Serial killer admits to unsolved murders in Aptos and Santa Cruz

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Seri … 063911.php

A serial killer who said he is haunted in prison by the ghosts of his victims admitted to slaying a woman at Beer Can Beach in Aptos and killing a man in San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz, prosecutors announced Monday.

Terry Childs, 61, pleaded guilty Friday to committing two murders that had remained unsolved for more than three decades: Joan Mack and Christopher Hall.

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell said the confessions will help bring closure for Mack and Hall’s families.

On October 11, 1984, Mack’s body was found at Beer Can Beach. She had been stabbed to death.

On February 3, 1985, Hall was found shot to death in San Lorenzo Park.

Childs was sentenced by Judge Timothy Volkmann Friday to two terms of life without possibility of parole, to be served consecutive to each other.

Mack’s daughter Alexis, who was 5-years-old at the time of her mother’s death, spoke about resulting trauma she has dealt with.

"I want to extend my sincerest gratitude for everyone involved with this case at the District Attorney’s Office and all else involved in contributing to making it possible for the defendant to step forward to do this. The events that took place today have been tremendously helpful in my healing process while also giving me the opportunity to be heard," she said.

Childs will serve the two new sentences consecutive to murder sentences he is already serving for murder convictions in Santa Cruz in 1987, Nevada in 1998, and Santa Clara in 2007.

He is an inmate at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.

Childs, the son of a bail bondsman, had studied police techniques to cover up his tracks while carrying out an unknown number of homicides.

In past confessions to police detectives, the inmate said some of his victims were haunting him in his cell, staring at him, and "eating up his brain."

A decade ago, he admitted to committing the brutal murder of Linda Ann Jozovich in 1979. The 19-year-old woman was taking a break from her job at Mervyn’s in Santa Clara when she was abducted, beaten, strangled, stabbed, and dumped in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Police did not find her body for 15 years. Childs said he murdered Jozovich because he was in a rage from fighting with his mother earlier that day.

Childs said Jozovich was one of the victims who haunted him until he confessed to the crime.