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David Carpenter
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David Carpenter
David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), also called the Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender who raped and murdered various victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1979 and 1981. He was sentenced to death for seven murders and is believed to be responsible for several more.
Carpenter began committing sexual assaults at age 15 and was admitted to a mental hospital at age 17. He committed all of his murders while on parole for rape and kidnapping convictions. Active primarily in Marin County and Santa Cruz County, Carpenter would hide along tree lines on secluded trails and wait for his target to approach and then would restrain, rape, and sometimes torture them before killing them. A .38 caliber handgun was his preferred weapon, which was used in all but one of the killings. According to pathologists, Carpenter would get so much enjoyment from tormenting his victims that he would lose his stutter.
Both of Carpenter's trials had to be moved to Southern California due to extensive publicity. In 1984, he was tried and convicted in Los Angeles County of two murders and one attempted murder, for which he was sentenced to death. Four years later, he was tried and convicted in San Diego County of five additional murders and given another death sentence. He is currently incarcerated at California Health Care Facility in Stockton, California. Carpenter is currently the oldest death row inmate in the United States.
David Joseph Carpenter was born in San Francisco on May 6, 1930. In his youth, Carpenter suffered physical abuse by his alcoholic father Elwood and domineering mother Frances, mostly concerning his persistent bed-wetting and cruelty to animals. Frances barred young Carpenter from playing outside with neighborhood kids and forced him to learn to play the violin and take ballet lessons. Carpenter attended Glen Park Elementary School, where he was bullied for having a stutter. His teachers recommended him to enroll in speech therapy but Frances resisted all efforts. After he was accused of biting a childhood friend, Carpenter was absent from school for several days and returned with bruises on his arms and legs. Around the time he reached adolescence, he sparked a fierce temper that psychologists would claim developed into sexual rage. He attended Balboa High School until he was thrown out in his sophomore year for dragging a female student down the hall after an argument.
Carpenter has acknowledged he molested several children in his adolescence, including two of his cousins, beginning when he was 15 years old. At age 17, he was arrested for the first time on allegations he sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl. He was placed in custody of the California Youth Authority before spending several years at Napa State Hospital. When referring to the escalation of Carpenter's crimes, his mother was quoted saying to a probation officer, "As soon as he was able to walk, he was getting into trouble". That same probation officer described him as "quite a liar". In 1950, Carpenter was arrested for the rape of a 17-year-old girl, and after pleading not guilty he was acquitted at trial.
In the mid-1950s, Carpenter was employed as a purser on SS Fleetwood. In 1955, he married Ellen Cooke, with whom he had three children before their divorce in 1961. Carpenter later remarked to a psychiatrist that his first marriage was unsatisfactory because Cooke "was not interested in anything but local neighborhood gossip". Cooke would say that Carpenter was domineering, strong-willed, and charming, and said she knew nothing of his prior run-ins with law enforcement.
Carpenter later gained employment at a San Francisco post office where he met 32-year-old Lois DeAndrade, the future mother of television personality Lisa Rinna. On July 11, 1960, Carpenter, armed with a knife and hammer, was prowling through San Francisco when he approached his friend DeAndrade. He convinced her to get in his car and drove her to the Presidio where he attacked her; slashed her hands with the knife; when she fell to the ground, he beat her on the head with the hammer. The attack was interrupted by Jewell Hicks, a military officer, who shot and wounded Carpenter. Once in recovery, DeAndrade claimed that, despite Carpenter's apparent stutter, she didn't recall him stuttering at all during the attack. After his arrest, he was booked for assault with a deadly weapon and pleaded guilty, receiving a 14-year federal prison sentence. Carpenter claimed his "trigger" to commit the attack was the 1960 film Psycho. During his imprisonment, he earned a high school diploma. Carpenter was released in 1969 and married his second wife, Helen.
From January to February 1970, Carpenter went on a crime spree in the Bay Area. The first of these cases occurred after he rear-ended a vehicle being driven by a young woman, and after a heated exchange he shoved her to the ground and raped her before stabbing her with a spatula. He was armed with a hunting knife during the second attack, which was against a 19-year-old girl in Boulder Creek. On February 3, he forced his way into the home of 45-year-old Lucille Davis in Modesto, where he bound her wrists and demanded her car keys, and he subsequently stole her vehicle and drove to Angels Camp. There, he confronted a 21-year-old mother and forced her to drive him to Oakdale while her 16-month-old son sat in the back of the vehicle. When they arrived, Carpenter forced both out and drove off. After he was detained on February 4, investigator James Marston obtained permission from Carpenter's wife to search their vehicle, which was found to have contained the knife used in the second attack.
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David Carpenter
David Joseph Carpenter (born May 6, 1930), also called the Trailside Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender who raped and murdered various victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1979 and 1981. He was sentenced to death for seven murders and is believed to be responsible for several more.
Carpenter began committing sexual assaults at age 15 and was admitted to a mental hospital at age 17. He committed all of his murders while on parole for rape and kidnapping convictions. Active primarily in Marin County and Santa Cruz County, Carpenter would hide along tree lines on secluded trails and wait for his target to approach and then would restrain, rape, and sometimes torture them before killing them. A .38 caliber handgun was his preferred weapon, which was used in all but one of the killings. According to pathologists, Carpenter would get so much enjoyment from tormenting his victims that he would lose his stutter.
Both of Carpenter's trials had to be moved to Southern California due to extensive publicity. In 1984, he was tried and convicted in Los Angeles County of two murders and one attempted murder, for which he was sentenced to death. Four years later, he was tried and convicted in San Diego County of five additional murders and given another death sentence. He is currently incarcerated at California Health Care Facility in Stockton, California. Carpenter is currently the oldest death row inmate in the United States.
David Joseph Carpenter was born in San Francisco on May 6, 1930. In his youth, Carpenter suffered physical abuse by his alcoholic father Elwood and domineering mother Frances, mostly concerning his persistent bed-wetting and cruelty to animals. Frances barred young Carpenter from playing outside with neighborhood kids and forced him to learn to play the violin and take ballet lessons. Carpenter attended Glen Park Elementary School, where he was bullied for having a stutter. His teachers recommended him to enroll in speech therapy but Frances resisted all efforts. After he was accused of biting a childhood friend, Carpenter was absent from school for several days and returned with bruises on his arms and legs. Around the time he reached adolescence, he sparked a fierce temper that psychologists would claim developed into sexual rage. He attended Balboa High School until he was thrown out in his sophomore year for dragging a female student down the hall after an argument.
Carpenter has acknowledged he molested several children in his adolescence, including two of his cousins, beginning when he was 15 years old. At age 17, he was arrested for the first time on allegations he sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl. He was placed in custody of the California Youth Authority before spending several years at Napa State Hospital. When referring to the escalation of Carpenter's crimes, his mother was quoted saying to a probation officer, "As soon as he was able to walk, he was getting into trouble". That same probation officer described him as "quite a liar". In 1950, Carpenter was arrested for the rape of a 17-year-old girl, and after pleading not guilty he was acquitted at trial.
In the mid-1950s, Carpenter was employed as a purser on SS Fleetwood. In 1955, he married Ellen Cooke, with whom he had three children before their divorce in 1961. Carpenter later remarked to a psychiatrist that his first marriage was unsatisfactory because Cooke "was not interested in anything but local neighborhood gossip". Cooke would say that Carpenter was domineering, strong-willed, and charming, and said she knew nothing of his prior run-ins with law enforcement.
Carpenter later gained employment at a San Francisco post office where he met 32-year-old Lois DeAndrade, the future mother of television personality Lisa Rinna. On July 11, 1960, Carpenter, armed with a knife and hammer, was prowling through San Francisco when he approached his friend DeAndrade. He convinced her to get in his car and drove her to the Presidio where he attacked her; slashed her hands with the knife; when she fell to the ground, he beat her on the head with the hammer. The attack was interrupted by Jewell Hicks, a military officer, who shot and wounded Carpenter. Once in recovery, DeAndrade claimed that, despite Carpenter's apparent stutter, she didn't recall him stuttering at all during the attack. After his arrest, he was booked for assault with a deadly weapon and pleaded guilty, receiving a 14-year federal prison sentence. Carpenter claimed his "trigger" to commit the attack was the 1960 film Psycho. During his imprisonment, he earned a high school diploma. Carpenter was released in 1969 and married his second wife, Helen.
From January to February 1970, Carpenter went on a crime spree in the Bay Area. The first of these cases occurred after he rear-ended a vehicle being driven by a young woman, and after a heated exchange he shoved her to the ground and raped her before stabbing her with a spatula. He was armed with a hunting knife during the second attack, which was against a 19-year-old girl in Boulder Creek. On February 3, he forced his way into the home of 45-year-old Lucille Davis in Modesto, where he bound her wrists and demanded her car keys, and he subsequently stole her vehicle and drove to Angels Camp. There, he confronted a 21-year-old mother and forced her to drive him to Oakdale while her 16-month-old son sat in the back of the vehicle. When they arrived, Carpenter forced both out and drove off. After he was detained on February 4, investigator James Marston obtained permission from Carpenter's wife to search their vehicle, which was found to have contained the knife used in the second attack.
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