“Murder in California: Abductions, Assassinations and Police Related Murders” profiles some of California’s most infamous murder cases. The edition more photographically transports you to several of the murder sites where the homicides occurred and/or images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and profiles offer a descriptive account, detailed location, and trial aftermath providing an important understanding into the further reaching effects of each crime. Convicted killers and their confirmed victims are identified. For criminals still living, their current incarceration location is provided. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location’s unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious homicides. The following are portrayed in this edition: The San Jose Kidnapping of Brooke Hart and Resulting Mob Justice Eureka’s Karen Mitchell: Vanishing Into Speculation Kristin Smart: The Tangled Web Involving Fifth Amendment Silence Nicholas Markowitz: The Stolen Boy and Unforeseen Execution An Execution Amidst Rural Darkness: The Onion Field Killings The Patty Hearst Kidnapping: The Final Nail into the Coffin of Idealism Polly Klaas: The Abrupt Death of Innocence Rex Allen Krebs: Predestined Towards Violence The Mob Permanently Severs Relations With Bugsy Siegel Fung Little Pete Jing Toy: 19th Century San Francisco’s Chinatown Gangland Slaying Chauncey Bailey: The Price of Constitutional Protection Joseph The Animal Barboza: The Inevitability of a Lifestyle Path Dr. Marcus Foster: The Marginalized Assassination The Marin County Courthouse Shootout: Thirty Minutes That Forever Altered Courtroom Security Procedures The Mickey and Trudy Thompson Morning Driveway Execution The Political Killings of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk The East/West Coast Vendetta and Killing of Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Biggie Smalls Senator Robert F. Kennedy: The Assassination of Hope The Contract Killing of Vic Weiss: The Payback For Stealing Charles Crawford: The Fixer Loses His Influence The Wonderland Gang Killings and Fantasy Sex Industry The Slaying of Captain Walter Auble and Impressive Public Response Demetrius DuBose: A Shooting Death of the Nearly Famous Lovelle Mixon: A Desperate Final and Fatal Gamble Towards Escape The Newhall Shootout and Deadliest Firefight in California Highway Patrol History The North Hollywood Bank of America Doomed Heist and Subsequent Warfare Policeman Matthew Pavelka: Officer Down From Following A Fateful Back Up Oscar Grant III: When The Facts Behind a Killing Become Secondary Officer Thomas Guerry: A Legacy Award For An Abruptly Ended Life Author Marques Vickers’ own introduction into the expansive consequences of murder began with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author’s hometown. His writings detail the influence a homicide reverberates beyond simply the victim. Hundreds and often thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely.

"Murder in California: Abductions, Assassinations and Police Related Murders" profiles some of California's most infamous murder cases. The edition more photographically transports you to several of the murder sites where the homicides occurred and/or images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and profiles offer a descriptive account, detailed location, and trial aftermath providing an important understanding into the further reaching effects of each crime. Convicted killers and their confirmed victims are identified. For criminals still living, their current incarceration location is provided.The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious homicides. The following are portrayed in this edition: The San Jose Kidnapping of Brooke Hart and Resulting Mob JusticeEureka's Karen Mitchell: Vanishing Into SpeculationKristin Smart: The Tangled Web Involving Fifth Amendment SilenceNicholas Markowitz: The Stolen Boy and Unforeseen ExecutionAn Execution Amidst Rural Darkness: The Onion Field KillingsThe Patty Hearst Kidnapping: The Final Nail into the Coffin of IdealismPolly Klaas: The Abrupt Death of InnocenceRex Allen Krebs: Predestined Towards ViolenceThe Mob Permanently Severs Relations With Bugsy SiegelFung Little Pete Jing Toy: 19th Century San Francisco's Chinatown Gangland SlayingChauncey Bailey: The Price of Constitutional ProtectionJoseph The Animal Barboza: The Inevitability of a Lifestyle PathDr. Marcus Foster: The Marginalized AssassinationThe Marin County Courthouse Shootout: Thirty Minutes That Forever Altered Courtroom Security ProceduresThe Mickey and Trudy Thompson Morning Driveway ExecutionThe Political Killings of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey MilkThe East/West Coast Vendetta and Killing of Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Biggie SmallsSenator Robert F. Kennedy: The Assassination of HopeThe Contract Killing of Vic Weiss: The Payback For StealingCharles Crawford: The Fixer Loses His InfluenceThe Wonderland Gang Killings and Fantasy Sex IndustryThe Slaying of Captain Walter Auble and Impressive Public ResponseDemetrius DuBose: A Shooting Death of the Nearly FamousLovelle Mixon: A Desperate Final and Fatal Gamble Towards EscapeThe Newhall Shootout and Deadliest Firefight in California Highway Patrol HistoryThe North Hollywood Bank of America Doomed Heist and Subsequent WarfarePoliceman Matthew Pavelka: Officer Down From Following A Fateful Back UpOscar Grant III: When The Facts Behind a Killing Become SecondaryOfficer Thomas Guerry: A Legacy Award For An Abruptly Ended LifeAuthor Marques Vickers' own introduction into the expansive consequences of murder began with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author's hometown. His writings detail the influence a homicide reverberates beyond simply the victim. Hundreds and often thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely

This brief fills a gap in the studies of organized crime in Mexico (Kan 2012, Ríos 2011, Dell 2011) by documenting and mapping the post-2008 assassination of Mexican border police chiefs. It traces out a “systematic” of law-enforcement assassination in Northern Tier Mexico, showing how the selective, often sequential, hits by cartels on chiefs in border towns and along key drug-trafficking corridors has proven an effective strategy by organized crime elements to serve several goals: (1) to retaliate for federal, state and local prosecution, (2) to try and neutralize police chiefs, (3) to achieve intermittent local governance and/or to seed corrupt police chiefs at the municipal level, and, (4) to reduce local governmental capacity to obtain greater freedom for movement of goods. It is argued that the tactical advantage of organized crime elements gives them relatively easy physical access to law enforcement targets and thus is thus one prime element facilitating the use of assassination as a strategy. U.S. and Mexican legal, political and judicial institutions have not been able to adequately restrict opportunity for law-enforcement assassinations. The inability to reduce access to weapons and officials, to increase security for police personnel, to reduce corruption and punish offenders sets the stage for the assassination of local law enforcement. Yet, it is the goals of organized crime elements (to clear drug-smuggling routes and to try and gain more pliant governance at the municipal level) that ultimately motivate such killings.

The second edition of “Murder in California: The Topography of Evil” is Marques Vickers’ visual return to 108 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking and often searing narratives behind each tragedy. Over 225 images amplify insight by escorting the reader to the crime location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location’s unique significance. California has been the residence for many notorious profiled individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted Unabomber Kaczynski, Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, The Menendez Brothers, Juan Corona, Rodney Alcala, Phil Spector, Dan White, Juan Corona, Richard Ramirez and Scott Peterson. The media has christened some monikers including the Trailside Killer, Children of Thunder, Co-ed Killer, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. The state has been the death site of notable victims including Senator Robert Kennedy, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Nicole Simpson-Brown, Rapper Notorious B.I.G., Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson, the Heaven’s Gate cult, singers Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and actors Haing Ngor, Ramon Novarro and Sal Mineo. The Murder in California edition profiles are segmented into nine categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, chance encounters and manslaughters, law enforcement fatalities and controversies, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of examining each profile, many important issues and questions are raised without necessarily culminating in resolution. These include capital punishment, racial perceptions, contributing parental influences, media reporting, public opinion, juvenile sentencing, self-incrimination protections and the impartiality of our judicial system. An extensive and updated listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered within the United States penal systems is identified by their current penitentiary residence. Vickers’ own introduction to the consequences of murder began with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author’s hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of Vickers through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and often thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category): Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Mickey and Trudy Thompson, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Rapper Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G.), The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Hitman Joseph The Animal Barboza, Vic Weiss and the Wonderland Gang. Abductions: Patty Hearst, Nicholas Markowitz, Brooke Hart, The Onion Field Killings, Polly Klaas, Ramona Irene Price, Cal Poly Student Kristin Smart, Kevin Collins, Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford and Karen Mitchell. Historical Legacies: Fung Little Pete Jing Toy, Charles Crawford, US President Warren Harding, Ned Doheny and Hugh Plunkett, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Orcutt Freeway Sniper, Miles Archer and Eastside Salinas Gang Killings. Chance Encounters and Manslaughter Killings Ennis Cosby, Diane Whipple, Haing Ngor, Huey P. Newton, Johnny Stompanato, Barbara Graham, Marvin Gaye, Phil Hartman, Phil Spector, Ramon Novarro, Ronni Chasen, Sal Mineo, Sam Cooke and Father Eric Freed. Unsolved Murders: The Black Dahlia, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, Bob Domingos and Linda Edwards, Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders, Crips Gang Founder Raymond Washington, David Nadel, Geneva Ellroy, Virginia Rapp, Kym Morgan, William Desmond Taylor, Ted Healy and the Visalia Ransacker. Rampage Mass Murders: Elliot Rodger, The Helzer Brothers, Bruce Pardo, The 101 California Building Rampage, John Linley Frazier, Edward Charles Allaway, Golden Dragon Restaurant, Meritage Salon, John Kenney, Frederick Martin Davidson, Lynwood Jim Drake, High School student Andy Williams, Oikos University Shootings, Nicolas Holzer, the Cleveland Elementary Schools in San Diego and Stockton and Marcus Wesson. Premeditated Murders: Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, Laci Peterson, John Morency, Artie Mitchell, Nicole Brown-Simpson, Menendez Brothers, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Vincent Brothers, Marin County Barbeque Killings and Ewell Family Executions. Law Enforcement Fatalities and Controversies Captain Walter Auble. Oscar Grant III, Newhall CHP Massacre, Office Thomas Guerry, Oakland Macarthur Boulevard Shooting, Demetrius DeBose, Policeman Matthew Pavelka and the North Hollywood Bank of America Shootout. Serial Killings: Zodiac Killer, Charles Manson, Dorothea Puente, Efren Saldivar, Ted Unabomber Kaczynski, The Two Night Stalkers, The Zebra Killings, Heaven’s Gate Suicide, Edmund Kemper III, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, Juan Corona, Richard Trenton Chase, Speedfreak Killers, Herbert Mullin, David Carpenter, Reverend Jim Jones and the People’s Temple Massacre, Hillside Strangler and Rodney Alcala.

This volume focuses on the specific relationship between the institutional impunity, lack of public safety and public space in failing to prevent organized sexual murder. The murder of women on the U.S.-Mexican border is a complex phenomenon with multiple geographic, economic, political, sociological, and psychological causes.