William Richard Bradford
Encyclopedia
William Richard "Bill" Bradford (1948–2008) was an American
murder
er who was incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison
for the 1984 murders of his 15-year-old neighbor Tracey Campbell and barmaid Shari Miller. In July 2006, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
released a compilation of photos found in Bradford's apartment in the 1980s, depicting 54 different women in modelling
poses. As Bradford had used the promise of a modelling career to lure his victims, and taken pictures of Miller before murdering her, police believe that Bradford was in fact a serial killer
and that the photos depict Bradford's other victims in the moments before their deaths. Bradford died at the Vacaville prison medical facility on March 10, 2008, of cancer.
and awaiting trial for rape
, Bradford met Shari Miller, a barmaid at a Los Angeles
establishment called "The Meet Market". Bradford told her that he was a professional photographer and offered to help her build a modelling portfolio. He took her to a remote campsite in the deserts north of Los Angeles
(which was the site of the alleged rape for which Bradford was awaiting trial), photographed her in a variety of modelling poses, and then strangled her. After killing her, Bradford sliced off her tattoos and removed her blouse; he then transported her body to a Hollywood parking lot, where he dumped the corpse in an adjoining alley. When the body was found, there was no identification on it, leading Miller to be labeled "Jane Doe #60".
Shortly thereafter, Bradford convinced his 15-year-old neighbor Tracey Campbell that she could be a model and took her out to the desert
campsite
, where he likewise photographed and strangled her. Bradford left the body there, covering the face with Shari Miller's blouse.
for Bradford's apartment; inside, they found the photos of Miller and Campbell, along with an assortment of 54 other photos of unidentified women. Police recognized the photos of Miller as "Jane Doe #60" and arrested Bradford on suspicion of murder; using a rock formation visible in one of the photos of Miller, police were able to locate the camp site in the desert where the murders had occurred. Upon searching the site, police found Campbell's decomposed body behind the rock formation. Shortly thereafter, Bradford pleaded no contest
to the rape charge he was awaiting trial for and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
or arguments as to his innocence. The prosecution identified Bradford as a serial killer during the course of the trial, but offered no information on murders aside from those of Miller and Campbell. In his closing statement, Bradford implied that he had murdered several other women in addition to Campbell and Miller: "Think of how many you don't even know about. You are so right. That's it."
The jury found Bradford guilty of both murders and sentenced him to death
.
s, claiming that life in San Quentin had become unbearable. Having had no legal representation for the past 10 years, Bradford hired a lawyer to help speed the process of his execution, and began writing poems about life in San Quentin. His poetry attracted attention from the press, who dubbed him "Death Row Poet".
Five days before his scheduled execution, Bradford said that he had changed his mind, professing his innocence and declaring that he wanted the execution process to be halted.
in Malibu in 1978. It has been determined that Duhamel met Bradford in a Culver City bar, "The Frigate", a few days before her body was found.
Investigators have also revealed that several of the women have since been identified as Bradford's ex-wives, though no indication has been given that they are dead, or that Bradford is suspected of murdering them.
Another identified photograph is that of the sister of CSI: Miami
actress Eva LaRue
. She is number three in the picture. The CSI: Miami episode "Darkroom" is based on this case. They both talked with the Sheriff's Department and were able to give additional information.
The "vast majority" of the women in the photos remain unidentified, and are all viewed as possible rape and/or murder victims. Police are encouraging that the photos be distributed nationwide, as Bradford spent time in Michigan
, Florida
, Texas
, Oregon
, Illinois
, Kansas
and Louisiana
, and faced criminal charges in several of those states. In 1978 he faced criminal charges for sexually assaulting
his wife in Michigan, and in 1980 was accused of sexual assault in Valparaiso, Florida
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er who was incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
for the 1984 murders of his 15-year-old neighbor Tracey Campbell and barmaid Shari Miller. In July 2006, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
released a compilation of photos found in Bradford's apartment in the 1980s, depicting 54 different women in modelling
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
poses. As Bradford had used the promise of a modelling career to lure his victims, and taken pictures of Miller before murdering her, police believe that Bradford was in fact a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
and that the photos depict Bradford's other victims in the moments before their deaths. Bradford died at the Vacaville prison medical facility on March 10, 2008, of cancer.
Crimes
In July 1984, while out on bailBail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
and awaiting trial for rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, Bradford met Shari Miller, a barmaid at a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
establishment called "The Meet Market". Bradford told her that he was a professional photographer and offered to help her build a modelling portfolio. He took her to a remote campsite in the deserts north of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(which was the site of the alleged rape for which Bradford was awaiting trial), photographed her in a variety of modelling poses, and then strangled her. After killing her, Bradford sliced off her tattoos and removed her blouse; he then transported her body to a Hollywood parking lot, where he dumped the corpse in an adjoining alley. When the body was found, there was no identification on it, leading Miller to be labeled "Jane Doe #60".
Shortly thereafter, Bradford convinced his 15-year-old neighbor Tracey Campbell that she could be a model and took her out to the desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
campsite
Campsite
A campsite or camping pitch is a place used for overnight stay in the outdoors. In British English a campsite is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using tents or camper vans or caravans; this British English use of the word is synonymous with the...
, where he likewise photographed and strangled her. Bradford left the body there, covering the face with Shari Miller's blouse.
Arrest
Bradford came under suspicion when investigators learned that he had been the last person to see Tracey Campbell alive. This, coupled with his pending rape trial, compelled police to obtain a search warrantSearch warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
for Bradford's apartment; inside, they found the photos of Miller and Campbell, along with an assortment of 54 other photos of unidentified women. Police recognized the photos of Miller as "Jane Doe #60" and arrested Bradford on suspicion of murder; using a rock formation visible in one of the photos of Miller, police were able to locate the camp site in the desert where the murders had occurred. Upon searching the site, police found Campbell's decomposed body behind the rock formation. Shortly thereafter, Bradford pleaded no contest
Nolo contendere
is a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." It is also referred to as a plea of no contest.In criminal trials, and in some common law jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an alternative to a pleading of...
to the rape charge he was awaiting trial for and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Trial and conviction
Bradford was put on trial in 1988, during which he fired his lawyer, opting to act as his own counsel. During the phase of the trial in which Bradford acted as his own attorney, he offered no evidenceEvidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
or arguments as to his innocence. The prosecution identified Bradford as a serial killer during the course of the trial, but offered no information on murders aside from those of Miller and Campbell. In his closing statement, Bradford implied that he had murdered several other women in addition to Campbell and Miller: "Think of how many you don't even know about. You are so right. That's it."
The jury found Bradford guilty of both murders and sentenced him to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
.
Time on death row
In 1998, Bradford dropped all of his appealAppeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
s, claiming that life in San Quentin had become unbearable. Having had no legal representation for the past 10 years, Bradford hired a lawyer to help speed the process of his execution, and began writing poems about life in San Quentin. His poetry attracted attention from the press, who dubbed him "Death Row Poet".
Five days before his scheduled execution, Bradford said that he had changed his mind, professing his innocence and declaring that he wanted the execution process to be halted.
2006 events
In 2006, Los Angeles police suddenly voiced new interest in the Bradford case, releasing a data sheet depicting peni shots taken from the photos in Bradford's apartment. Detectives claimed that they believed the women could all be Bradford's victims; since the photos release, at least one woman, "#28", has been identified, as Donnalee Campbell Duhamel, a woman whose decapitated corpse was found in a canyonCanyon
A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...
in Malibu in 1978. It has been determined that Duhamel met Bradford in a Culver City bar, "The Frigate", a few days before her body was found.
Investigators have also revealed that several of the women have since been identified as Bradford's ex-wives, though no indication has been given that they are dead, or that Bradford is suspected of murdering them.
Another identified photograph is that of the sister of CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
actress Eva LaRue
Eva LaRue
Eva Maria LaRue is an American model and actress. She is best known as Doctor Maria Santos on All My Children, and is now a cast regular on CSI: Miami, portraying Detective Natalia Boa Vista of the Miami-Dade Police Department.-Early life:LaRue was born Eva Maria LaRuy in Long Beach, California to...
. She is number three in the picture. The CSI: Miami episode "Darkroom" is based on this case. They both talked with the Sheriff's Department and were able to give additional information.
The "vast majority" of the women in the photos remain unidentified, and are all viewed as possible rape and/or murder victims. Police are encouraging that the photos be distributed nationwide, as Bradford spent time in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, and faced criminal charges in several of those states. In 1978 he faced criminal charges for sexually assaulting
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
his wife in Michigan, and in 1980 was accused of sexual assault in Valparaiso, Florida
Valparaiso, Florida
Valparaiso is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, in the United States, and it is named after the Chilean city of Valparaiso. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,408. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 6,336...
.