Crime & Safety
'Rape Diary' Serial Killer Gets Death
Joseph Naso was convicted earlier this year of strangling four women to death. Prosecutors say he documented his sexual on assaults women in a diary.
By Bay City News
Convicted serial killer Joseph Naso was sentenced to death Friday by a Marin County Superior Court judge.
Naso, 79, of Reno, Nev., was convicted by a jury on Aug. 20 of strangling four women between 1977 and 1994.
The bodies of Roxene Roggasch, Tracy Tafoya, Pamela Parsons and Carmen Colon were found off of rural roads in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties.
The jury in September recommended that Judge Andrew Sweet sentence Naso to death and the judge agreed, handing down death sentences Friday afternoon for the murders of Tafoya, Parsons and Colon. For the killing of Roggasch, Sweet also issued a sentence of life in prison.
At today's hearing, Naso again insisted he was not guilty and said the evidence against him was inflammatory and political.
Prosecutors said evidence in Naso's home tied him to the murders of the four women. Evidence presented at the trial included photos Naso took f women dressed in lingerie and heels who appeared dead or unconscious.
DNA from Naso and his ex-wife Judith were also found on pantyhose found on Roggasch's body, prosecutors said.
Naso also kept what the prosecution called a "rape diary" in which Naso described picking up and sexually assaulting women in various cities over several decades.
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