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Trent Benson Arizona Death Row

Trent Benson was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the sexual assaults and murders of two women. According to court documents Trent Benson would sexually assault and murder the first woman in November 2004 and would do the same to the next victim in August 2007. Authorities believe that Trent Benson is responsible for many more sexual assaults and possible murders. Trent Benson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Trent Benson 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
TRENT C. BENSON 266710
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Trent Benson More News

Arizona authorities today identified the serial predator suspect arrested Wednesday after DNA linked him to a series of violent sexual crimes against women, including a pair of unsolved murders.

Trent Christopher Benson, 38, is being held at the Maricopa County Jail. He faces nine criminal charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, two counts or violent sexual assault, three counts of kidnapping and one count of sexual assault, according to a release by the Mesa County Police Department.

Benson will be held without bond and could face additional charges, according to police.

The murder suspect was arrested Wednesday afternoon just two days after authorities announced that DNA had connected two unsolved rape and murders and two recent kidnapping and sexual assaults to a single suspect.

Benson was watched by surveillance for a day before authorities made the arrest.

Police obtained Benson’s DNA from an undisclosed source Tuesday, Mesa Police Department spokesman Steve Berry said at a Wednesday news conference. Investigators expedited the forensics analysis and confirmed that the suspect had the same DNA profile that tied together at least four brutal crimes that raised the specter of a possible serial killer on the loose in an area too familiar with serial crimes.

“We want to let the community know they can relax to a certain extent,” Mesa Police Chief George Gascon said at the news conference. “We feel very comfortable that we can tell the community that the person that is responsible for these cases is in our custody.”

Gascon declined to identify the suspect by name Wednesday, and the department refused to release a booking photograph because authorities want to allow victims to pick the suspect out of a police lineup. A reporter for the East Valley Tribune who watched Benson’s first appearance in court today described the suspect as wearing blue jeans, black loafers and a T-shirt as a Maricopa County judge read the charges against him.

Authorities Wednesday described the suspect, who is “talking with” detectives, as a Mesa resident with a criminal history involving the solicitation of prostitutes. The two murdered women whose bodies were linked to Benson through his DNA both were involved in the sex trade industry.

Before authorities identified the suspect, residents in one neighborhood, as well as customers at a local business, watched as Mesa police executed search warrants tied to the arrest.

Some of them, such as Anne Hickman, knew the male resident who lived in the apartment searched by authorities. “I wouldn’t expect a man like him to act out,” Hickman told ABC News’ Phoenix affiliate.

Mesa police announced May 5 that DNA recovered from an Aug. 16, 2007, sex attack in broad daylight on a Hispanic victim matched forensic evidence collected at the murder scenes of Alisa Marie Beck and Karen Jane Campbell, who were killed in November 2004 and October 2007, respectively.

That connection followed a December 2007 confirmation by police that the same suspect’s DNA had been found at each of the Beck and Campbell crime scenes. Prior to the DNA link, authorities had reason to believe the murders were connected and a serial predator might be at work.

Beck, 25, was found partially clothed in an alleyway Nov 1, 2004. She had been strangled. Campbell, 44, was found naked on a roadway Oct. 24, 2007. Authorities have not revealed exactly how Campbell was murdered — instead simply saying her death was the result of a violent homicide. Both women were transients with histories of drug abuse and prostitution.

A clearer profile of the suspect began to emerge after the August kidnapping and rape, in which the Benson allegedly pulled alongside a 47-year-old Hispanic woman near a busy intersection and jumped out of a white, four-door sedan, according to the Mesa police. The woman struggled with the suspect, but was ultimately pulled into the car and brought to an unknown place where she was sexually assaulted.

The woman, left naked after the assault, was able to flee on foot. She hailed a cab as she dressed herself and was driven to her home, where she called police. DNA was recovered in the sexual assault examination that linked her attacker to the previous homicides.

Before identifying Benson, police recently released some details about the suspect provided by the victim. He was between 25 and 35 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and had short dark hair.

A fourth crime, this one in nearby Phoenix, has also been linked to Benson through DNA. On Nov. 4, a 35-year-old Phoenix woman was abducted, taken to an unknown location, raped and beaten. The woman was ultimately found by a passerby.

Benson’s arrest is not the first involving a serial predator terrorizing the Maricopa County area in the past few years.

In September 2007, a jury convicted Mark Goudeau, 43, on 19 charges tied to an attack on two sisters in a Phoenix park. He was sentenced to 438 years in prison for those charges but still faces nine additional murder counts for a string of shootings that began in 2005 that earned him the nickname the “Baseline Killer.” Prosecutors in Arizona expect to seek the death penalty against Goudeau on the murder charges.

Dale Hausner, 35, faces eight murder counts after his roommate, Samuel Dieteman, entered a guilty plea and agreed to testify against Hausner in his murder trial to potentially avoid a death sentence of his own. The two are accused of randomly shooting at people and animals in serial shootings from 2005 to 2006 that killed eight and wounded 17 more. The pair is also accused of killing several animals.

When authorities arrested the roommates, they found newspaper clippings about the police investigation as well as a map that detailed the locations of some attacks.

Mesa police said Wednesday that they believe Benson may have been involved in other attacks and may not have always acted alone.

A third, unsolved recent murder with similarities to the Beck and Campbell cases has not been connected to the suspect by DNA. Elisa Lea Dewakuku was found dead in an irrigation canal Nov. 1. Dewakuku had been strangled and had drugs in her system, according to police

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4863147&page=1

Patrick Bearup Arizona Death Row

Patrick Bearup was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of a man. According to court documents Jessica Nelson suspected her boyfriend Mark Mathes from stealing from her and asked Patrick Bearup, Sean Gaines, and Jeremy Johnson. Mark Mathew would be beaten before he was shot and thrown off a cliff. Patrick Bearup would be arrested and sentenced to death.

Patrick Bearup 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
PATRICK W. BEARUP 136226
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Patrick Bearup More News

In February 2002, Jessica Nelson discovered money missing from her room. She suspected that Mark Mathes, another resident of the home, had taken it. She called Sean Gaines and told him of her suspicion; Gaines instructed her to call back when Mark returned home.

¶ 3 Following the conversation, Nelson told Bruce and Marie Mathes, the owners of the home, that Gaines and “the boys”-Jeremy Johnson and Patrick Bearup-were going to confront Mark about the missing money. Bruce and Marie expected Mark to receive a “butt whooping” when Gaines, Johnson, and Bearup arrived. Bruce asked Nelson to retrieve a ring he had previously given Mark as a present. When Mark returned home that evening, Nelson called Gaines and told him that Mark was back. She then alerted Bruce and Marie that “the boys” were coming, so Bruce left the residence with his daughters.

¶ 4 After receiving Nelson’s call, Gaines and Johnson armed themselves and left for Nelson’s house. According to Johnson, they brought weapons because they “knew there was going to be a confrontation” and they were going “[t]o take care of business.”

¶ 5 On the way, Gaines and Johnson stopped at a convenience store to meet Bearup. As the men got back in their cars, Bearup proclaimed, “Let’s go play, boys.” Johnson understood this statement to mean they were going to “[c]ause trouble.”

¶ 6 The three men got out of their vehicles and approached the Mathes home. Gaines carried a loaded shotgun, Johnson had an aluminum baseball bat, and Bearup had a folding knife with a nine-or ten-inch blade. They advanced across the backyard toward Mark, who was sitting on the rear patio with Nelson.

¶ 7 Bearup, Johnson, and Gaines surrounded Mark. Johnson attacked Mark with the baseball bat, striking him in the head and upper torso as many as twenty-five times. Bearup maintained his location throughout the assault, preventing Mark from leaving.

¶ 8 The witnesses disagreed about whether Mark was alive following the beating. Nelson was certain that Mark was killed on the patio, while Johnson claimed that Mark was still conscious and groaning. After the attack, Johnson and Bearup dragged Mark to one of the cars and stuffed him in the trunk. Bearup kicked Mark’s head to make him fit into the trunk.

¶ 9 The four perpetrators got into two vehicles-Bearup and Nelson in Bearup’s car and Johnson and Gaines in the vehicle containing Mark’s body-and drove to an isolated area near Crown King. Johnson testified that he heard Mark mumbling and moaning in the trunk during the drive.

¶ 10 When the cars stopped on Crown King Road, Bearup pulled Mark from the trunk. Gaines and Nelson stripped him to make the body more difficult to identify. Nelson was unsuccessfully attempting to remove Mark’s ring when Bearup approached and cut off the finger with a pair of wire clippers. Mark was then thrown over the guardrail and, as he lay in the ravine below, Gaines shot him twice.

¶ 11 The assailants then returned to their vehicles and departed for Phoenix. Bearup stopped at a gas station and then drove Nelson home. Once there, Nelson returned the ring to Marie, and Bearup told Marie that she did not have to file a missing person’s report because Mark would never be found.

¶ 12 In February 2002, Bearup told his ex-wife, Sheena Ramsey, that he had gone with friends to beat up a man who had stolen a ring, but the person was killed and he helped dispose of the body. Bearup also told an ex-girlfriend about the killing. She overheard Bearup laughing as he talked about cutting off the victim’s finger, and he seemed amused when he told her about the act.

¶ 13 Bearup was indicted on one count of first degree murder and one count of kidnapping. The State alleged two aggravating factors: a previous conviction for a serious offense, Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 13-703(F)(2) (2001), and the commission of the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner, id. § 13-703(F)(6).

¶ 14 At trial, Bearup presented alibi and mistaken identity defenses. The jury convicted him of first degree murder and kidnapping and found both the (F)(2) and (F)(6) aggravating factors. The jury determined that the mitigation was not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency and returned a verdict of death for the murder. This automatic appeal followed. See Ariz. R.Crim. P. 31.2(b). We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 13-4031 (2001).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1425234.html

Frank Atwood Arizona Death Row

Frank Atwood was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of a child. According to court documents eight year old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson was abducted as she was biking to the mail box. The child would disappear with her bike laying on the side of the road. Seven months later the body of Vicki Lynne Hoskinson would be found in a desert. A witness had reported seeing the girl with a suspicious male and gave the license plate number to police who would trace it to Frank Atwood who was out on parole out of California for kidnapping and sexual molestation charges. Frank Atwood would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Frank Atwood 2021 Information

ASPC Eyman, Browning Unit
PO Box 3400
FRANK J. ATWOOD 062887
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Frank Atwood More News

federal appeals court has once again rebuffed a bid by a previously convicted pedophile to overturn his conviction for the 1984 death of a 7-year-old Tucson girl.

In an extensive ruling, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the claims by Frank Jarvis Atwood that his trial counsel was ineffective hold no water. Judge Sandra Ikuta, writing for the appellate court, said there were legitimate reasons for decisions made by attorney Stanton Bloom in how to conduct the defense.

And the judges said, in essence, Atwood’s theory that police and prosecutors planted evidence was so far-fetched as to have no credibility.

Wednesday’s ruling could finally bring Atwood, who has been on death row for 30 years, close to the end of exhausting all of his appeals.

Atwood, released on parole in California in 1984 after serving his second prison term for sex acts with children, traveled with a companion to Tucson where, on the morning of Sept. 17, he was seen at De Anza Park. Later that day, Vicki Lynne Hoskinson disappeared while riding her pink bicycle.

Authorities eventually tracked Atwood to Texas, where he was arrested on charges of kidnapping, with murder charges added after Vicki’s skull and some bones were found in the desert northwest of Tucson the following year.

At trial, witnesses for the state testified that pink paint on the front bumper of Atwood’s car had come “from the victim’s bike or from another source exactly like the bike” and that Vicki’s bicycle had nickel particles on it that were consistent with metal from the bumper.

Atwood’s convictions on murder and kidnapping charges were affirmed by the Arizona Supreme Court and in repeated federal court hearings, with the U.S. Supreme Court denying review. But he has pursued a series of claims, including those that resulted in Wednesday’s appellate court ruling.

One of those issues was his claim that a state judge improperly dismissed his contention that FBI agents and Pima County prosecutors planted the pink paint from Vicki’s bicycle on the bumper of his car.

Ikuta, in the 56-page ruling, said Atwood’s theory is that Pima investigators, in collusion with the FBI, removed both bumpers from his car in Texas, where they found it, and transported them as luggage on a commercial airline to Tucson.

There, Atwood claims, investigators scraped pink paint off the bicycle and planted it on the front bumper. And then, he said, investigators collected scrapings from the pink paint they had applied to the bumpers, combined those with scrapings from an unrelated pink paint smear on the bumper, and substituted the combined sample in the evidence log.

And after that, according to Atwood, the Pima County investigators used water-soluable paint to cover up the scrape marks created while collecting the sample, transported the bumpers from Tucson back to the FBI impound garage in Texas, and reattached them to Atwood’s car. It was at that point, he said, agents took photos of the pink paint on the bumpers and substituted those photos for original ones taken earlier.

Ikuta said the “general implausibility of Atwood’s theory” supports the conclusion of the state court that an evidentiary hearing was not necessary.

“There was no reason for the Pima County investigators, as part of a clandestine operation to take both bumpers to Tucson (when they needed only one for the alleged fabrication), to check these bulk items as baggage on a commercial airline, or to take photos of the bumpers during the fabrication process,” the judge wrote.

She also pointed out that the police were in the middle of the investigation, as they did not know at that time whether Vicki was alive or dead.

“Atwood’s claim that at this point state and federal officers would have concocted an elaborate plot to fabricate evidence is simply not credible,” Ikuta wrote.

The appellate court also rebuffed Atwood’s contention that Bloom should have presented evidence from mental health experts regarding the defendant’s drug abuse and the traumatic effects of his own childhood molestation.

But Ikuta noted that Bloom had seen records from multiple social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists from one of his prior incarcerations and that none indicated Atwood had any significant mental impairment or disease. Bloom also could have reasonably concluded that if he adopted a mental health defense, that would open the door to prosecutors seeking testimony that Atwood has pedophilic and antisocial personality disorders, testimony that could be “highly damaging” to the case, the judge wrote.

https://tucson.com/news/local/killer-loses-another-appeal-in-1984-tucson-murder-of-vicki-lynne-hoskinson-7/article_6f242b50-30a6-576c-b896-edc44f52bd88.html

Frank Atwood Execution

An Arizona inmate convicted of killing an 8-year-old girl nearly 38 years ago was executed by lethal injection Wednesday morning, the state’s attorney general announced in a news release.Frank Atwood’s execution took place at the Arizona State Prison Complex just after 10:15 a.m. local time, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.Atwood was sentenced to death nearly 35 years ago and had exhausted all his appeal options, the attorney general said.

“To an innocent child whose life was brutally taken and a family that has had to endure decades of suffering, Arizonans will never forget,” Brnovich said in a statement

Atwood was convicted in the September 17, 1984 death of Vicki Lynne Hoskinson. Vicki was riding her bike home when Atwood kidnapped and killed her and left her body in a desert, the attorney general said. A hiker found the child’s remains roughly seven months later, according to the news release.

Prior to Vicki’s killing, Atwood had already been convicted of “lewd and lascivious acts and kidnapping” involving two young children in California, the attorney general said.Federal courts denied Atwood’s motions to halt the execution, in which he claimed the procedure would violate his constitutional rights and would cause a substantial risk of pain because of a degenerative spinal disease he suffered from. In response to that concern, state officials agreed to make accommodations in their execution protocol by providing a device that would help “avoid any unnecessary pain due to his condition,” according to court documents.A district court dismissed those claims and on Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.

The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday also denied Atwood’s ask to halt his execution.Atwood was the second person executed in Arizona since the botched lethal injection execution of Joseph Wood in 2014 that sparked a stateside hold in executions for more than seven years. Wood, who was also executed by lethal injection, gasped for air and struggled to breathe for most of the nearly two hours it took him to die, his attorney had said at the time.

The governor directed the corrections department to review the process and an independent report released in 2014 found the state’s corrections department followed protocol in Wood’s execution.Approximately 111 inmates remain on death row in the state, according to the news release

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/08/us/frank-atwood-executed-vicki-lynne-hoskinson-killing/index.html

Shad Armstrong Arizona Death Row

Shad Armstrong was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for two murders. According to court documents Shad Armstrong and two accomplices planned the murders out in the weeks before. On the day of the murder they put down sheets to catch the blood and waited for the two victims Shad Armstrong sister and fiance. When the two victims arrived they were both shot by a shotgun wielded by Armstrong. The victims possessions were take and the murderous trio would travel to the victims apartment where they stole more valuables. Shad Armstrong would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Shad Armstrong 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
SHAD D. ARMSTRONG 155617
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Shad Armstrong More News

Shad Armstrong in February 1998 dug a huge grave, turned garbage bags and sheets into dropcloths and then used a shotgun to kill his sister and her fiancé.

What defense attorneys and prosecutors don’t agree on is why.

If jurors agree with prosecutors, Armstrong could wind up on death row again.

If not, Armstrong, 34, will be sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

Armstrong has already been convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Farrah Armstrong, 22, and Frank Williams, 25.

A jury convicted him in December 2000 and a judge sentenced him to death. However, the U.S. Supreme Court later decided that jurors, not judges, should decide the sentences in capital-murder cases.

So on Tuesday, a new group of jurors gathered at Pima County Superior Court to decide if Armstrong is eligible for the death penalty and if he should get it.

When Armstrong moved to Tucson with his girlfriend and sister in 1998, he was wanted for violating parole in Oklahoma and for burglary, prosecutor Susan Eazer told jurors.

If he was caught, Armstrong knew he would go to prison for life, Eazer said.

Farrah Armstrong was also in trouble with the law, but shortly after she moved to Tucson she fell in love with Williams and decided to turn her life around, Eazer said.

She and Williams decided that before they got married, Farrah Armstrong needed to turn herself and her brother in to Oklahoma authorities, Eazer said.

Unfortunately, Farrah Armstrong told her brother’s girlfriend, Rusty Medina, her plans, Eazer said.

Armstrong decided he needed to kill his sister and use her money to go on the run again, Eazer said, and decided to kill Williams to cover his tracks.

In the weeks before the murders, Eazer said, the unemployed Armstrong stole his sister’s bank card and began making withdrawals. At the same time, he plotted the murders with Medina and his roommate in Three Points, David Doogan.

On Feb. 19, 1998, Eazer said, Armstrong lured Williams and his sister to Doogan’s trailer.

Once inside, he shot them both in the head and the chest, tore his sister’s rings from her fingers and rifled through Williams’ pockets for his cash, Eazer said.

He and Doogan then tied the bodies up in the sheets and garbage bags, hooked them up to a pickup truck and dragged them to their predug grave.

Eazer said Medina and Doogan both testified Armstrong tried to use his sister’s bank card after the murders and was upset to find out she had changed her personal identification number.

Medina and Armstrong spent time in Mexico and California before being arrested in Texas.

In order for Armstrong to be eligible for the death penalty, Eazer said, the jury has to find that he killed his sister for money and that Williams and Farrah Armstrong’s deaths happened at the same time, in the same place and for the same reason.

Defense attorney Dan Cooper told the jury that despite his client’s “horrible, senseless, unspeakably sad and unbelievable” actions, they have to remain dispassionate. He urged them to decide if Armstrong is eligible for the death penalty on the facts of the case.

At no time did Doogan or Medina ever say Armstrong killed his sister for her money and property, Cooper said. They have always said he killed her to stop her from turning him in.

It was Doogan who hoped to gain financially from the murders, Cooper said. It was he who ended up with Farrah Armstrong’s belongings.

Cooper also said that while Farrah Armstrong and Williams died seconds apart in the same location, Williams died for a different reason.

“Frank was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and Shad didn’t like him, period,” Cooper said.

If the jury doesn’t think Armstrong should be eligible for the death penalty, Pima County Superior Court Judge Christopher Browning will be required to sentence Armstrong to life without the possibility of parole or life with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Doogan is serving 22 years for his part in the crime, and Medina, the mother of two of Armstrong’s children, received 11.5 years.

https://tucson.com/news/local/crime/jury-weighs-death-penalty-in-dual-killing/article_a8c926d6-322d-5964-a6aa-c729ed64a2b8.html

Michael Apelt Arizona Death Row

Michael Apelt was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of his wife. According to court documents Michael Apelt would marry a woman and a month later would murder her in order to collect the insurance money. Michael Apelt would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Michael Apelt 2021 Information

ASPC Florence, Central Unit
PO Box 8200
MICHAEL APELT 080735
Florence, AZ 85132
United States

Michael Apelt More News

The U.S. Supreme Court has rebuffed the efforts of a man who married and then killed a Pinal County woman for her life insurance to escape the death penalty.

In a brief order, the justices rejected arguments by attorneys for Michael Apelt that his counsel at his trial had been deficient and that required a new sentencing.

The high court did not disturb the conclusion of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the attorney may have botched the job of representing Apelt at sentencing and finding evidence to urge a trial judge to spare his life. But they also left intact the appellate ruling that said even if the attorney had done a better job it would not have made any difference — and Apelt still would have been sentenced to death.

“Nothing in the record indicates that any explanation for why Apelt became a monster would have changed the sentence,” they wrote.

It was that ruling that the Supreme Court left intact on Monday without comment.

Court records show Apelt and his older brother Rudi came to the United States from Germany in 1988.

Over the next few months the brothers met and “conned” a series of women, telling tales of wealth and intrigue. The goal was both to get money and, ultimately, to find a woman to marry Michael Apelt.

That culminated with the October marriage to 30-year-old Cindy Monkman.

Less than a month later they began shopping for $1 million in life insurance policies, ultimately resulting in the purchase of $400,000 worth of coverage after they could not get more.

Then, in December, the brothers hatched a plan to kill Monkman.

Her body was found in the desert near Apache Junction two days after the insurance policies were obtained. She had been stabbed multiple times and nearly beheaded.

The brothers flew to Los Angeles, paying a homeless man to recite a message onto Monkman’s answering machine suggesting he had killed her and was coming after Rudi and Michael next.

Both eventually were found guilty and sentenced to death, though Rudi was declared mentally disabled, making him ineligible for the death penalty.

In reviewing the sentence, a federal judge found various flaws in the defense mounted by Michael Apelt’s original attorney, including failing to find ways of investigating his mental health and background.

That conclusion was affirmed by the 9th Circuit where the appellate judges said that the trial judge was presented a very different picture of Michael Apelt’s background than what might have been seen had the lawyer produced other evidence. But that, the appellate judges concluded, was not enough, saying there was no showing that he would have escaped the death penalty even if other evidence had been presented.

One big issue, the appellate judges said, was that the murder was “premeditated and calculated.”

“The record shows that from the time Apelt entered the United States around Labor Day 1988, he lied to and manipulated others, and borrowed and stole money from women,” the judge said.

They noted he had proposed to three different women in less than a month and got Monkman to secretly marry him in Las Vegas by leading her to believe he was wealthy. And there was the decision to seek life insurance on her a little over a week after the marriage.

“As borne out by subsequent events, Apelt’s unwavering intent was to murder the woman he had convinced to marry him in order to collect on the insurance policy,” the court concluded.

https://tucson.com/news/local/supreme-court-upholds-death-sentence-in-pinal-county-murder-case/article_be2fe26d-64a5-5874-b7f9-f4431abfdcf6.html