12, 13, or 14, fathering six of his own grandchildren with one. He also arranged for other men to rape his daughters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fresno County Jail</span> Jail in California, U.S.

The Fresno County Jail is a detention center made up of three different adjacent complexes, located at 1225 M. Street, in downtown Fresno, California, operated by the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. The facility is made up of the Main Jail, the North Annex Jail, and the South Annex Jail and is connected by an underground system of tunnels providing easy and safe transportation of inmates. These tunnels also connect to the nearby Fresno County Courthouse. As of March 31, 2020, the Fresno County Jail had 2,746 inmates with 2,490 being male and 256 being female. The Fresno County Jail has recorded the highest number of deaths out of any county jail in California.

References

  1. 1 2 Fontana, Cyndee; Anderson, Barbara; Coleman, Donald E. (April 18, 2004). "The Many Portraits of Marcus Wesson". The Fresno Bee. Fresno, CA.
  2. ↑ Llorente, Elizabeth (August 30, 2018). "Will Jerry Brown commute sentences of every death row inmate in one of his last acts as California governor?". Fox News.
  3. ↑ "Marcus Wesson's Family Tree", Court TV, May 10, 2005
  4. ↑ Arax, Mark (June 30, 2005). "Wesson Gets Death in 2004 Mass Murder". The Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  5. ↑ BOVSUN, MARA (February 23, 2014). "Justice Story: Vampire king". NY Daily News. Archived from the original on April 9, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  6. 1 2 The Many Portraits of Marcus Wesson - Those who know the accused killer draw starkly conflicting views of him. (April 18, 2004). The Fresno Bee.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Justice Story: The 'Vampire king' of Fresno kills 9 children". New York Daily News . February 23, 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 Guthrie, J. (September 14, 2009). "Survivors recall horror of Wesson mass killing". San Francisco Chronicle.
  9. 1 2 Ryan, H. (May 19, 2005). "Child brides and vampire names: Bizarre the norm in mass murder trial". CNN.
  10. ↑ "Marcus Wesson Mass Murder: Surviving Family Speaks Out on Abuse". ABC News. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Dad Guilty Of Killing His 9 Kids". cbsnews.com. June 17, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Shiftless Life — Marcus Wesson - Crime Library — Crime Library". Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Suspect in 9 slayings had hold over women - US news - Crime & courts - NBC News". msnbc.com. March 13, 2004. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Many Questions In Fresno Slayings". cbsnews.com. March 16, 2004. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 Francis, Monte (May 29, 2007). By Their Father's Hand: The True Story of the Wesson Family Massacre . New York: Harper Collins. pp.  10. ISBN   978-0-06-087824-5.
  16. ↑ Francis, Monte (November 3, 2007). "Wesson massacre largely forgotten". The Daily Journal. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
  17. ↑ Marshall, Carolyn (March 16, 2004). "Fresno Victims Were Shot, Police Report". The New York Times. Fresno, CA. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Child brides and vampire names: Bizarre the norm in mass murder trial Archived February 7, 2006, at the Wayback Machine By Harriet Ryan, Court TV via CNN.com, Thursday, May 19, 2005,
  19. 1 2 Schalder, J., Phillips, H. & Stohler, E. (July 5, 2010). "Family brainwashed by dad struggles to heal". ABC News.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stewart, J.Y. (June 4, 2005). "Jury gets Fresno murder case". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  21. 1 2 i Barbassa, Juliana (June 2, 2005). "Prosecution says Marcus Wesson carried out murder-suicide pact". Associated Press. Fresno, CA. Archived from the original on August 21, 2012. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Defense: Accused family killer had no gun residue on hands". KUSA.com. May 27, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  23. ↑ Barbassa, Juliana (June 17, 2005). "Marcus Wesson guilty in murders of nine of his children". Associated Press. Fresno, California. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  24. ↑ Willis, Brianna (March 13, 2024). "20 years since the worst mass murder in Fresno history". KFSN-TV . Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  25. ↑ "20 years since the worst mass murder in Fresno history". ABC30 Fresno. March 13, 2024. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.