1956: “I did it,” John Calvin “J.C.” Tipton, a 23-year-old former soldier, told detectives as he confessed to one of the most brutal crimes in the history of Orange County. “

I believe his first words were, ‘I did it, I stabbed her,’” testified Costa Mesa Det. Sgt. Lowell Dean Powell. What Tipton confessed to was the March 28, 1956, stabbing death and rape of Oleta Camille Johnson, an 18-year-old housewife and mother.

Tipton said he drank “25 to 30 beers, plus some whisky,” on the day of the murder, and then he “got the sex urge,” according to recently reviewed court records.

He said he walked across the courtyard and knocked on Johnson’s door, and when he found out that her serviceman husband was not home, he chased her down, stabbed her with a kitchen knife and raped her while she was dying.

Her husband returned shortly after the attack and found Oleta soaked in blood and nude from the waist down, according to court records. Tipton’s trial featured some of the brightest lights in the O.C. criminal justice arena.

Robert Kneeland, who would later become the district attorney, was the prosecutor. Frank Williams, who became the public defender, was the defense attorney.

And Robert Gardner, who served on the Orange County bench longer than anyone, was the judge.

Two years later – on Sept. 26, 1958 – Tipton calmly walked into the gas chamber at San Quentin. He made a last-hour plea for a reprieve, writing, “I think I am crazy.” The plea was denied.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.