Police have finally identified who murdered 23-year-old Mary Bennett at Land’s End in 1979. DNA evidence has linked the crime to David Joseph Carpenter, known as the “Trailside Killer”.
Bennett’s body had been stabbed and was found dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and jogging shoes in a wooded area north of Painted Rock. Her body was partially covered with dirt and branches, and she had been stabbed multiple times in the neck, chest and back, police said.
Carpenter was convicted of fatally shooting four women and a man in Marin County in 1980, and two women in Santa Cruz County in 1981. He is still awaiting execution on death row in San Quentin.
Police had always suspected Carpenter of the killing, but were unable to prove it until now. When police questioned Carpenter at San Quentin, he denied knowing Bennett or murdering her.
This now becomes the earliest documented murder by the “Trailside Killer”.
Sarah B.
[via SFAppeal]
Very creepy. I suppose it’s good to finally know but — ooh, it brings up a lot of creepy memories.
I was too young at the time to remember it. What was the talk in the neighborhood when this murder happened? Were people, especially women, leary of Land’s End? I know it wasn’t as popular or as developed of a recreation area back then…
Sarah B.