Day 25: Innocent girl shot to death for no apparent reason
November 26th, 2009, 2:00 am · 29 Comments · posted by Larry Welborn
1981: Thomas Francis Edwards, 51, picked up his rifle and shot and killed 12-year-old Vanessa Iberri and wounded her friend Kelly Carter as they walked along a trail in the Cleveland National Forest on Sept. 19, 1981.
Kelly Cartier, 12, of Lake Elsinore survived the attack.
Murder victim Vanessa Iberri
No motive was suggested, except for Edwards’ depression over his wife’s plans for divorce.
He was tried three times, including one trial at which he represented himself and asked for the death penalty.
He got that wish in 1986. Edwards died of natural causes at age 65 on Death Row in February 2009.
Pictured above: Murder suspect Thomas Francis Edwards listens to charges against him on November 13, 1981. Register File Photo
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Well, I guess the name Death Row is appropriate if one thinks about it. These last two stories in this serious told how both murderers died there.
23 years, and, at least, $1.38 MILLION dollars later ($60,000 per year for Death Row inmate)…….. Pathetic liberal system.
Another example of our wonderful system at work. Dirtbag dies of natural causes while rotting away on death row. Again….DNA evidence or video of the crime, NO APPEALS and death within 72 hrs. STOP WASTING OUR MONEY OUR MONEY!!! These type of criminals are beyond rehabilitation and will be predators for life unless we end their reign of terror with the needle.
Wow…I think someone needs less caffeine. The “no appeals” part I find especially troubling. Americans need a system of justice that is both thorough and deliberative. Our system has it’s share of problems, and most of them stem from being in a rush to execute someone. There is evidence that hundreds of wrongly convicted people have been executed in America over the last century, and I don’t know about you, but that’s just not good enough for me.
The idea of even having a prison system is to protect the general public prom dangerous people…not to rehabilitate them…not to punish them.
If the prison system DID spend more time on the rehabilitation part, the whole society would be better off. It’s true that some can never be helped or corrected, but you have to remember: The vast majority of these people will be released someday. It is within our interest to make sure the person coming out of prison is a better, and more more educated one that went in. Otherwise, we’re just re-releasing animals into the wild.
It’s totally un-American to think it’s acceptable to rush to “justice” and take the chance of executing innocent people. That’s actually a murder by the state, and in that way, we sort of all have blood on our hands.
Hi! My name is Chuck.
I want to protect all the murderers, rapists and childmolesters because I really do NOT care about my neighbors or their well-being.
I am liberal, and I think these CONVICTS deserve another chance, gosh darn it.
My name is Chuck. I am a dump truck.
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san Quentin should change the name to “Death From Old Age” Row.
If you ask how this piece of garbage can be allowed to draw air for nearly 30 years on death row without getting the “big hair cut” all you need to know is that liberalism did it. But that’s ok, keep voting for Fabian Socialists like Obama you fools…
stupid headline…
When is someone who is murdered not innocent?
Most people who are ‘murdered’ are innocent..
Ok, now if he was 51 when he shot these children in 1981, how is it he died in Feb 2009 at age 65?? If the dates are right he would’ve been 79. At least he never got to see the light of day on the outside again.
And yet another inmate who ASKS for the death penalty and then sits on death row for 23 years and then dies of natural causes while there.
No wonder we pay some of the highest taxes in the country and the state is going down the tubes. Keeping criminals like this alive on death row needs to stop!
Great series btw.
The death penalty cannot be much of a deterrent when murderers are hoping to get sent to Death Row because it’s a much more plush housing than general population. Leisure World of the State Pen!
I rate this criminal act as among the three worst ever committed in OC.
He died in 2009 ? He SHOULD have died in 1981.
Died of natural causes YEARS later… a disgrace.
A complete disgrace – thanks to the LIBERAL system.
One of these articles had the estimate of 650 current death row inmates waiting, as we continue to pay 40-50k a year for each one. Some have been on death row for 25yrs!!!
I am completely FOR the death penalty. However, it is quite evident that it is not practical for a state such as California, where liberals have practically abolished the penalty by prolonging it. Imagine how much more tax money was wasted on this “death row” scum for 23 years just so he could die of natural causes. We would have spent so much less by giving him the life w/o poss. of parole and gotten the same end result: DEATH. Think about it.
It is a disgrace most of these sick murderers die of old age on death row!!!! We need to learn from China, they don’t mess around!! The people responsible for that bad milk or baby formula were found guilty one day and dead shortly after. Thats how it should be done!
The death penalty does not deter crime. Life in prison, without the possibility of parole is like death.
Often times, over aggressive DA’s and AG’s get it wrong. Why not error on the side of caution. What IF the person is innocent? Just sayin…
Dying of natural causes is more painful than a lethal injection.
What the story fails to say is he wasn’t that depressed since he was able to escape across the county and the OC Sheriffs tracked him down and brought him back. My father friend was the officer who found him and flew back to OC with him, said that he wasn’t depressed, he enjoyed the feeling of shooting the girls and it excited him. The officer told us that this was someone who would have continue to murder since he enjoyed it. And for the idiot who said death penalty does not deter crime, sure it does because most of the murders who killed like doing it and will continue too, so it deters future crimes.
guys like this should never have to be supported by the taxpayers. ask why is CA NEARLY BANKRUPT. We have more than 600 of these leeches drawing breath on our dime. enough already 9th district justices! Bet if your jobs were dependant on your confirmations of true justice to the victims you’d vote differenly.
Can someone please poison the air system at the jail? Just a little cyanide in the AC Vent and presto…
after there conviction they should be released into the main population so the fellas can deal with them, death row is portective
custudy for guys like him
As far as I’m concerned Ca. should do what Tx. did and IF you are convicted of a heinous crime then death comes much quicker. Instead of 20 or so years on death roe you get to be put on the “express lane” to death roe. Thats right everyone! Tx. implicated an “express lane” for people that commit crimes like these. You don’t get to die in jail. You get moved up to the front of the line for death. Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez (who will defiantly be in this 90 days blog), and few others (in the OC alone), is a perfect example. He should have recieved the death penalty and he should have been on the “express lane”, but instead hes rotting in prison. Same goes for this heinous crime.
Chuck is a typical Bleeding heart Liberal, what about the victims here, what about us taxpayers. Maybe you should visit this guy and rehibilitate him and as well pay for his yearly costs. What a system our California Democrats have developed for taking care of criminals. You can bet the Prison Workers Union petioned to delay Death penalty verdicts so that they could pay thier workers more and hire more people. What a joke. These guys ask for the Death Penalty because they getted treated better than the Life In prison people. Vote these idiots out of office, they are the same ones causing our budget problems.
Oh yeah, nice math of this dudes age!!!!!
It’s amazing to me that so much effort is made to make the death penalty painless, when I read how these animals tortured and killed their victims. Explain the logic please.