Women On Death Row | My Crime Library

Shawna Forde Women On Death Row

Shawna Forde was part of an underground network of people who wanted to stop people from illegally entering the country or at least that is what they told people. According to court documents Shawna Forde and Jason Bush would force their way into a home where they would murder a man and his nine year old daughter and attempted to murder the child’s mother. Of course police would learn that Shawna Forde and Jason Bush were actually looking for drugs and money. The pair would go to court and be convicted of armed robbery, two counts of murder and attempted murder and would be subsequently sentenced to death. Shawna Forde remains on Arizona Death Row

Arizona Death Row Inmate List

Shawna Forde 2021 Information

Last Name	First Name	Middle Initial
FORDE	SHAWNA

Gender	Height (inches)	Weight	Hair Color
FEMALE	62	182	BROWN

Eye Color	Ethnic Origin	Custody Class	Inmate/Detainee
GREEN	CAUCASIAN	4/2	INMATE

Sentence	Admission	Prison Release Date	Max End Date
Sentence Information Below	02/23/2011		01/01/1900

Cur. Absconded	Hist. Absconded	Release Type	Most Recent Loc	Unit
-N-	—	RECEIVED FROM	PERRYVILLE	ASPC-PV LUMLEY UNIT

Community Supervision Parole	Last Movement	Commitment Status	Status
N	11/06/2017	COMPLETE AND VERIFIED	ACTIVE

Shawna Forde Other News

Shawna Forde, a border vigilante, was sentenced to death today for the murders of a 9-year-old Arivaca, Ariz., girl and her father in a home invasion she orchestrated to rob the family.

The jury deliberated only a few hours before coming to the decision, but the one juror who spoke to reporters said the deliberations were difficult.

“We chose death because that’s what seems fair,” juror Angela Thomas told ABC affiliate KGUN-TV in Tucson.

“While Shawna Forde gets to delight in the picture of her brand new grandson, there’s another person in this equation who never will. There’s another person in this equation who’ll never get to wear her first pair of high heels or have her first kiss or go to prom or graduation,” Thomas said. “There’s a little girl in this equation who’s father won’t be able to walk her down the aisle.”

She said the trial, which included graphic, detailed testimony about how Raul “Junior” Flores, 29, and his young daughter were gunned down in their own home while Flores’ wife, pretending to be dead, watched, was extremely painful.

“Hideous, the apropos word is hideous. Every second of every day. Every time I close my eyes I see this picture. It’s a picture of a love seen innocent enough. And little hands with red fingernails and a white tank top and turquoise colored pajama shorts,” Thomas said. “I’ve seen it a thousand times in my house. I have daughters. The difference in this picture I see is that this little girl’s face, half of her face is missing.”

Shawna Forde, 43, founder of Minutemen American Defense, showed no emotion when the verdict was read, but her attorney, Eric Larsen, said he did not expect the jury to come back with a death sentence.

“No I did not,” Larsen told KGUN-TV. “I fully expected that this community valued human life greater then this jury did.”

Shawna Forde was convicted Feb. 14 of two counts of murder for orchestrating the home invasion. Prosecutors said she planned to rob Flores, who she thought was a drug dealer, to fund her border watch group.

There were rumors that Flores had a stash of $4,000 in cash in the house.

Flores and his daughter Bresenia were both killed in the May 2009 attack at their Arivaca home. His wife, Gina Gonzalez, was shot three times, but survived by playing dead.

In addition to the first-degree murder charges, Shawna Forde was found guilty of one count of attempted first-degree murder; one count of burglary in the first-degree; one count of aggravated assault, serious physical injury; one count of aggravated assault, deadly weapon/dangerous instrument; one count of armed robbery; and one count of aggravated armed robbery.

The Pima County Superior Court jury came back with a verdict after it deliberated for seven hours over two days.

Shawna Forde’s lawyer had argued that the woman was not in the house when Flores and his daughter were murdered, so she should not be found guilty.

But prosecutors said Shawna Forde was with the two men who broke into the Flores home, and Gonzalez testified that she was there.

“She didn’t put a gun to Brisenia’s head … but she was the one in charge,” Pima County Deputy County Attorney Rick Unklesbay said in closing arguments. “Because of that you must hold her accountable.”

Gonzalez, who played dead in the kitchen after being shot three times in the leg, identified one of the three suspects as Shawna Forde.

“She’s walking in and she’s got a smile on her face. She looks up … and walks back out,” Gonzalez told the jury.

The woman testified in chilling detail about seeing her husband and daughter killed.

“He’s all out of bullets by then because he used them on me and Junior,” she said of one of the alleged gunmen who had shot and killed Flores before turning the barrel on their crying daughter, Brisenia. “He stands here and he loads the gun right in front of her.”

“And is this something you can see happening?” Pima County Deputy Attorney Kellie Johnson asked.

“I just hear her telling him, ‘Please don’t shoot me, please don’t shoot me,’” Gonzalez said.

Then, Brisenia was shot in the head.

Two other suspects — Jason Bush, a known white-supremacist, and Albert Gaxiola, a convicted drug dealer — are in custody awaiting trials later this spring. Like Forde, both men have pleaded not guilty.

In a 911 call recording played in court, Gonzalez could be heard using her husband’s handgun to fire back at the men after they had left and returned, continuing to ransack the house.

“They’re coming back in, they’re coming back in,” she told dispatcher Tanya Remsburg. Several rounds of gunshots can be heard on the recording. “Get the f*** out of here, get the f*** out of here.”

Gonzalez said that the family had been roused from their sleep by a trio dressed in camouflage, claiming to be law enforcement officers looking for fugitives.

“They told us that somebody had escaped jail or something, they wanted to come in and look at my house,” she said on the call. “And they just shot my husband and they shot my daughter and they shot me. Oh, my God, ma’am, I can’t believe this is happening. … I can’t believe they killed my family.”

Lying in the kitchen, bleeding from gunshot wounds to her leg, she described the suspects as a white male whose face was painted black, a six-foot-tall Mexican man and a “shorter fat woman.”

In the courtroom Jan. 26, Gonzalez pointed to Shawna Forde and said she looked like the female suspect. Previously, however, she had failed to pick Forde out of a police lineup.

But prosecutors said there was evidence beyond that from Gonzalez and other witnesses that linked her to the crime.

They presented text messages sent through Forde’s phone and recorded conversations between Shawna Forde and other suspects. He said Shawna Forde had planned the crime for months with her fellow suspects, in meetings out-of-state.

“Even if she didn’t pull the trigger … make no mistake about it. She’s the one who planned the events. She’s the one who recruited people to do this,” Unklesbay said.

Prosecutors also said police recovered from Shawna Forde several items of Gonzalez’s personal jewelry, including her wedding ring, during a search after her arrest. Shawna Forde remains on Death Row

Frequently Asked Questions

Shawna Forde Photos

Shawna Forde FAQ

Shawna Forde 2021

Shawna Forde is currently incarcerated at the ASPC Perryville, Lumley Unit the home of Arizona Death Row for Women

Why Is Shawna Forde On Death Row

Shawna Ford was convicted of the murders of a father and his young daughter

Valerie Dee Martin Women On Death Row

Valerie Dee Martin is on California Death Row for the murder of an elderly man. According to police reports Valerie Dee Martin, her sixteen year old son and his fourteen year old friend along with an ex convict planned the murder of the elderly man who would be found dead in the trunk of a car suffering from severe burns and trauma. Valerie Dee Martin would be charged and convicted of robbery and murder charges and would be sentenced to death

Valerie Dee Martin 2021 Information

Inmate Name	MARTIN, VALERIE DEE
CDCR Number	WA4277
Age	52
Admission Date	04/07/2010
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Valerie Dee Martin Other News

Jennifer A. Mannix, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven D. Matthews and G. Tracey Letteau, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Defendant Ronald Ray Kupsch III appeals from a judgment of conviction entered after a jury found him guilty of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)) and found true the allegations that the murder was committed by means of lying in wait, during the course of a robbery, and during the course of a kidnapping (id., § 190.2, subd. (a)). Defendant was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime (id., § 182, subd. (a)(1)), with the jury finding one or more of the alleged overt acts to be true. In addition, the jury found him guilty of robbery (id., § 211), kidnapping to commit a crime (id., § 209, subd. (b)(1)), and arson causing great bodily injury (id., § 451, subd. (a)).

The trial court sentenced defendant to life without the possibility of parole for the murder and imposed a concurrent indeterminate term of 25 years to life in prison for the conspiracy. It imposed a concurrent indeterminate term of 15 years to life in prison for the kidnapping and a concurrent term of 9 years for the arson causing great bodily injury, and it stayed a determinate term of three years for the robbery. The court also imposed five $30 fines under Government Code section 70373; a $40 penalty assessment under Government Code section 76000.5, subdivision (a); a DNA penalty assessment of $40 under Government Code section 76104.6, subdivision (a)(1); and a $140 penalty assessment under Government Code section 76704.7.

On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on voluntary intoxication, abused its discretion in sentencing defendant to life without the possibility of parole, failed to stay the sentences for arson and kidnapping to commit robbery, and erred in imposing certain assessments. We agree that the assessments under Government Code sections 76000.5, subdivision (a), 76104.6, subdivision (a)(1), and 76104.7 must be stricken. In all other respects, we affirm.

In February of 2003, William Whiteside (Whiteside) was living in a mobile home with Valerie Dee Martin (Martin), defendant, who is her son, and defendant’s pregnant girlfriend, Jessica Buchanan (Buchanan). Whiteside and Martin worked at Antelope Valley Hospital. Defendant was a White supremacist and associated with other White supremacists, including Donovan Casey (Casey), Bradley Zoda (Zoda), Christopher Kennedy (Kennedy), and Stewart Smith (Smith). Whiteside’s racial background was non-White and defendant did not like him because of his race. Defendant, his mother, girlfriend, and other friends were all methamphetamine users.

On the morning of February 27, 2003, Zoda came over to Whiteside’s mobile home “to get high.” While Zoda, defendant, Buchanan, Valerie Dee Martin, and Kennedy were in a room talking and smoking methamphetamine, Martin said that she owed a $300 debt to “some Mexicans” for methamphetamine and if she did not pay, the “Mexicans” would come over. The group discussed options to repay the debt, including stealing cars. While Buchanan was in another room, Kennedy asked Zoda if he was “down with it,” and they discussed robbing Valerie Dee Martin’s “old man.” It was decided that they would go to the Antelope Valley Hospital parking lot, and Zoda would “jump” Whiteside and take his wallet when he got off work.

Around 9:00 p.m., Valerie Dee Martin drove Kennedy, Zoda, and defendant to the hospital. When they arrived and located Whiteside’s car, it was determined that the vehicle was too close to the street and there would be too many witnesses. Valerie Dee Martin suggested an alternate plan. She would drop the other three at “Suge’s”¹ mobile home, call Whiteside and ask him to pick them up on his way home from work. The three were dropped off at Suge’s mobile home and smoked methamphetamine.

When Kennedy informed defendant and Zoda that Whiteside was near the mobile home, they left to meet him. Defendant carried a wooden stick and Kennedy carried a red aluminum bat. Kennedy entered the right rear passenger seat of Whiteside’s car, Zoda entered the passenger seat behind Whiteside, and defendant entered the right front passenger seat. Kennedy and defendant began striking Whiteside with the stick and bat. Zoda got out of the car, went to the driver’s window and began striking Whiteside with his fists. Whiteside was struck approximately 28 to 29 times and was rendered unconscious. Kennedy took Whiteside’s wallet; defendant and Kennedy then placed Whiteside in the car’s trunk. Kennedy drove them around until they got lost.

While they were driving around, they heard a noise coming from the trunk and realized that Whiteside had opened the trunk. Kennedy stopped the car; defendant got out and closed the trunk. Whiteside was able to open the trunk a second time. Kennedy got out of the car with defendant and he beat Whiteside with the stick. They closed the trunk and drove around in an effort to find a familiar landmark.

Defendant called his mother and asked her to bring gasoline. When Valerie Dee Martin arrived, Kennedy took the gasoline container and began to dump gasoline all over the car. Defendant lit the gasoline on fire. Defendant accidently burned Kennedy.

They returned to Whiteside’s mobile home. Defendant, Kennedy, and Zoda took off their clothes and placed them in a trash bag. Defendant took off his skater shoes with red laces and placed them in the trash bag. After awhile, everyone went to Kennedy’s residence, where they smoked some drugs.

Later the same morning, several deputies, including Kennedy’s uncle, a reserve deputy, came to the residence and arrested Kennedy for a probation violation. Defendant, Valerie Dee Martin, Zoda, and Buchanan left and drove to Rebecca King’s mobile home. Casey, a leader of a skinhead gang, was there.

After defendant told Casey what they had done to Whiteside, defendant and Casey left in Valerie Dee Martin’s car, and defendant obtained money from an ATM using Whiteside’s bank card. Upon their return, defendant gave Martin some money. Casey also accompanied Martin to a check cashing business, so she could wire someone money. Later that evening, defendant went to Smith’s house with Zoda. Defendant, driving Whiteside’s car, drove Smith to Whiteside’s mobile home. While at the mobile home, Smith said that they needed to leave because Whiteside was coming home. Defendant told Smith, “Bill’s not coming in. We killed him.” He also showed Smith his two “M” tattoos on the back of his neck.²

Defendant stayed in a motel for a few days. During that time, he told the details of the murder to Smith. At some point, defendant, Zoda and Smith went to a dumpster and burned the plastic bag containing the bloody clothes. Prior to burning the clothes, defendant had Zoda take his black skater shoes out of the bag. The shoes did not have any laces. When Zoda was arrested, he was wearing the shoes. When defendant was arrested, he was wearing the red shoe laces on a pair of white tennis shoes.³ Red was a sign of White supremacy.

On February 28, 2003, a burned-out vehicle was discovered. There was a lighter and a bat near the vehicle. Inside the trunk, Whiteside’s remains were discovered. Much of the body had burned away. A partially melted aluminum bat was recovered from the floorboard. An autopsy was conducted and the immediate cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation and burns to the body. There were also fractures to Whiteside’s skull which would have been fatal in less than an hour.

When Whiteside failed to report to work, his former spouse, Tunda Curry (Curry), called Bank of America and inquired about any ATM transaction on their joint account. On March 3 or 4, Curry contacted Valerie Dee Martin and told her someone had used Whiteside’s ATM card, and photos of the transaction had been requested of the bank.⁴

After Valerie Dee Martin’s conversation with Curry, she called defendant in an effort to distance herself from any involvement in the murder. The conversation was recorded, and Martin acted like she had no idea what had happened to Whiteside. Defendant was upset because he knew that the police would have pictures from the ATM showing him making a withdrawal.

On March 10, 2003, defendant’s girlfriend, Buchanan, was interviewed by Detective Kennedy. She indicated that on February 27, 2003, she was in Whiteside’s trailer and heard defendant talking on the phone. Defendant stated that he needed to get $300 for his mother and “was going to go whack Bill to get the money.”

Buchanan said that she went to sleep and when she woke up, defendant, Kennedy, Zoda, and Valerie Dee Martin were inside the mobile home. They left and went to Kennedy’s home. They parked in the garage and a white pillowcase was taken out of the car. At one point, inside Kennedy’s house, she saw blood on defendant’s hands. She also saw blood on Kennedy’s arms.

Buchanan stated that three days later, defendant and Zoda went back for the white pillowcase and “torched” it. Thereafter, defendant got a swastika and two M’s tattooed on the back of his neck. The tattoo meant that defendant had killed someone of a different race.

Three to four days after the incident, defendant told Buchanan that he killed Whiteside by putting Whiteside in the back of Whiteside’s car and “beat[ing] the hell out of him.” Defendant gave her the details of the incident, including the beating, arson, and getting money from the ATM using Whiteside’s bank card. He said that he killed Whiteside because he never liked him, Whiteside yelled at his mother, Whiteside was of the “opposite race” and defendant was a skinhead. Buchanan also recounted details of the phone conversation defendant had with his mother.

Frequently Asked Questions

Valerie Dee Martin FAQ

Valerie Dee Martin 2021

Valerie Dee Martin is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Valerie Dee Martin On Death Row

Valerie Dee Martin was convicted of the torture and murder of an elderly man

Mary Samuels Women On Death Row

This is a weird case. Mary Samuels is currently on California death row for the murder of her husband and the man she hired to kill him. According to court documents Samuels wanted to collect on her husband’s life insurance policy so she hired someone to kill him. Then Samuels was worried the hitman would connect her to the crime so she hired someone else to kill him. Then Samuels collected on the life insurance and managed to go through the majority of it before she was arrested for murder. Mary Samuels would be convicted and sentenced to death

Mary Samuels 2021 Information

Inmate Name	SAMUELS, MARY ELLEN
CDCR Number	W54370
Age	72
Admission Date	09/22/1994
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Mary Samuels Other News

Defendant was married to Robert Samuels. On October 31, 1986,

Mary Samuels filed for divorce. Even after the divorce proceedings were initiated,

Mary Samuels and Robert Samuels were cordial, and defendant continued to work in

the Subway restaurant she and Robert Samuels owned. However, by November

1988, just before his murder, Robert Samuels was depressed and had a less than

friendly relationship with defendant.

On October 31, 1988—approximately two months before he was killed—

Robert Samuels went to his divorce attorney, Elizabeth Kaufman, and signed a

document seeking changes to his divorce agreement. Robert Samuels wanted to

run the Subway restaurant because he was unemployed and felt he would be better

at running the business. He also wanted to reduce spousal support payments

below the $1,200 per month level because he was no longer able to pay that

amount. The modification was never filed because Kaufman was waiting for

Robert Samuels to complete a portion of the paperwork.

1. The Solicitation and Murder of Robert Samuels

Beginning in 1987, Mary Samuels solicited people to murder Robert Samuels

on numerous occasions.

Anne Hambly, defendant’s friend, testified defendant told her that after

several attempts to find someone to kill Robert Samuels had failed, defendant was

able to get James Bernstein to agree to commit the murder. Bernstein was dating

Mary Samuels’s daughter, Nicole Samuels. Bernstein was apparently angered when

defendant told him that Robert Samuels had abused Nicole. A month before

Robert Samuels was murdered, Bernstein said he wanted Samuels “taken care of

permanently” because he was a child molester and batterer. He asked his

employer, Charles Mandel, if he knew anyone who could “take care of it.”

Mandel provided Bernstein with the phone number of Mike Silva. Also, during

November and December 1988, Bernstein asked a friend who owned a gun shop if

he could get some weapons.

On December 7, 1988, Mary Samuels told Anne Hambly that Robert Samuels

was dead and that she planned to “discover” his body in two days. On

December 8, 1988, Nicole Samuels called her friend, David Navarro, and said “it’s

done” in reference to Robert Samuels’s murder.

On December 9, 1988, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call

from Robert Samuels’s home. Robert Samuels was found dead. He had been

dead for over 12 hours and was killed by a shotgun blast fired into his head from

close range. Samuels also suffered a blunt force trauma to his head that was a

contributing factor to his death.

Mary Samuels and Nicole Samuels were present when the police arrived.

Mary Samuels and Nicole worked to make it appear that there had been a struggle in

the house. Defendant told the police she discovered Robert Samuels’s body while

dropping off the family’s dog. Defendant sought to bolster this story by leaving

messages on Samuels’s answering machine regarding her plans to drop off the

dog.

Anne Hambly testified that she also went to Robert Samuels’s house the

night he was found dead. Referring to the murder of Robert Samuels, defendant

told Hambly that she could not believe that “it had finally happened” and that she

had given Bernstein money six months earlier to arrange the killing. Mary Samuels

feared being caught and was also afraid to speak because she thought the police

had “bugged” her car, purse, and home.

At trial, the prosecution introduced evidence showing defendant collected

on several insurance policies after Robert Samuels’s death. The total amount of

these policies was in excess of $240,000. In addition, the prosecution introduced

evidence that a sandwich shop owned by Robert Samuels and defendant was sold

in early 1989, and Mary Samuels kept the proceeds of approximately $70,000.

Additional evidence introduced by the prosecution showing how defendant

benefited from Robert Samuels’s death included: (1) defendant kept a car owned

by Robert Samuels; (2) she received approximately $6,000 in uncashed payroll

checks of Robert Samuels; and (3) she refinanced the family home after Robert

Samuels’s death, thereby gaining possession of an additional $160,000.

Mary Samuels began to live a lavish lifestyle after Robert Samuels died. In

addition, defendant made several incriminating statements after his death. For

example, when asked by Anne Hambly who Mike Silva was, defendant told

Hambly that Silva was hired by Bernstein to kill Robert Samuels. Mary Samuels also

told a friend, Marsha Hutchinson, that if she were not careful in her divorce

proceedings, then Hutchinson’s husband might decide to put a hit on her.

Mary Samuels also spoke and acted in a manner that led Bernstein’s older brother and

sister-in-law to believe that defendant had Robert Samuels killed.

James Bernstein also made incriminating statements after Robert Samuels’s

death. He told his employer, Charles Mandel, that Robert Samuels’s murder had

been taken care of and that he received money from defendant to pay Silva for his

part in the crime.

2. The Solicitation and Murder of James Bernstein

On June 27, 1989, James Bernstein was killed. The circumstances leading

to his murder are as follows: David Navarro and James Bernstein met in February

1989. Navarro testified he met Bernstein through Nicole Samuels, who was a

friend of Navarro’s girlfriend.

Navarro and Bernstein became friends and they sold drugs together until

Bernstein disappeared in June 1989. Bernstein and Navarro were together when

Bernstein received a page, called the number he had been sent, and then went to

meet Mike Silva. Bernstein referred to Silva as the “hit man.”

Navarro made an anonymous call to the police and provided them with the

phone number Bernstein received via the page and Mike Silva’s name. Navarro

also provided the names of Mary Samuels and Bernstein to the police. Los Angeles

Police Officer John Birrer received Navarro’s call on May 1, 1989. After Navarro

provided this information, the police served search warrants. Police searched

Bernstein’s apartment on May 16, 1989, in connection with the murder of Robert

Samuels. The police also searched the victim’s house.

In late May or early June 1989, Bernstein told a friend, Rennie Goldberg,

he was feeling remorseful and frightened of being caught. He wanted to confess

his involvement in Robert Samuels’s murder. By June 1989, Bernstein had

become so afraid that he wanted to move out of the area. By the end of June 1989,

Bernstein was ready to go to the police and admit what he knew. He told Navarro

that he and Mike Silva had killed Robert Samuels and that defendant had paid

them for it. He repeatedly said that Mary Samuels had solicited him to murder Robert

Samuels. Bernstein stated that Mary Samuels wanted Robert Samuels killed for

insurance money, and that one person had been paid but did not do the job so she

approached Bernstein to see if he would do it. On June 26, 1989, Bernstein told

his older brother that he was frightened and that he was the only person who could

“burn Mary Ellen.”

After Robert Samuels’s murder, defendant told Anne Hambly that she

wanted Bernstein killed because she thought he would go to the police and

disclose her involvement in the murder. In March or April of 1989, Anne Hambly

introduced Paul Gaul to defendant. Gaul was Hambly’s live-in boyfriend.

Hambly believed Gaul could help Mary Samuels with her trouble with Bernstein.

Defendant and Gaul had several conversations about Robert Samuels’s death. In

the first conversation, Mary Samuels mentioned she received insurance money from

Robert Samuels’s death and that Bernstein was blackmailing her for her

involvement in the murder. In the second conversation, defendant repeated the

substance of the first conversation and added that she wanted Robert Samuels

killed because he had abused Nicole and she wanted insurance money. During a

third conversation, defendant mentioned a failed attempt to kill Robert Samuels.

Mary Samuels also said that she had paid for Robert Samuels’s murder, but that the

murder was done sloppily and that she had not expected it to be done in her house

with blood everywhere.

Even in their first conversation, Gaul came to believe that defendant wanted

his help in killing Bernstein. Gaul testified that it was not until a later

conversation that Mary Samuels expressly asked Gaul for help. She told Gaul that she

wanted Bernstein killed because he was blackmailing her. She also told Gaul that

Bernstein was selling drugs to children.1 Defendant told Gaul that she would pay

for Bernstein to be killed. Mary Samuels spoke with Gaul five to 10 times about

killing Bernstein, discussing payment two to four times.

Prior to Bernstein’s murder, defendant called Gaul. She told Gaul that she

was taking a trip to Cancun and wanted Bernstein murdered before she returned.

Mary Samuels agreed to pay Gaul $5,000 for killing Bernstein. Another form of

payment was that defendant would forgive a loan made to Anne Hambly. To

assist him in killing Bernstein, Gaul solicited Darryl Ray Edwards. Edwards

agreed to kill Bernstein for $5,000.

Gaul testified that his brother had been killed by drug dealers and that he

had been angered by it.

In June 1989, at defendant’s request, Bernstein moved in with Anne

Hambly and Paul Gaul. When he moved out of his apartment, Bernstein told his

apartment manager that he was moving out of town to avoid the police. Bernstein

moved in with Hambly and Gaul because he was afraid the police were closing in

on him.

On June 27, 1989, Paul Gaul and Darryl Ray Edwards killed James

Bernstein. On that morning, Gaul met Edwards at a bar and they started drinking.

Their plan to murder Bernstein involved getting Bernstein to go up to an area near

Frazier Park. Gaul and Edwards planned to tell Bernstein that Edwards knew

some drug dealers in Frazier Park and that Gaul, Edwards, and Bernstein would go

and rob them.

The two men separated, planning to meet at Anne Hambly’s later that day.

Gaul returned to Hambly’s house around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. Edwards arrived

approximately two hours later. Bernstein was at Hambly’s house. Gaul, Edwards,

and Bernstein talked about going to rip off drug dealers. Although he did not

initially agree to the plan, Bernstein was curious and wanted more information.

Subsequently, Gaul, Edwards, and Bernstein left Hambly’s house in defendant’s

car. Gaul was the driver. After approximately 40 minutes, they ended up on an

isolated dirt road. However, it turned out to be a private driveway and several

dogs came running at the car. Edwards told Gaul to immediately get out of the

driveway, so Gaul placed the car in reverse and drove away. About five to 10

minutes later, Edwards yelled “Now” or something similar. Gaul slammed on the

car’s brakes, put the car in park, and turned off the headlights. Edwards grabbed

Bernstein’s neck from behind and began to choke him. Bernstein began to

scream, but Gaul twice hit him in the side of the head or neck to keep him quiet.

Gaul accidentally hit Edwards, which loosened Edwards’s grip on Bernstein.

Bernstein opened the car door and jumped out. Edwards and Gaul got out of the

car and chased after Bernstein. Edwards caught Bernstein and wrestled him to the

ground. Gaul held Bernstein’s legs, while Edwards choked him. Bernstein asked,

“Why?,” and Gaul said that it was because he talked too much. Gaul stopped

holding Bernstein’s legs and joined in with Edwards. Bernstein struggled for three

to five minutes, then stopped. Gaul put his ear to Bernstein’s chest to listen for a

heartbeat, but did not hear one. An autopsy on Bernstein confirmed that he had

been strangled to death.

Gaul and Edwards placed Bernstein’s body in the backseat of the car.

Edwards drove to a dark and isolated area. During the drive to this area, Gaul took

off Bernstein’s belt, which had the name “James” on it, and threw it over a cliff.

Gaul also threw Bernstein’s pager over an embankment.

When Edwards stopped the car, he and Gaul pulled Bernstein’s body out of

the backseat and put it over an embankment. Gaul and Edwards then drove back

to Anne Hambly’s house. Upon returning to Hambly’s house, Gaul, Edwards, and

Hambly discussed what had happened. Gaul and Edwards told Hambly that they

had killed Bernstein.

Anne Hambly made a phone call to defendant, who was in Cancun,

Mexico, at the time, and let her know that Bernstein was dead. Hambly did so by

using a “code” that she and defendant had agreed to. The code involved Hambly’s

calling Mary Samuels to say that Hambly had spoken to her sister. This statement was

a signal to Mary Samuels that Bernstein was dead and that it was safe for defendant to

return from Mexico.

Frequently Asked Questions

Mary Samuels Photos

Mary Samuels FAQ

Mary Samuels 2021

Mary Samuels is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Mary Samuels on Death Row

Mary Samuels was convicted of a double murder.

Catherine Thompson Women On Death Row

Catherine Thompson is on death row in California for arranging the murder of her husband. Again the main incentive was money so Catherine Thompson hired someone to kill her husband at the transmission shop that he owned. At first police believed it was a robbery gone bad but her behavior following the murder made the boys in blue suspicious. Catherine Thompson had a friend collect all of her husbands jewelry following the funeral which she quickly pawned and used the money to gamble in Las Vegas. Thompson would also quickly collect the two insurance polices her husband had. In the end Catherine Thompson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Catherine Thompson 2019 Information

Inmate Name	THOMPSON, CATHERINE
CDCR Number	W48876
Age	71
Admission Date	06/18/1993
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Catherine Thompson Other News

The California Supreme Court Thursday upheld Catherine Thompson’s conviction and death sentence for arranging her husband’s murder inside a West Los Angeles-area auto repair shop he owned.

The state’s highest court unanimously rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the Los Angeles Superior Court trial of former West Hills resident Catherine Thompson, who is on death row for the June 14, 1990 killing of Melvin “Tom” Thompson in the restroom of his business.

The 49-year-old man, who had been shot, died later at a hospital.

Shortly after the murder, Catherine Thompson submitted a claim on two life insurance policies — one issued for $100,000 and a second one issued the year of the murder for $150,000 that had a clause that made it potentially worth $300,000, the Supreme Court wrote in a 111-page ruling.

Catherine Thompson instructed a friend to collect all of the jewelry from her husband’s body after the funeral and to return the items to her, which she pawned a day later and used the money to go on a gambling vacation to Laughlin, according to the ruling.

Catherine Thompson was convicted in September 1992 of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder, with jurors finding true the special circumstance of murder for financial gain and recommending that she be sentenced to death.

Co-defendant Phillip Sanders, who was tried along with Catherine Thompson, was also convicted of the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The justices rejected the defense’s contention that Catherine Thompson should have been tried separately from Sanders.

In the ruling written by Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar, the panel found there was a “web of evidence demonstrating that defendant participated in a conspiracy” with Sanders and two others to kill the victim for financial gain, including “defendant’s many refinancing and insurance frauds,” the evidence of many telephone calls between her and Sanders in the days leading up to the murder and her “blurted-out statement upon her arrest that she `didn’t know Phil at all”‘ though police had not yet revealed any evidence of Sanders’ involvement in the crime.

The justices also noted that Catherine Thompson had a “strong financial incentive to kill the victim” and quickly used the insurance money after he was killed.

The panel found that the trial court “did not abuse its discretion in concluding that evidence of defendant’s prior financial misdeeds was relevant to showing her motive for killing, and conspiring to kill, her husband in order to collect on his life insurance policies.”

The justices wrote that jurors could infer from the evidence that “defendant’s financial house of cards was about to collapse, leading her to believe she had one last option to make a large financial score: killing her husband.”

Catherine Thompson — who was sentenced to death in 1993 — is among 21 women awaiting execution in California.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-court-death-sentence-20161130-story.html

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Catherine Thompson Photos

Catherine Thompson FAQ

Catherine Thompson 2021

Catherine Thompson is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Catherine Thompson On Death Row

Catherine Thompson was convicted of the murder of her husband

Janeen Snyder Women On Death Row

Janeen Snyder may look like the girl next door but do not let her looks fool you as this young woman along with her boyfriend kidnapped sexually assaulted and murdered a teen girl. Janeen Snyder who would also confess to the murder of a another missing teenager would be sentenced to death in California and sent to death row

Janeen Snyder 2021 Information

Inmate Name	SNYDER, JANEEN MARIE
CDCR Number	X20232
Age	40
Admission Date	09/13/2006
Current Location	Central California Women’s Facility
Location Link	Directions
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)	CONDEMNED

Janeen Snyder Other News

A California couple were charged Thursday with the torture and slaying of a 16-year-old Las Vegas girl, a crime that prosecutors called “eligible for the death penalty.”

Michael Thornton, 45, and Janeen Snyder, 21, both of Rialto, Calif., were charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances in the rape and torture slaying of Western High School student Michelle Curran, who was reported missing earlier this month.

“We believe the facts are sufficient to support that this murder occurred while she was being tortured and raped,” said Michael Rushton, a deputy Riverside County (Calif.) district attorney. “Although a formal decision has not been reached, the special circumstances makes this case eligible for the death penalty.”

Michelle Curran was found dead Sunday, shot in the head and hidden in a horse trailer on a ranch in Rubidoux, a rural area of Riverside County, said Sgt. Mark Lohman, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Thornton and Janeen Snyder have been in the Riverside County jail since April 17 on burglary charges after a property owner came home and saw two people running from her land. Deputies arrested the pair on the property and found a large amount of blood in a stable’s tack room, Lohman said.

Deputies knew a more serious crime than burglary occurred because of the blood, but no victim was found. Police also found Curran’s identification inside the pair’s GMC Suburban.

California authorities ran a computer check on Curran and found that she was listed as missing/runaway from Las Vegas. On Sunday, the property owner found Curran’s body inside the horse trailer, Lohman said.

Curran was last seen April 4 walking to school and was reported missing to Metro Police the next day.

Riverside County and Metro Police are still trying to determine if Curran was a runaway or kidnapped and taken to California. Police don’t know where Curran met Thornton and Janeen Snyder, but all three were seen in a Riverside County park campground.

“People saw them together and there wasn’t anything that alerted them that there was a problem,” Lohman said.

Candy Curran, the victim’s mother, said her daughter wasn’t a runaway. She didn’t leave the house with money or clothing. Curran said she believes her daughter was snatched off the street.

“She didn’t know who they were,” she said. “She threw her ID in their truck because she knew what was going on. Do you think they would keep that in there?”

Metro Police don’t have any indication at this point she was kidnapped, said Sgt. Dan McGrath of the missing persons unit.

“Can I say 100 percent she wasn’t kidnapped? No.” McGrath said. “At any point we determine a crime (kidnapping) was committed here, we will go forward with charges against these suspects.”

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Janeen Snyder Photos

Janeen Snyder 1 — Janeen Snyder, X-20232

Janeen Snyder 3 — Michael Thornton, F-41306

Janeen Snyder FAQ

Janeen Snyder 2021

Janeen Snyder is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Janeen Snyder On Death Row

Janeen Snyder was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of a teenage girl