Parker, Gerald

Very little is known about Gerald Parker's early life. It is known that Gerald Parker was born in 1955. He had 11 brothers and sisters, so the family was experiencing financial difficulties . His parents led a marginal lifestyle and Gerald grew up in a socially disadvantaged environment. In 1963, Gerald's mother died and his grandmother later engaged in his upbringing. After the death of his mother, Gerald and his relatives moved to Arizona . After the change of residence, the Gerald Parker family lived in an urban area inhabited mainly by white Americans, as a result of which the Parker family was subjected to a segregation policy. In the mid-1960s, Parker, along with his brothers, moved to an urban area populated by color minorities and other declassified elements with low social status and educational level, but continued to attend school, where white Americans were educated, as a result of which Gerald was subjected to moral pressure and physical attacks from others students. Due to psychological discomfort and intrapersonal conflict, Gerald Parker began to use household and industrial chemicals during these years, as a result of which he developed substance abuse .

In the late 1960s, the family of Geradd Parker moved to California , where he stayed in San Diego . In his teens, Parker began to use narcotic substances such as mescaline and LSD , so that his school performance and discipline fell completely. In the 1970th year, Parker while studying at school, committed several thefts . He was arrested, expelled from school, but due to age and the basics of juvenile justice , he was not convicted. The young criminal was found to be able to take the path of correction and was transferred under the supervision of guardianship authorities and sent for further training to the Boys' Republic school for difficult teenagers, located in the city of Chino . After spending several months at school, Gerald Parker escaped and led a wandering lifestyle for several years.

At the end of 1973, Gerald Parker enlisted in the US Army ^[2] . Parker was enrolled in the United States Marine Corps . From 1973 to 1974, Parker served at a military base in Adak , Alaska, after which he was sent to continue serving at a military base located in Tastin , where Parker was from 1974 to 1977. During his service, Parker, due to his introversion, was not very popular among colleagues and had low communication skills, as a result of which he maintained trusting relationships with only one colleague, was not married and preferred to spend a lot of free time in the company of prostitutes and pimps. Nevertheless, during his military career, Parker did not have disciplinary sanctions and ultimately earned a reputation as a model naval, for which in 1978 he received the title of Staff Sergeant . Most of Gerald Parker's colleagues and acquaintances of that period spoke very positively of him. Parker was not seen in destructive behavior towards others despite the fact that during his military career he suffered from alcohol dependence. In 1978, Gerald Parker continued his service at the El Toro military base, located in the city of Irvine , California , where he served until the beginning of 1980, when, due to problems with the law, he was forced to resign from the US Army ^[3] .

On February 15, 1980, Gerald Parker in the city of Tustin committed the abduction of a thirteen-year-old girl, whom he subsequently raped. After the act of violence, Parker released the victim without causing her serious physical injuries. The girl contacted the police and described the appearance and car of the criminal, on the basis of which Parker was soon arrested and began to cooperate with the investigation. He confessed to the crime, and in exchange for a commutation of the sentence, he confessed to the robbery, which he committed on February 2, 1980 during his brother's visit to Pasadena. Parker was found guilty and received 8 years in prison as punishment. Gerald Parker was serving his sentence in the California Correctional Institution prison near the city of Tehachapi in California. On February 13, 1984, while in custody, Parker attacked his cellmate David Feertadot, during which he injured his head with a blunt object. The motives for the crime were never established, and in June 1984 Parker was convicted and received an additional sentence for intentionally causing grievous bodily harm. In November 1987, Gerald Parker received parole and was released. Over the next few years, Parker led a vagabond lifestyle, periodically moonlighting as a day laborer , and was engaged in petty thefts. In July 1993, Parker was arrested for committing a number of thefts and robberies committed in Orange County. He was convicted, received as a punishment 4 years in prison, but was released already in February 1995, again receiving parole. In January 1996, Parker was arrested for violating parole conditions and was returned to prison to serve his sentence. Parker was taken a blood sample during the arrest. ^{[4] [3]}

DNA testing of Gerald Parker's blood sample showed his profile corresponded to the profile of an unidentified killer who left his biological traces during the attacks on six women in different cities in Orange County from 1978 to 1979. Based on this, on June 14, 1996, Gerald Parker was interrogated while serving his sentence in the Avenal State Prison prison for involvement in serial killings. Parker denied involvement in the killings and insisted on his innocence, but under pressure from evidence on June 16, 1996, during another interrogation, pleaded guilty and began to confess. According to his testimony, on December 1, 1978, in the city of Anaheim, Parker entered the apartment, where he attacked the 17-year-old Sandra Fry, whom he raped and severely beaten, causing her severe head injuries, from which the girl died. Parker left his biological marks on the victim’s body. On March 31, 1979, Parker committed a murder in Costa Mesa , entering a student’s apartment, where he raped and killed 21-year-old Kimberly Rawlins, inflicting severe head injuries on her with a blunt object. On the Rawlins body, the killer also left his biological traces . On September 14, 1979, Gerald Parker entered the apartment of the 31st Marilyn Carleton and brutally beat her during an attempted rape, causing her severe head injuries, the consequences of which the woman died the next day. The crime was witnessed by the 9-year-old son of the victim, who subsequently described the criminal offender. On September 30, 1979, Gerald Parker attacked the 20th nurse Diana Green, who was 9 months pregnant. Parker beat the girl with a piece of blackboard and subsequently raped him, leaving his biological footprints on the victim's body. From injuries, Diana Green lost her baby and fell into retrograde amnesia . The killer unnoticed left the scene of the crime and did not leave any clues to the investigation, in connection with which her husband Kenneth Green, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1980, was charged with an attack on Diana Green. ^{[5] [6]}

On October 6, 1979, Parker entered the apartment of twenty-four-year-old Deborah Kennedy. The offender committed this crime in the city of Tastin. The killer entered the apartment, attacked the girl and severely beat her with a hammer, causing her severe head injuries, which caused a brain hemorrhage, from which the girl later died. In this crime, Gerald Parker also managed not to leave any incriminating evidence and traces and crimes, except for biological traces left on the victim's body. On October 20, 1979, Parker again committed murder in the city of Costa Mesa . That day, Parker entered the apartment of seventeen-year-old Debora Senior, where he raped and beat the girl with blunt objects, causing her severe head injuries that caused her death. At the crime scene, Parker left his biological traces and fingerprints on the palm of his left hand. During interrogations, Parker's testimony of the murders turned out to be extremely consistent and showed great consistency in the dates and time of the action, despite the fact that Parker stated that he had committed all crimes in a state of passion against the background of intoxication. ^[3]

The trial of Gerald Parker began in 1997. Gerald Parker did not dispute his guilt in the killing. The main evidence base was DNA testing and his own confession, on the basis of which he was sentenced to death in 1999 ^[7] . The charges against Kenneth Lee Green, convicted of assaulting Diana Green and the murder of their daughter, were dropped in 1996, after which he was released after spending 16 years in prison due to a miscarriage of justice. ^[eight]

Parker spent the rest of his life on death row at San Quentin Prison . In 2017, his lawyers appealed for the abolition of the death sentence and the appointment of a new trial on the grounds that Parker was subjected to bullying in childhood, which ultimately led to mental, emotional and behavioral problems and on the grounds that Gerald was at the time of the murders in a state of affect against the background of drug and alcohol intoxication, but the appeal was rejected ^{[9] [10]} . As of April 2019, Gerald Parker continues to await the death penalty at San Quentin Prison. ^[eleven]