CA CA - JOSEPH NASO, once a suspect in NY Alphabet Murders, now on trial in California

[i.b.nora]

More about the couple who lived in the same building as Joseph Naso, in San Francisco.

Serial killing suspect had boxes of notebooks detailing how he would torture women, investigator told former neighbor
By Matthias Gafni
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 04/16/2011
Updated: 04/17/2011

All the same info plus a little more regarding his 'behavior' around Iorizzo and Prisco.

"The New York natives in their early 20s climbed into their yellow Volkswagen bus and drove Route 66 across the country to see what the Golden Gate would offer. Iorizzo had already lined up a gig playing bass.

The couple scraped by; Iorizzo moved furniture, Prisco got an office job at a car dealership.

The building superintendent at Prisco's job was a man Prisco barely noticed, the then-47-year-old Naso, who had just divorced his wife of 18 years in Oakland.

The couple eventually settled into a Mission district studio apartment in the 3600 block of 18th Street.

They didn't think much about it, but a new tenant lived below them. The car dealership superintendent had moved into the basement."

Holy smokes!!!

"The young couple quickly noticed Naso's odd behavior, Iorizzo said.

The Nevada investigator told Iorizzo that they found a copy of the couple's rental application in Naso's house. On the form it would have shown New York references, alerting Naso that the couple grew up in the same area of upstate New York as he did."

and

"By 1982, Iorizzo began getting a "freaky vibe," he said. His metronome would be moved in different angles; clothes would seem out of place.

"I said, 'Honey, we have to move. Something is headed our way,' " he said. "The Angel of Death was going to visit us, it felt like."

They left that April."

more, of course . . .

 

[wv171]

One thing for sure..

There sure are some very strange people out there now..

Kind of make you want to stay home all the time, Double lock the doors with all metal doors and name brand deadbolt's type of lock's and install bullet proof glass all around your home..

 

[i.b.nora]

Joseph Naso: Understanding an alleged serial killer
8:57 PM, Apr. 16, 2011
Written by
Jaclyn O'Malley - jomalley at rgj.com

Its a good article, I am highlighting things I find especially interesting:

"During the past several years, he became caretaker to his extremely mentally ill middle-aged son, often lashing out against the system by making legal challenges regarding the son's treatment. Naso thought he could do better than health care workers, some whom he deemed incompetent and refused to let inside his home.

But Naso amassed a criminal history dating back to 1955 and seemed to have a fondness for women's underwear -- including an arrest relating to the alleged theft of underwear in the 1990s from a department store, according to the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. and asking a female neighbor in Yuba City, Calif., if she was selling women's underwear at her garage sale, according to Sacramento News 10.

Neighbors in Lemmon Valley described Naso, who had dozens of addresses spanning the country throughout the last several decades, to news media as strange and mentioned the fences around his modest home, which allowed no view into his backyard."

more ...

If you 'google' you will find hints about lawsuits and Naso, but I don't have the means to follow through to find out what the lawsuits were about. Maybe someone else does.

 

[i.b.nora]

Naso murder arrest brings Fairfax victim's family 'a little closure'

By Gary Klien
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 04/17/2011 09:15:50 PM PDT
Updated: 04/17/2011 09:34:58 PM PDT

"Vernon Ashby still remembers the day in 1977 when Marin investigators called him in San Jose to say his 18-year-old stepdaughter, Roxene Roggasch, might be the woman they found murdered and dumped near Fairfax.

As detectives described the 5-foot-2-inch red-haired teen with freckles and a tattoo, Ashby recalled, "I was sure it was her."

The investigators needed an identification from next of kin. Ashby drove up with Roxene's mother, Beverly, and identified the body."

and

"Ashby, Roggasch's stepfather, said the family had no indication that she was involved in prostitution. Roggasch, who attended Mount Pleasant High School in San Jose, had a baby and went off to work for a traveling circus, Ashby said."

 

[i.b.nora]

Yuba City woman recalls 'creepy' encounter with suspected serial killer
Naso was in mentally ill support group
April 18, 2011 11:41:00 PM
By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat

"A Yuba City woman who knew accused serial killer Joseph Naso 17 years ago especially remembers his dark eyes.

Roberta Fletcher, then president of the local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, headed a support group for parents of mentally ill children. Naso had such a child and attended, she said."

more ...

 

[i.b.nora]

Would You Buy Underwear from an Accused Serial Killer? She Almost Did...

Reporting in Reno, Shannon Moore Fox 11 News
Posted: 1:21 pm PDT April 18, 2011Updated: 3:04 pm PDT April 18, 2011

"It was here at the El Rancho Flea market where two random people met, a seemingly harmless interaction…or at least that’s what Reno resident Royce Talkington thought until she saw our report last night."

and

"Talkington says the two of them worked alongside each other at the swap meet.

“He had a big brown van and would lay out a blanket and all he sold was women’s lingerie.”

Never really feeling comfortable around Naso, Talkington kept her distance, but her uneasy feelings hit a whole other level when he approached her one day and invited her home to model lingerie.

“And I said no way stay away from me. I don’t want anything to do with you anymore because it really triggered something inside that said danger danger stay away from this guy.”

more...

 

[i.b.nora]

And, one more article from a few days ago:

Murder victim's relatives learn of suspect's arrest through media
April 14, 2011 11:10:00 PM
By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat

"Oldweiler said her aunt's body was found in August 1994 at the Marysville Cemetery on Highway 70 north of the city. The body was unclothed and decomposed, having been there as long as a week, she said.

Hill said she was told by investigators at the time that her sister had been drugged, raped and dumped in the cemetery.

Tafoya's husband, Richard Tafoya, identified the body by an index finger that was partly missing and a tattoo on the right hand, Oldweiler said.

Richard Tafoya lives in Live Oak. A woman answered the phone Thursday and said authorities had told him not to speak with the media."

more...

 

[shadowraiths]

Alleged serial killer asks to be his own attorney
Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 28, 2011

The septuagenarian charged with murdering four Northern California women over a span of 17 years told a Marin County judge Wednesday that he wants to act as his own defense attorney.

"I have a lot of experience representing myself during proceedings," 77-year-old Joseph Naso told Superior Court Judge Andrew Sweet, referring to lawsuits Naso said he'd contested, and a court battle over the guardianship of one of his sons. "And I've done well - I've prevailed."​

Full Article: click here

 

[shadowraiths]

Family Friend Tells of Accused Serial Killer's Past
Thirty years ago, Joe Naso was a sports fan, photographer and antique bottle collector, according to a friend of his son.
By Lance Howland | Email the author | April 25, 2011

When he lived in the East Bay three decades ago, Joe Naso was a photographer and sports fan who would organize family trips to beaches to add to his family’s collection of antique bottles.

Naso is now accused of the murders of four Northern California women from the 1970s through the 1990s, including that of Roxene Roggasch, whose body was found on Jan. 11 1977 on the east side of White's Hill off of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

But one can get a sense of a different Naso family that lived in Piedmont back in the last 1970s and early 1980s — Judy and Joe Naso and their sons, David and Charlie — in an interview with a childhood friend of David’s. That friend asked for anonymity in granting interviews with Patch.​

Full Article: click here

 

[Salem]

He will represent himself: http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_17939744?source=rss&nclick_check=1


Salem

 

[shadowraiths]

By Karl Fischer, Robert Salonga and Matthias Gafni
Contra Costa Times
© Copyright 2011, Bay Area News Group
Posted: 04/24/2011 08:12:10 PM PDT
Updated: 04/25/2011 11:08:55 AM PDT

Last summer, scores of police descended upon Medgar Avenue, sealed the block and tore through the white, one-story house, jack-hammering the concrete floor and leaving state troopers to guard the property at night.

Therein, authorities extracted a lifetime worth of nightmarish evidence: bankers boxes full of composition notebooks filled with descriptions of torture and stalking, incriminating photographs, even a list of women's names -- presumably targets, sources said.

The evidence found in the house ultimately linked Naso to four unsolved slayings in Northern California: Roxene Roggasch, whose body was found near Fairfax in January 1977; Carmen Colon, near Port Costa in August 1978; Pamela Parsons, in Yuba County in September 1993; and Tracy Tafoya, in Marysville in August 1994.

Naso's preferred killing style, law enforcement sources say, was to strangle prostitutes and dump their bodies in rural areas. Investigators will not say whether the four women he's accused of killing were prostitutes, but indications suggest some might have been. And law enforcement sources strongly intimate they might solve more cases of missing and slain women before the investigation ends.​

article link

 

[wfgodot]

Joseph Naso, serial killing suspect, says racy bondage photos consensual
Posted: 05/27/2011 10:26:39 AM PDT

---
Investigators recovered more than 4,000 photos of scantily clad women, some in bondage and others appearing unconscious, sources told Bay Area News Group in previous reports. Investigators have spent the past year attempting to identify the hundreds of photographed women, who vary in age and race. No children appear in the photos.

"The photos of women were posed under free will," Naso told the judge.

Naso also had a "to-do list" of women's names and notebooks detailing how he would like to torture them, another source told Bay Area News Group.
---

more at Conta Costra Times link above

 

[wfgodot]

Documents: Serial killings suspect kept photos, Top 10 list including 4 California victims (Washington Post)

SAN FRANCISCO — Serial killing suspect Joseph Naso kept photographs, news clippings and journals related to four prostitutes whom he is charged with killing, documents released Thursday show.

Authorities had said previously that they had found an enormous amount of evidence linking Naso to the killings of four women, all with matching initials, and the newly released probable cause statement was the first glimpse into this evidence.
---

much more, detailing certain findings, at link above

 

[i.b.nora]

Judge looks into serial-killing suspect's assets
Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle July 7, 2011 05:05 PM

(07-07) 17:05 PDT SAN RAFAEL -- "A Marin County judge ordered an auditor Thursday to decide whether an elderly photographer accused of murdering four Northern California women is wealthy enough to pay for a co-defense attorney, or if county taxpayers should foot the bill for a public defender.

Superior Court Judge Andrew Sweet said a county official would look into how much Joseph Naso, 77, of Reno is worth.

Naso won the right to represent himself in May, but asked Sweet this week to provide him with an advisory attorney to help him prepare for his murder trial. The judge granted the request Thursday but left open the question of who would pay for the lawyer."

and

"Naso is due back in court in San Rafael on July 26."

 

[i.b.nora]

Documents: Serial killings suspect kept photos, Top 10 list including 4 California victims (Washington Post)
much more, detailing certain findings, at link above

The Washington Post link no longer works but the story is available at other sites. Its an AP story by Jason Dearen. He is local to the Bay Area. He used to write for the Mercury News / Contra Costa Times.
Here is one:

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110616/ap_on_re_us/us_double_initial_killings_3

snip

"Authorities had said previously that they had found an enormous amount of evidence linking Naso to the killings of four women, all with matching initials, and the newly released probable cause statement was the first glimpse into this evidence.

The 77-year-old Naso may have used his then-wife's panty hose to strangle one of the women, Roxene Roggasch, whose 1977 murder has been unsolved for decades, the documents state.

"DNA testing was done during which the DNA of Judith Naso ... was found on the panty hose around her neck," wrote Ryan Peterson, a Marin County sheriff's investigator.

The probable cause statement, used to hold Naso in jail, was unsealed Thursday after a coalition of media groups led by The Associated Press challenged the court's decision to seal them at Naso's arraignment."

much more...

 

[Kat]

I knew nothing about this case. I'll have to come back and read this thread.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/dd0a09071ac04d7c9fc27b9239685263/CA--Double-Initial-Killings/

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: July 29, 2011 - 6:12 pm
Last Updated: July 29, 2011 - 9:01 pm

A judge has ruled that Marin County will not pay for a legal adviser for a serial killing suspect who is representing himself in his murder trial.

In issuing his ruling, the judge directed prosecutors to provide Naso with his Wells Fargo checkbook.

 

[parakeet]

I just wonder if the initial thing was a coincidence, and if any murders of other young girls have not been considered to be by the same killer just based on initials. If all 3 were in a camp or church or some such together, I could see the relationship,, otherwise I have to chaulk it up to being just another coincidence that's bound to happen in a chaotic universe. According to profiler pat brown's (I think that's her name) "Top ten myths of serial killers" it is a popular myth that serial killers spend alot of time searching for the "perfect victim",, when they really 'settle' for who is available. If the initials are a factor, what would be the motive? I would think we were dealing with a killer who has ocd.

 

[maima]

I had never heard of this guy, either, until reading about him on another thread today. I did a Google News search and found these two recent articles. He keeps trying to delay his case:

Serial Slaying Suspect Flip Flops Again On Attorney
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18913710

Alleged Serial Killer Wants to Be Unshackled in Court
http://www.ktvu.com/news/29353257/detail.html

 

[liz b.]

I was wondering how a perp would even know the names of his victims before-hand. I read that Naso was a photographer. Could he have worked for a photography company that comes into the schools to take the annual school photo of each of the children? They were all Catholic school girls, weren't they? Maybe the same company was used? Just a thought.

As far as I know, the girls were not attending Catholic schools at the time of their murders. And, IIRC, they did not all belong to the same parish. There had to be another way that their killer researched them. MOO Finding that way would reveal a lot...MOO

 

[liz b.]

Joseph Naso of Reno, Nev., was being held on suspicion of murders in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties dating from 1977 to 1994.

The first victim was Roxene Roggasch, whose body was found in Fairfax in Marin County in 1977, Berberian said. Carmen Colon's body was found in Port Costa in Contra Costa County in 1978.

Pamela Parsons and Tracy Tofoya were separately found dead in Yuba County in 1993 and 1994 respectively.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7518516.html


State police and other law enforcement authorities are trying to determine whether there is a connection between a 77-year-old Nevada man charged with four murders Monday and the notorious “double initial” killings in Rochester in the early 1970s.

Naso once lived in the Rochester area and traveled between the west and the Rochester region in the early 1970s, authorities say.

As well, there is an eerie similarity between the California killings and the Rochester slayings — the first and last name of each of the victims, all of whom were female, began with the same letter.

One California victim, in fact, was named Carmen Colon, the same name of the 10-year-old girl who was abducted in Rochester in 1971, sexually assaulted, and strangled.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com...-murders-California-killings?odyssey=nav|head

Could well be him.MOO If only we knew how he went about finding his potential victims...