DNA evidence linked an Oregon prisoner to at least two of the six serial killings of young women that terrified the San Francisco Bay Area and a city in Nevada four decades ago, investigators say. He is suspected of the other slayings.
The San Mateo district attorney’s office charged Rodney Halbower, 66, on Thursday with two counts of murder during the course of rape for the deaths of Paula Baxter, 17, and Veronica Anne Cascio, 18.
Their deaths were among six police say are connected and occurred between January and April 1976 in California and Nevada. Five of the bodies were found in the suburbs immediately south of San Francisco, including one near Gypsy Hill Road, giving the killings their nickname. A sixth body was found in Reno.
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He told reporters he attended the hearing to show solidarity with other victims’ families, even though Halbower hasn’t been charged in his sister’s death.
“I feel happy for the families, and I feel some closure,” he said. “Some closure is better than no closure.”
