09-19-2018, 07:15 PM
Gypsy Hill Killer Convicted After 42 Years
It always feels so good to read about cold cases finally being solved after decades.
![[Image: 20140306_081835_coldpanel-2.jpg?w=472]](https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/20140306_081835_coldpanel-2.jpg?w=472)
Victims: Veronica (Ronnie) Cascio, Tanya Marie Blackwell, Paula Baxter, Michelle Mitchell, Carol Lee Booth, Denise Lampe. Rest in peace.
The rape and murders of the six girls in California and Nevada back in 1976 remained a mystery until a cold-case detective re-opened the investigation.
In 2014, the detective scraped DNA samples from cigarette butts found at the crime scenes.
The samples were discovered to match 69-year-old career criminal Rodney Halbower, 69, who was in prison in Oregon. DNA taken from the victims also matched Halbower's DNA, prosecutors told jurors.
Prosecutors said they charged him with the murders of Cascio and Baxter (both from Northern California) because the evidence was the strongest in those two cases and they expected Halbower would be locked up for life if convicted.
(continued)
It always feels so good to read about cold cases finally being solved after decades.
Victims: Veronica (Ronnie) Cascio, Tanya Marie Blackwell, Paula Baxter, Michelle Mitchell, Carol Lee Booth, Denise Lampe. Rest in peace.
The rape and murders of the six girls in California and Nevada back in 1976 remained a mystery until a cold-case detective re-opened the investigation.
In 2014, the detective scraped DNA samples from cigarette butts found at the crime scenes.
The samples were discovered to match 69-year-old career criminal Rodney Halbower, 69, who was in prison in Oregon. DNA taken from the victims also matched Halbower's DNA, prosecutors told jurors.
Prosecutors said they charged him with the murders of Cascio and Baxter (both from Northern California) because the evidence was the strongest in those two cases and they expected Halbower would be locked up for life if convicted.
(continued)