Serial killers and true crime

Convicted Southeast Side serial killer Andrew Urdiales, who was twice spared death in Illinois, is on his way to California to face additional murder charges, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Urdiales was no longer in custody as of Thursday due to another agency detaining him, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections’ Web site. He had been housed at the Pontiac Correctional Facility in Pontiac, Ill., about 100 miles southwest of Chicago.

A source with the Orange County, Calif., district attorney’s office confirmed Tuesday morning that Urdiales was on his way there via the U.S. Marshals Service. He is expected to arrive in Orange County sometime Thursday.

Urdiales, 47, twice escaped the death penalty in Illinois but could face death in California. He is suspected in the killings of five women in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.

Urdiales was sentenced to death in 2004 in the 1996 death of Cassie Corum, 21, of Hammond. He killed her and dumped her body in the Vermilion River in Pontiac.

He was one of 15 men whose lives were spared in March when Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation that abolished the death penalty in Illinois.

The following day, California officials began the process of having him extradited.

Urdiales was indicted in 2009 in five killings in California. He was stationed as a Marine at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms in the state between 1984 and 1991. One woman who escaped an attack in California testified at his trial in Cook County.

Murder convictions are eligible for death penalty sentences under California law. Orange County officials have said they will seek the death penalty for Urdiales and are confident he will be convicted and sentenced to death.

In Illinois, Urdiales previously had been sentenced to death in 2002 in Cook County for killing Lori Uylaki, 25, of Hammond, and Lynn Huber, 22, of Chicago. Their bodies were discovered in Wolf Lake in 1996.

The earlier sentence was commuted to life in prison by Ryan.

Trail of homicides followed Andrew Urdiales

January 1986: Robbin Brandley, a Saddleback Community College student from Laguna Beach, Calif., was found stabbed to death while Urdiales was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

July 17, 1988: Julie McGhee, 30, a prostitute, was found shot to death in a remote area of Cathedral City, Calif. Urdiales was stationed at Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Sept. 25, 1988: Mary Ann Wells, 31, a prostitute, was found shot to death in San Diego while Urdiales was stationed at Twentynine Palms.

March 11, 1995: Denise Maney, 32, a prostitute, was found dead in Palm Springs, Calif.

April 14, 1996: Lori Uylaki, 25, of Hammond, was found dead in Wolf Lake near the Chicago/Hammond border. Her bloody clothes were tossed in garbage cans in Hammond alleys.

Aug. 2, 1996: Lynn Huber, 22, of Chicago, was found dead on the Chicago side of Wolf Lake. Her clothing was discarded in the same fashion as Uylaki’s.

July 14, 1996: Cassie Corum, 21, of Hammond, was found shot in the head and stabbed several times at a remote rest area near the Vermillion River near Pontiac, Ill., about 90 miles south of Chicago. Her body was dumped in the river. Urdiales picked her up in an area known for prostitution in Hammond.

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I do hope that he gets the death penalty. This guy is dangerous.

Investigators say Andrew Urdiales was smarter than your average serial killer. Between 1986 and 1996, his killing spree spanned from Illinois to California. In that time, he attacked and tortured nine women, with no witneses and no evidence left behind. Only one woman, Jennifer Asbenson, survived.

It wasn’t until 1996 when police tied the cases to Urdiales, who confessed in great detail to the eight murders and the attack on Asbenson.
More info and slide show here

A short excerpt of his confession here.

I know that even if he gets the death penalty in California he will probably die of old age. At least he will be better isolated, he will be in cell alone, he will not get as many chances to hurt other prisoners, guards, maintenance workers, so on. There is also less chance of escape from death row due to the heightened security.