BRYAN MAURICE JONES | "The Dumpster Killer" | Serial killer/Rape-slayer of prostitutes | ALS

B.M. Jones. Autographed Letter, Signed. Handwritten, Commercial #10 (4.125 × 9.5 envelope). San Francisco CA. Pmk: September 28, 2023. Content unknown. SEALED.

• Classification: Serial killer

• Characteristics: Rape-slayer of prostitutes

• Number of victims: 4

• Date of murders: 1985 – 1986

• Date of birth: 1957

• Victims profile: Women (prostitutes)

• Method of murder: ???

• Location: San Diego, California, USA

• Status: Sentenced to death, 1994ⁱ

1. Maria R.

Maria R. testified that on August 15, 1985, she was homeless and living on the street. She used heroin two or three times a week but was not high that day. She struck up a conversation with Bryan, and he offered her $20 for sex. She did not usually engage in prostitution but would occasionally do so. She agreed, and they took the bus to Bryan's apartment on 51st Street. Maria R. had sex with Bryan in the apartment, he paid her, and she took a shower. When she emerged from the shower, Bryan had a rope in his hand. He forcibly placed the rope around her neck, jumped on her back and started choking her with his hands and the rope. She blacked out; when she awoke, Bryan attacked her again, and she again blacked out. When she awoke a second time, Bryan told her she would have to orally copulate him if she wanted him to let her go. She complied because she “wanted [her] life” and had no choice. Bryan released her after first taking back his $20.

Although Maria R. had had problems with the police before, she reported the crime to them. She accompanied police to the apartment building where she had been assaulted and hid while they brought Bryan outside. Bryan was taken into custody but after his release a few days later, she returned to the apartment with some people from a church, who apparently tried to dissuade Bryan from attacking her again.

The jury found Bryan guilty of attempting to murder Maria R. using a deadly weapon, i.e., a rope.

2. Tara Simpson

Two weeks later, on August 29, 1985, police and firefighters responded to a report of a fire in a dumpster in the alley behind Bryan's apartment on 51st Street. The fire had been set intentionally using an accelerant. After dousing the fire, responders found in the dumpster the body of Tara Simpson, an 18-year old African-American prostitute, burned almost beyond recognition. Although the severity of the burning made forensic examination difficult, an autopsy revealed a traumatic injury to her nose that was not caused by the fire, an incised injury like a knife wound in her abdomen, and evidence of asphyxia (small petechial hemorrhages on the surface of the heart), but no trauma to her throat or airway. Swabs revealed the presence of acid phosphatase in her mouth, vagina and rectum, suggesting seminal fluid. There being no aspirated soot in her lungs, she had died before being burned, probably of alcohol and cocaine poisoning. Although Bryan was charged with murdering Simpson, the jury hung eight to four in favor of guilt.

3. Trina Carpenter

Five and one-half months later, on February 11, 1986, firefighters responded to another dumpster fire in the same alley, about one block away from where they found Simpson's body. It also was started with an accelerant. After dousing the fire, they found inside the dumpster the body of Trina Carpenter, a 22-year old African-American prostitute. Her body bore evidence of bruising and other injuries around her neck, and tests showed she had cocaine and/or cocaine metabolites in her body when she died. An autopsy concluded she died from asphyxia caused by strangulation.

Carpenter's body had been placed in a duffel bag before being put in the dumpster and set alight. The bag contained two cotton balls, one in her hand and one inside the duffel bag. The cotton balls bore evidence of spermatozoa and epithelial cells. In addition, vaginal swabs indicated the presence of spermatozoa as well as a high concentration of acid phosphatase, indicating the presence of seminal fluid. Swabs from Carpenter's mouth and rectum were negative for evidence of sexual activity. Genetic testing of the cotton balls found sperm contributed by more than one man to be present, but the predominant contributor was someone of Bryan's genotype. A population frequency analysis shows this genotype appears in approximately 15 percent of the African-American population.

On the evening Carpenter was killed, a witness heard a “very loud thunk” emanating from the alley where Carpenter's body was eventually found. The witness looked out her window and saw an older car with blue oxidized paint near the dumpster where Carpenter's body was later found. When firefighters arrived, the car was gone. Although Bryan was charged with Carpenter's murder, the jury hung 11 to one in favor of guilt.

4. JoAnn Sweets

Two and one-half months later, on May 9, 1986, police found the body of JoAnn Sweets. She was in a dumpster behind Bryan's apartment, just one block from where police had found Carpenter's body and steps from where Maria R. was assaulted. She was unclothed except for a bra and blouse. Sweets, a 34-year old African-American woman, had been killed by manual strangulation and had severe injuries to her face and neck. She also had a broken neck, clavicle and rib. Cocaine was detected in her body. Her body was wrapped in a bed sheet and a mattress pad and then placed in two plastic garbage bags sealed with tape. Everything in the dumpster was covered by an afghan blanket.

Bryan's sister, L.A., told police she was almost 100 percent sure her mother had crocheted the blanket, although she backtracked somewhat at trial. Carpet fibers found on Sweets's blouse, the mattress pad and the afghan blanket matched the carpet in Bryan's apartment on 51st Street. Using a process called vacuum metal deposition, police also discovered Bryan's fingerprints and one of his palm prints on the plastic garbage bags. They also found his fingerprint on the dumpster.

Oral and vaginal swabs of Sweets's body tested negative for spermatozoa. Some sperm was detected on rectal swabs, but not enough to test. The bed sheet in which Sweets was wrapped was stained with semen, and a genetic test determined that more than one man had produced the stains. Bryan's genotype was represented in the stains, and epithelial cells found on the unstained portion of the sheet were also consistent with Bryan's genotype.

The jury convicted Bryan of the first degree murder of Sweets and sustained a special circumstance allegation that he killed her while engaged in the commission or the attempted commission of a forcible sodomy.

5. Sophia Glover

On August 15, 1986, about three months after police found JoAnn Sweets's body, police discovered the lifeless body of Sophia Glover rolled in a blanket and placed on the grassy area between the sidewalk and the street, about a block from the Wilsie home on Mississippi Street. Glover, a 37-year–old African-American woman, was living on the streets at the time she was killed and may have been a prostitute. Her body bore severe trauma to the head, neck and chest, and she had cocaine in her system when she died. An autopsy determined she died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation. One of Wilsie's neighbors found Glover's clothes neatly folded and stacked in a nearby alley.

A small amount of spermatozoa was found on a vaginal swab taken from Glover's body, and both spermatozoa and acid phosphatase, indicative of seminal fluid, were found on an anal swab. The amount of genetic material on the vaginal swab was deemed insufficient for testing, but the spermatozoa on the anal swab was consistent with Bryan's genotype and subject to the same population statistics, i.e., 15 percent of the African-American population has that genotype.

The jury convicted Bryan of the first degree murder of Glover and sustained a special circumstance allegation that he did so while engaged in the commission or attempted commission of a forcible sodomy.

6. Bertha R.

Evidence of Bryan's crimes against Bertha R. was admitted as tending to prove his identity, motive, and intent in the charged crimes. Bertha, an African-American woman, testified that on October 16, 1986, about two months after Glover was killed, she was in a telephone booth on El Cajon Boulevard looking up the address of a check-cashing store so she could cash a check. Bertha was employed as a cook and was not a prostitute, although El Cajon Boulevard was a street where many prostitutes worked. Bryan pulled up in a blue Datsun 280Z, engaged her in conversation, told her he knew the location of the check-cashing place, and offered her a ride. Bertha thought he seemed nice so she agreed, and he drove her to the store. The computers were down at the check-cashing store, however, so Bryan suggested she hang out with him and she agreed. He drove her to a home she later identified as the Wilsie home on Mississippi Street. Once inside, they smoked a marijuana cigarette.

As they sat on the sofa watching television, he asked her if he would “be too forward if he asked me to kiss [him].” She declined the kiss. They continued to watch television but he suddenly grabbed her neck very tightly from behind. He had a knife in the other hand and told her that if she did not do what he said, he would kill her. He then forced her to disrobe and attempted to sodomize her. When he was unsuccessful at achieving penetration, he raped her. As she got dressed, he went through her purse and took $65 in cash. After she was dressed, he said, “I have got to find someplace to put you.” He took her back to his car and they drove to Fiesta Island. Once there, he told her he knew where she lived and he would kill her family if she reported the crime. He then forced her to orally copulate him in the car. From there they drove around the San Diego area, but when she told him she was about to vomit he let her out of the car and she escaped.

Bryan was tried separately for these crimes, convicted of several felonies and sentenced in 1987 to 22 years in prison.

7. Karen M.

On October 20, 1986, just four days after assaulting Bertha R., Karen M., an admitted drug addict and prostitute, was on the street near 29th Street and Imperial Avenue when Bryan pulled up in a blue/gray Datsun 280Z. He solicited her for an act of prostitution and she agreed. Although her preference was to have a “car date,” Bryan said he had a house and took her to the Wilsie house on Mississippi Street. Once there, she remarked that she had a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey and offered him some, so he went into the kitchen to get a glass while she disrobed. When she asked about her payment, he placed her in a choke hold from behind, completely lifting her off the floor by her neck. He told her to do as he said or he would kill her. She was beginning to black out, so she agreed.

After Bryan released her from the choke hold, he forced her to drink a large glass of whiskey, which made her sick. She told him she would do whatever he wanted and pleaded with him not to hurt her. She then orally copulated him; he attempted to sodomize her but was unsuccessful. Bryan attempted several more sex acts and continued to force the victim to drink whiskey. She eventually passed out and was discovered by Marjorie Wilsie, who had come to the house to clean up following her mother-in-law's death two weeks earlier. The police responded to the scene and although Karen M. protested that she was guilty of nothing more than prostitution, she was arrested for burglary and sent to a detoxification center. She told police she had been raped, but they did not then believe her.

With regard to the crimes involving Karen M., the jury convicted Bryan of attempted murder and three forcible sex crimes: rape, sodomy and oral copulation. The jury also sustained a multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation.

On April 12, 1994, the jury returned a verdict of death.

VIDEO: Death Grip | FULL EPISODE | The New Detectives | https://youtu.be/dd1Ud714NT8

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