Mauricio Silva (serial killer)

Last updated

Mauricio Silva
Mauricio Silva.jpg
Born
Mauricio Rodriguez Silva

(1959-10-25) October 25, 1959 (age 63)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names"The Monster"
Conviction(s) Manslaughter (1978)
Murder ×3 (1985)
Criminal penalty5 1/5 years (1978)
Death (1985)
Details
Victims4
Span of crimes
1978–1984
CountryUnited States
State(s)California
Date apprehended
May 26, 1984
Imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California

Mauricio Rodriguez Silva (born October 25, 1959), known as The Monster, is an American serial killer who killed three people, including his half-sister, during a May 1984 crime spree that spread across California, shortly after being paroled from serving a manslaughter conviction. He was convicted of the latter crimes and sentenced to death and is currently awaiting execution.

Contents

Early life

Mauricio Rodriguez Silva was born on October 25, 1959, in Los Angeles. He was the elder of two sons born to David Silva, an itinerant laborer from Chihuahua, Mexico, and his Nicaraguan wife Myrne Rodríguez, who suffered from gigantism and unspecified mental abnormalities. [1] Mauricio inherited his mother's condition, in addition to being born with a cleft palate and other physical defects. His father, a prolific womanizer, abandoned the family when Silva was still young and was later killed by a colleague working in Alaska. Not long after, his mother left both children to the care of their grandmother in Mexico City, while she had an affair with her boss, with whom she had a daughter she named Martha Kitzler. [1]

While residing with his grandmother, Silva and his brother were neglected – according to court records, she locked them outside of the house, and they had to resort to eating a pumpkin for days, for which they had to undergo treatment in the hospital for stomach infections. [1] Silva eventually ran away and joined a gang of homeless children, where he started inhaling glue and eating scraps of garbage to survive. During this time, he claimed to have seen several of his friends and acquaintances be sexually assaulted by older men but was too afraid to notify the authorities. [1]

For the remainder of his teenage years, Silva was transferred to and from various foster homes in the United States and Mexico. He did not know how to write and had trouble interacting with others. He was sent to the White Memorial Hospital to undergo an operation that would fix his cleft palate. [1]

First murder and imprisonment

In 1978, the 15-year-old Silva got into an argument with an acquaintance, 18-year-old Troy Allison Covella. For reasons unclear, he pulled out a gun and shot Covella nine times, killing him. Silva was quickly arrested and charged with the murder, but he accepted a plea deal that had the charges reduced to voluntary manslaughter. [2] He was convicted of the charge and sentenced to 5 1/5 years of imprisonment, which he spent at the Soledad State Prison in Soledad. [2]

Release and killing spree

After serving out his sentence, Silva was released on May 7, 1984, after which he moved in to live with his half-sister and some relatives at their apartment in Hollywood. [3]

On May 18, Silva was riding on a bus when he encountered 16-year-old Walter P. Sanders, a runaway from Lompoc, whom he proceeded to shoot five times with a shotgun in the Mojave Desert and then dumped his body in a rural area of the Antelope Valley. [4] Six days later, Silva picked up 16-year-old Monique Michelle Hilton at a bus stop on Santa Monica Boulevard. She was a runaway from Illinois who hitchhiked to Hollywood to meet Michael Jackson. Instead of driving her to her intended destination, he shot her twice and dumped her body near the Palmdale Regional Airport. Just four days later, Silva went back to his half-sibling Kitzler's apartment in Hollywood, where he strangled her, stabbed her eight times, then slit her throat. [5] Soon after Kitzler's body was discovered, an arrest warrant was issued for Silva, who went on the run.

Confession, trial and sentence

On May 28, Silva went to the sheriff's department in Templeton and confessed to the two deputies present that he was wanted for murder and wanted to turn himself in. [3] After looking into his claims, the deputies realized that a warrant had been issued for his arrest and immediately detained him. Upon impounding and inspecting the insides of his truck, they found a loaded sawed-off shotgun and a knife. Later that same day, Silva was transported to Los Angeles to face murder charges in Kitzler's death. [3] He was eventually charged with two additional counts of murder concerning the murders of Sanders and Hilton but pleaded not guilty on all three counts. [2]

Silva's attorney offered a plea deal to the prosecutors that would allow his client to plead guilty and receive a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, but this was rejected by District Attorney Lonnie Felker, who said that Silva's actions warranted the death penalty. [5] Silva was eventually found guilty on all counts, with his lawyers attempting to present mitigating circumstances by claiming that the killings were done on impulse and that Silva's horrible upbringing greatly affected his mental state. [4] The case eventually resulted in a hung jury, and a mistrial was declared to the great dissatisfaction of Felker, who complained that the defense had used a loophole in the law to garner sympathy for the defendant by showing photographs of his early life and relatives to the jurors. [6] As a result, a re-sentencing trial was scheduled for mid-November 1985. [7]

For unclear reasons, the trial was delayed until early 1986, when Silva was retried for the three murders. The only new testimony presented at the second trial was claimed by the prosecutors that he may have raped Kitzler and that he had supposedly told the arresting police officers that he wanted to plead guilty and receive the death sentence to "get it over with." [8] As a result, Silva was found guilty on all counts and was ultimately sentenced to death. [9]

Aftermath

In 2001, the Supreme Court of California nullified Silva's death sentence because the prosecution had erroneously excused a Latino juror, identified only as "Jose M.", on the grounds of his race. This claim was contended by Felker, who said that he had excused the man for being aggressive and for fearing that he would be in favor of a life sentence without parole. [10] The death sentence was later reinstated, and Silva was returned to death row.

As of August 2022, Silva remains on death row and awaits execution. He has stated in several interviews that while he acknowledges that he is guilty, he will fight to have his sentence reduced to life without parole, arguing that he would suffer more by being left alive rather than executed. [1] During these interviews, he has repeatedly emphasized that young men and women should speak up about their experiences with sexual abuse to prevent themselves from becoming like him. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Quentin State Prison</span> California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men

San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.

A thrill killing is premeditated or random murder that is motivated by the sheer excitement of the act. While there have been attempts to categorize multiple murders, such as identifying "thrill killing" as a type of "hedonistic mass killing", actual details of events frequently overlap category definitions making attempts at such distinctions problematic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Kidnapping Act</span> United States federal criminal law prohibitting kidnapping

Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping, the United States Congress passed a federal kidnapping statute—known as the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1) —which was intended to let federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had crossed state lines with their victim. The act was first proposed in December 1931 by Missouri Senator Roscoe Conkling Patterson, who pointed to several recent kidnappings in the Missouri area in calling for a federal solution. Initial resistance to Patterson's proposal was based on concerns over funding and state's rights. Consideration of the law was revived following the kidnapping of Howard Woolverton in late January 1932. Woolverton’s kidnapping featured prominently in several newspaper series researched and prepared in the weeks following his abduction, and were quite possibly inspired by it. Two such projects, by Bruce Catton of the Newspaper Enterprise Association and Fred Pasley of the Daily News of New York City, were ready for publication within a day or two of the Lindbergh kidnapping. Both series, which ran in papers across North America, described kidnapping as an existential threat to American life, a singular, growing crime wave in which no one was safe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carol M. Bundy</span> American serial killer (1942–2003)

Carol Mary Bundy was an American serial killer. Bundy and Doug Clark became collectively known as the Sunset Strip Killers after being convicted of a series of lust murders in Los Angeles during the late spring and early summer of 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Suff</span> American serial killer on death row

William Lester Suff, also known as The Riverside Prostitute Killer and The Lake Elsinore Killer, is an American serial killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thor Nis Christiansen</span> American serial killer

Thor Nis Christiansen was a Danish-American serial killer and necrophile from Solvang, California. He committed his first three murders in late 1976 and early 1977, killing young women of similar appearance from nearby Isla Vista. His crimes motivated large demonstrations opposed to violence against women, and in favor of better transportation for the young people residing in Isla Vista. In 1979, he killed a young woman from Los Angeles. A fifth intended victim escaped with a bullet in her head, and later identified him in a Los Angeles bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Leroy Evans</span> American serial killer

Donald Leroy Evans was an American serial killer who murdered at least three people from 1985 to 1991. He was known for confessing to killing victims at parks and rest areas across more than twenty U.S. states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Floyd Thomas Jr.</span> Convicted American serial killer

John Floyd Thomas Jr. is an American serial killer, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murders of seven women in the Los Angeles area during the 1970s and 1980s. Police suspect Thomas committed 10 to 15 more murders.

Tyrone Delano Gilliam Jr. was an American convicted murderer executed by the state of Maryland in 1998. Gilliam was convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of 21-year-old Christine J. Doerfler on December 2, 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Hill</span> American serial killer

Ivan Jerome Hill, also known by his nickname The 60 Freeway Killer, is an American serial killer who raped and murdered at least eight women in Los Angeles between 1986 and 1994. Hill dumped his victims' corpses along the East-West Highway, known as "California State Route 60", contributing to his nickname. Hill was captured based on DNA profiling nearly a decade after his last murder and was sentenced to death in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Frederick Carr</span> American serial killer (1943–2007)

Robert Frederick Carr III was an American serial killer and pedophile who killed three children and one woman in the states of Florida and Connecticut between 1972 and 1976. Carr, a former television repairman, additionally admitted to molesting more than a dozen children until his apprehension. Following his arrest, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, which he served until his death in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Mark Edwards</span> American convicted murderer

Robert Mark Edwards is an American murderer who killed two female realtors in sexually-motivated murders, one in California in 1986 and another in Hawaii in 1993. In separate trials, he was sentenced to death and to life imprisonment in the respective states and is currently awaiting execution at the San Quentin State Prison.

Thomas Eugene Creech is an American serial killer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ruthell Henry</span> Executed American serial killer

John Ruthell Henry was an American serial killer who was convicted for the 1985 murder of his second wife and stepson in Florida, a few years after being paroled for the 1975 murder of his first wife. After he was sentenced to death in three separate trials, Henry was executed for the latter murders at the Florida State Prison in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ewell</span> American serial killer

John Wesley Ewell is an American serial killer and former activist who murdered four people in Hawthorne, California, in late 2010. Ewell rose to prominence in the 1990s and 2000s when he advocated against California's "3-strikes" law. In 2006, he appeared on an episode of The Montel Williams Show to express his opinion. Following a guilty plea in 2019, he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole.

Raymond Eugene Johnson is an American serial killer who killed his wife and her infant daughter in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2007, shortly after being paroled from a previous manslaughter conviction in 1995. For the latter crimes, Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death, and is currently awaiting execution.

Robert Charles Ladd was an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a woman in Tyler, Texas, in 1996, after being paroled for a 1978 triple murder in Dallas. He was executed for the latter crime in 2015, a controversial decision due to his alleged mental disability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Haley</span> American murderer and suspected serial killer

Kevin Bernard Haley is an American murderer, rapist, burglar and suspected serial killer who, together with his older brother Reginald, committed a series of violent crimes in the Los Angeles area from 1982 to 1984, resulting in at least two murders. Suspected in a total of eight murders, Kevin Haley was convicted of two counts of murder in separate trials, receiving death sentences on each count.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Blake (serial killer)</span> American serial killer

Eugene Blake is an American serial killer who murdered two people in Ohio and West Virginia from 1982 to 1984, shortly after being paroled from a life term for the 1967 murder of a young woman.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Claudia Núñez (January 4, 2011). "Portrait of 'The Monster' on Death Row". The New Citizens Press. Archived from the original on August 9, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Parolee pleads innocent to triple-murder charges". The San Bernardino Sun . June 1, 1984 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 Bill Schlotter (May 29, 1984). "Wanted in 3 slayings, man turns himself in". The Tribune – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 Robert W. Stewart (April 18, 1985). "Parolee Found Guilty of Murdering 3 Teens". Los Angeles Times – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 "No break for teen slay suspect". Napa Valley Register . September 29, 1984 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Paul Feldman (July 26, 1985). "Killer's Jury Deadlocks on Death Penalty". Los Angeles Times– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Tim O'Leary (August 21, 1985). "Silva to face sentencing re-trial". Lompoc Record – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Terry Pristin (May 29, 1986). "Jury Votes Death for Killer of Three Teen-Agers". Los Angeles Times– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Californian sentenced to die for 3 killings". The Kansas City Star . August 13, 1986 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Ana Beatriz Cholo (May 1, 2001). "Death Penalty Nullified for Killer". Los Angeles Times– via Newspapers.com.
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.