Good! Glad to hear they are getting moving on this.

It appears he is still representing himself…that’s a guaranteed conviction! His arrogance will bite him in the ass.

Reminds me the alphabet murders…all four victims had identical inital letter in their first and last names..

QT

Reminds me the alphabet murders…all four victims had identical inital letter in their first and last names..

QT

And Naso was from the same part of New York where the Alphabet murders happened.

True.
Who’d believe there were two women called "Carmen Colon" too huh? Never mind the fact that they both fell victims to a serial murderer.
You couldn’t make it up.

Reminds me the alphabet murders…all four victims had identical inital letter in their first and last names..

QT

And Naso was from the same part of New York where the Alphabet murders happened.

Has he been cleared of any involvement in those crimes?I know he was linked to them when first arrested.Funnily enough Kenneth Bianchi,the Hillside Strangler also lived in the area at the time.

A good article written today that pretty much sums up what Naso’s crime were and conveys just how arrogant the guy is considering the magnitude of what he is accused of doing.

http://www.pacificsun.com/news/cover_st … 0f31a.html

Accused serial killer Joseph Naso took a bow as he greeted potential jurors this week.

The 79-year-old retired photographer from Reno dressed in a suit and tie for the opening of his Marin County Superior Court trial on charges he murdered four prostitutes, two in the 1970s and two in the 1990s, in what the media has dubbed the “alphabet murders.” Each of the slain women had first and last names with matching initial letters.

At the trial’s start, Judge Andrew Sweet introduced the defendant to a standing-room only crowd of prospective jurors. Naso rose from his seat at the defense table, turning away from the judge and toward the men and women who came to the San Rafael courtroom to be screened for jury duty.

“Good morning,” he said, smiling and pressing his hands together as if praying. Then he bowed deeply.

The movement seemed more appropriate for the end of a yoga class than the beginning of a capital trial. But Naso’s approach to the charges against him has been anything but conventional.

He faces the death penalty if found guilty of the special circumstance of murdering two or more people. He has no training in the law, and Sweet has repeatedly admonished him about his lack of preparation and legal knowledge. Naso has nevertheless insisted upon acting as his own attorney in a preliminary hearing, pretrial motions and now a trial that could result in a death sentence.

He boastfully admits photographing women in nylons, garters and high heels but denies killing anyone. In fact, in a jailhouse interview last year, he said he never even met three of the victims and only shot pictures of one, Pamela Parsons.

He said she agreed to model for him after he picked her up when she was hitchhiking in Yuba City. “All I did was take pictures of her,” he said. “I didn’t harm her. I didn’t date her. She had a nice figure. She had nice legs. It was consensual.”

Investigators found pictures of Parsons, 38, and a Sept. 19, 1993 article from the Appeal Democrat newspaper—about the discovery of her nude body in rural Yuba County—in his safe-deposit box.

During the interview last June, Naso spoke to me through a telephone while sitting on the other side of glass scratched with hearts and lovers’ initials in the visiting area of the Marin County Jail. He has been held there without bail since April 2011.

Wearing a yellow and white striped jail-issued short-sleeve shirt over a long-sleeve pink thermal, he claimed his most violent crime was an attempted rape in New York in 1958.

•••••

“I HAVE MUCH respect and admiration for that lady,” he said, talking into an old-style telephone receiver. “If she were to walk into this room right now, I would bow and humbly apologize. I didn’t harm her. I tried to have sex with her.

“I look back and think, ‘Geez, that’s terrible.’ But I haven’t done anything since then.”

Naso stands accused of the first-degree murders of Parsons, Roxene Roggasch, Carmen Colon and Tracy Tafoya.

Roggasch, an 18-year-old prostitute who worked out of Oakland, was the first of the four to be slain. Dressed only in inside-out pantyhose, her body was discovered off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near White’s Hill, between Lagunitas and Fairfax, in 1977. Semen taken from the pantyhose matched Naso’s DNA, court documents say.

A pair of stockings was stuffed into Roggasch’s mouth, another was wrapped around her mouth and a third around her neck. DNA matching Naso’s ex-wife’s was found on the nylons around her neck. Naso raised two children with Judy Naso, and the family lived for years in the affluent Alameda County city of Piedmont.

The Marin County district attorney has agreed to prosecute all four first-degree murder cases, though the other three victims were recovered outside of his regular jurisdiction.

The naked, decomposed body of Carmen Colon, 22, was found in rural Contra Costa County in 1978. The nude body of Tracy Tafoya, 31, was discovered along a highway next to a cemetery in 1994.

Investigators saw a journal in Naso’s house with an entry dated Aug. 6, 1994, the day Tafoya went missing, which says, "Met Tracy—put it to her."

Officers went to Naso’s Reno house in 2010 under the terms of his probation for a shoplifting conviction at a South Lake Tahoe supermarket where he had worked. Probation officers linked him to the slayings after finding what they called “a rape diary” and “a list of dump sites” in his home. The numbered, handwritten roster lists nine California locations and one in Florida where authorities believe Naso disposed of victims.

He is charged with murdering numbers two, three, nine and ten on the list. Authorities believe he listed Colon second—the “girl near Port Costa,” Roggasch third—the “girl near Loganitas” (a botched spelling of Lagunitas), Parsons ninth —the “girl from Linda,” and Tafoya last—the “girl from MRSV” (shorthand for Marysville).

An investigation is continuing into the fate of the other six women, including a “girl on Mt. Tam” and a “girl from Berkeley.”

Prosecutors also plan to connect Naso to the 1992 disappearance of Renee Shapiro, a Bob Dylan fan who went by the name of the musician’s former wife, Sara Dylan. Investigators found Shapiro’s driver’s license and passport in Naso’s safe-deposit box and believe she was number eight on Naso’s list—girl in Woodland.”

Journals found in Naso’s Reno home detail sexual assaults as far back as the 1950s, according to court documents. One entry reads: "Buffalo girl . . . She was only 17. . . . Picked her up at work once. And put it to her in the front seat. She told her mother. Mother told cops. Cop . . . told me to get out of town. 1958."

During a preliminary hearing, Naso said his journal entries had been misconstrued. "I sometimes use the term ‘rape’ to mean I scored, I made out," he said. "When I use the word, ‘rape,’ it just means I had a good time."

In the house and the safe-deposit box they also discovered guns, ammunition, law-enforcement uniforms and badges, handcuffs, a video about killers Ted Bundy and Gary Gilmore, more than $150,000 in cash, erotically dressed mannequins and hundreds of photographs of naked and scantily clad women.

•••••

NASO HAS REPEATEDLY described the photos as his “art.” Many of the women in the pictures appear dead or unconscious. Two of the women Naso is charged with killing were strangled. The bodies of the other two were too badly decomposed to determine the cause of their deaths.

Prosecutors contend that Naso drugged the women before raping or trying to rape them, then killed them and discarded their bodies in remote locations. They will argue the retired photographer took pictures of some of the victims after he knocked them out or killed them.

Judge Sweet this week began asking potential jurors to fill out 24-page questionnaires detailing their feelings about the death penalty, their experience with sexual assaults and their familiarity with the case. Prospective jurors must return to court for further questioning from Naso as well as the prosecuting attorneys on June 3.

Sweet estimated jury selection would take four to six weeks, and the trial could continue until Nov. 15.

The jury questionnaire includes a list of 156 potential witnesses. Naso has not said whether he plans to take the stand.

Asked about testifying in his own defense during our interview last June, Naso was uncertain. “It’s a good question,” he said. “I’m playing a strange role here. I’m the defendant and the attorney.

“I’m a very credible witness. I like getting in front of a group. But I’m somewhat reluctant because I don’t know what kind of tactics I’ll be facing. I wouldn’t want the prosecution to ask me questions to confuse me. I don’t have that law school legalese.”

He has rejected advice to hire a lawyer from some of the Bay Area’s top criminal-defense attorneys. Asked why during the interview, Naso said it came down to control.

“It’s not that I’m cheap or tight,” he said. “I don’t always trust attorneys. I wanted to see what it is they have. Anything they have against me I get firsthand. I have a right to examine all evidence against me.”

Planned witnesses for the prosecution include Naso’s ex-wife, one of the slain prostitute’s pimps and a woman who told police that Naso drugged and raped her in Berkeley in 1961.

Naso cross-examined the alleged rape Berkeley rape victim during pretrial hearings. “It’s the first time I’ve seen you in 52 years,” he told her. “It’s the first time I’ve seen you with the lights on.”

Dr. Park Dietz, a prominent forensic psychiatrist, is also expected to testify for the prosecution during the trial. During pretrial hearings, Dietz talked generally about the mementoes, trophies, writings and pictures he said sexual serial killers often keep.

“All of them have certain common features. All of them allow the offender to continue to control the victim, to not forget what he regarded as a good time,” he said.

“The key is to continue to control and possess that victim. It’s part of the domination—to have her and keep her.”

Dietz has testified at the trials of some of the nation’s most infamous criminals. His subjects include serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and mass murderer Jared Lee Loughner.

But Naso is the first accused killer to turn the tables on the noted criminologist.

During pretrial hearings last month, Deputy District Attorney Dori Ahana put Dietz on the witness stand to show that the list of 10, the rape dairy and photographs of unconscious women found at Naso’s home should be admitted as trial evidence.

Then Naso cross-examined Dietz. The psychiatrist said it was the first time a defendant ever interrogated him.

Naso’s questions were friendly, as if the two were meeting at a cocktail party rather than as adversaries in a courtroom.

“It’s a pleasure to meet the company of an educated man,” the defendant told the expert on serial killers. “I have one simple question. Would you mind telling us where you grew up and went to school because you look familiar?”

When Dietz answered that he was from Pennsylvania, Naso said he had a “premonition” to that effect.

“It’s not likely anyone would be inclined to rape a prostitute, correct?” Naso asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Dietz replied. “It happens all the time.”

Naso argued affably with Dietz about Roggasch’s pantyhose. Dietz noted the young woman was “wearing the pantyhose inside out, indicating a man dressed her.”

With Naso posing the questions, the two men discussed cigar-store glamor magazines of the 1930s through 1950s, cheesecake photos, Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page and the pinup art of Alberto Vargas.

“This is maybe what someone enjoys doing, taking pictures of women in lingerie,” Naso told Dietz.

“If someone has fantasies of women dressed a certain way, that’s lawful,” the psychiatrist responded. “If someone makes someone unconscious against her will, that’s a crime.”

After a courtroom break, during which time Dietz described having a suspected serial killer questioning him as “odd,” Naso began a different line of questioning.

“Did you know as a boy I was a boy scout?”

“No, I did not,” Dietz responded.

“And I also coached Little League?”

“No.”

“Did you know I was an instructor at an art institute?”

“Yes, I did.”

Do you know for a fact that I was a professional photographer taking pictures of families, schools?”

“I know you said that. I also have no reason to doubt you.”

Naso then showed Dietz dozens of photographs investigators found in his house. One of them was marked up with drawings over the actual image.

“This is motivated doodling, making her appear more like he wants her,” Dietz said.

“It’s pretty good, isn’t it?” Naso said.

The judge urged Naso to ask questions rather than make statements.

“Are those the kind of photos that could be consistent with a person who might want to harm somebody?” Naso asked Dietz.

He dodged the question but called the picture “creepy,” then added: “It’s not as creepy as the family portrait of the dolls. You overdid the makeup on those.”

Naso sat up straighter in his seat, grinning and looking filled with pride.

I cannot understand for the life of me how he can be allowed to cross-examine his (alleged) victim! Just insane.

Interesting he had a potential "Mt. Tam" victim. We know there was a lady attacked there and some have thought it Zodiac.

Glad the cops of today aren’t like the cops back then…."just get out of town"…..

Very disturbing and drawn-out case.

It will be good to see this guy finally face justice.

I guess the jury selection that began at the end of April is getting underway in earnest now. Apparently prospective jurors were given questionnaires back in April and those have now been sorted through presumably weeding out the undesirable prospects. A new article has been published today.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/0 … selection/

The trial got underway today in earnest. It is expected to last five months. Here’s a news story with a new picture of Naso. Honestly he looks a lot better now than he did in those "Where’s Waldo?" -esque photos.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-law … tri/nYMwD/

Today at the trial the list of 10 women/girls found among Naso’s things that Naso is thought to have murdered is revealed.

http://sfist.com/2013/06/18/prosecution … ential.php

Healdsburg is in Sonoma County, not Mendocino. The Port Costa likely refers to Carmen Colon.

Below, the full List of Ten as presented at Naso’s trial.

1. Girl near Heldsburg Mendocino Co.
2. Girl near Port Costa
3. Girl near Loganitas [likely Roggasch]
4. Girl on Mt. Tam
5. Girl from Miami near Down Peninsula
6. Girl from Berkeley
7. Lady from 839 Leavenworth
8. Girl in Woodland (near Nevada County) [Likely Sara Dylan]
9. Girl from Linda (Yuba County) [likely Pamela Parsons found in 1993]
10. Girl from MRSV (Cemetery)

Today at the trial the list of 10 women/girls found among Naso’s things that Naso is thought to have murdered is revealed.

http://sfist.com/2013/06/18/prosecution … ential.php

Healdsburg is in Sonoma County, not Mendocino. The Port Costa likely refers to Carmen Colon.

Below, the full List of Ten as presented at Naso’s trial.

1. Girl near Heldsburg Mendocino Co.
2. Girl near Port Costa
3. Girl near Loganitas [likely Roggasch]
4. Girl on Mt. Tam
5. Girl from Miami near Down Peninsula
6. Girl from Berkeley
7. Lady from 839 Leavenworth
8. Girl in Woodland (near Nevada County) [Likely Sara Dylan]
9. Girl from Linda (Yuba County) [likely Pamela Parsons found in 1993]
10. Girl from MRSV (Cemetery)

Thanks for the updates Seagull! This guy is going down in flames, and it’s disgusting we all foot the bill for this trial.

I can’t remember…did he ever associated dates with any of these victims?

No, I do not believe that any dates accompanied the likely victims list of ten.

I don’t think he associated any dates with his victims. But some had that double initial thing going, which makes one wonder how he found those females. Then it looks like some willing went with him to have their photos taken, that’s pretty sad. And I agree with he’s for sure quilty and its going to cost alot of tax payer dollars. Anyone hear what became of this son. Sounded like his son had some issues and needed to be taken care if to a point?