00:00:05
on March the 14th 2014 workers at a
00:00:08
recycling plant in Anaheim California
00:00:11
would a gust when they discovered
00:00:13
something that stopped them in their
00:00:16
tracks they thought they saw a mannequin
00:00:19
on one of the conveyor belts and upon
00:00:21
closer inspection they realized this was
00:00:23
a human
00:00:24
body the victim was identified as
00:00:27
21-year-old Jer e a sex worker from
00:00:31
Modesto
00:00:33
California I think that this was a
00:00:36
person who probably sadly wrong place at
00:00:39
the wrong time because of the nature of
00:00:41
her work as police link The Killing to
00:00:44
The Disappearance of another three
00:00:46
missing women Steven Dean Gordon a
00:00:49
convicted pedophile was named as the
00:00:52
prime
00:00:53
suspect Steven Gordon is one dangerous
00:00:57
individual he's molested children he's
00:01:01
an
00:01:02
abductor he's an
00:01:04
allround
00:01:06
Predator Gordon had formed a dangerous
00:01:09
friendship with another sex offender and
00:01:12
the pair had been on a deadly
00:01:15
Rampage I believe he's evil because he
00:01:18
looked these women in the eyes he saw
00:01:20
them take their last breath and still
00:01:23
that didn't make him feel guilty enough
00:01:24
to stop doing that Steven Dean Gordon
00:01:28
had been unveiled as one of the world's
00:01:31
most evil
00:01:37
[Music]
00:01:53
killers in February 2017 Steven Dean
00:01:57
Gordon was sentenced to death for the
00:01:59
Mur murder of four sex workers in
00:02:02
California his crimes had begun 25 years
00:02:05
earlier when Gordon had been working at
00:02:07
a family amusement park but beneath the
00:02:10
facad he was hiding a ghastly secret it
00:02:14
was his own sister who went to the
00:02:16
police accusing the 23-year-old of
00:02:19
molesting her
00:02:21
son he's convicted he's given 15 months
00:02:24
in jail and is a registered child
00:02:28
molester over two decades on from his
00:02:31
initial conviction detectives
00:02:33
investigating the murder of 21-year-old
00:02:36
sex worker jeray Eep had linked Gordon
00:02:39
to her
00:02:41
death it was a huge story and the media
00:02:44
was all out there I can remember getting
00:02:46
the call a body's been found on a
00:02:47
conveyor belt at a trash recycling
00:02:52
facility Gordon realizes that the net is
00:02:57
beginning to close around him and he
00:02:59
decides to leg
00:03:01
it and cuts off his GPS tracker device
00:03:04
again and gets on a bicycle and leaves
00:03:08
where he's
00:03:09
working officers needed to act fast to
00:03:13
prevent any more women being murdered at
00:03:15
the hands of Steven Dean
00:03:20
Gordon this killer Story begins on the
00:03:23
third of February
00:03:25
1969 on the west coast of the United
00:03:28
States of America
00:03:30
Steven Dean Gordon was born in 1969 in
00:03:34
Lynwood California and moved when he was
00:03:36
a small child with his family to Norwalk
00:03:39
California both in Southern
00:03:42
California it was a pretty itinerant
00:03:45
childhood originally they were in one
00:03:47
count County and then they moved to
00:03:50
another Santa feake is a very suburban
00:03:53
area south of Los Angeles very middle
00:03:56
class workingclass area he went to high
00:03:59
school there
00:04:01
it seems that he was quite a sickly
00:04:04
child he seemed to have a lot of health
00:04:09
problems it said that he was bullied at
00:04:12
school because of
00:04:15
that doesn't sound like he's ever really
00:04:18
made any real connections never really
00:04:20
had a good circle of friends who he
00:04:22
could count on for support and just
00:04:23
really had low self-esteem as a
00:04:26
result Gordon's ongoing health issues
00:04:29
also had a detrimental effect on his
00:04:32
academic
00:04:34
life he missed an entire year of school
00:04:36
due to illness and when he graduated
00:04:39
from high school he chose not to go any
00:04:41
further in terms of
00:04:43
Education when Gordon finished high
00:04:45
school he went to work as a handyman at
00:04:47
a large amusement park in the
00:04:50
area while Gordon was working at this
00:04:52
amusement park he developed a
00:04:53
relationship with one of his
00:04:56
co-workers the park was a world famous
00:04:58
attraction and a popular destination for
00:05:01
families with
00:05:04
children Gordon had been working there
00:05:06
for 4 years before he faced a runin with
00:05:09
the law in the early '90s his sister
00:05:12
accused him of sexually assaulting her
00:05:17
child at first Gordon admitted to the
00:05:19
crime against his own nephew but then he
00:05:23
went on to say he was actually
00:05:26
innocent he claimed that his girlfriend
00:05:28
had been the one to force him to
00:05:30
actually even plead guilty when he
00:05:32
didn't do anything at
00:05:35
all after that he threatened his
00:05:37
sister's life for uh filing those
00:05:39
charges against
00:05:41
him Gordon was 23 years old at the
00:05:46
time it was a strange thing to do but if
00:05:50
he was sexually attracted to Children it
00:05:53
may have been difficult for him to get
00:05:54
access to any children other than
00:05:58
members of of his own family so maybe he
00:06:02
had a rapport you know the child knew
00:06:04
him he was able to maybe threaten the
00:06:08
child to keep
00:06:15
quiet Gordon was convicted and sentenced
00:06:18
to 15 months in
00:06:20
prison the 23-year-old was also
00:06:24
registered as a child
00:06:26
molester when he was released he tried
00:06:28
to live as somewhat normal or
00:06:30
law-abiding
00:06:32
life despite blaming his girlfriend for
00:06:35
making him admit to the crime in 1995
00:06:39
the couple went on to get married by
00:06:42
1997 they have a daughter and um 2 years
00:06:45
later in the late '90s they moved to
00:06:47
Riverside
00:06:48
California there were a lot of problems
00:06:50
in their marriage and just in his life
00:06:52
in
00:06:53
general he was becoming more and more
00:06:55
irritable as the days went on because of
00:06:58
variety of Financial and domestic
00:07:01
issues his wife is trying to keep him
00:07:04
going he's threatening to kill himself
00:07:06
or hire a hitman of all unlikely things
00:07:09
to kill him so that she can get the
00:07:10
insurance money it's it's it's Slightly
00:07:15
bizarre I think this shows how out of
00:07:19
control he felt in life how powerless to
00:07:24
influence things certainly to his own
00:07:27
advantage
00:07:30
everything was a drama a catastrophe for
00:07:33
him things slowly started to unravel in
00:07:35
their marriage his wife noticed that he
00:07:38
had a terrible uh problem with anger the
00:07:42
smallest thing would get him upset and
00:07:45
she'd had enough by 2001 she took their
00:07:48
daughter she left them and she fed for
00:07:51
divorce when the divorce proceeding
00:07:53
started there was an order in place that
00:07:55
he was not to have contact with his wife
00:07:58
or daughter
00:08:01
Gordon violated that order in August
00:08:04
2001 by turning up where he knew they
00:08:08
would be when they go to church he temps
00:08:12
the daughter into his car which is
00:08:14
repainted and put new false number
00:08:17
plates
00:08:18
on and essentially he abducts them
00:08:22
fairly terrifying in every
00:08:24
way Gordon lured his daughter in with
00:08:27
sweets then threatened and his ex with a
00:08:30
stun gun forcing her to get into his
00:08:34
car he ties the wife up and subjects to
00:08:37
some kind of
00:08:40
ordeal he let his guard down at one
00:08:42
point and he allowed his wife to make a
00:08:44
call she called her parents and they of
00:08:46
course called
00:08:48
police it doesn't take long for the
00:08:50
police to arrive and indeed Gordon is
00:08:53
charged with two counts of kidnapping
00:08:56
wife and daughter
00:08:59
Steven Dean Gordon was found guilty and
00:09:03
sentenced to 10 years in prison he would
00:09:06
go on to spend eight of those years
00:09:08
behind bars and in February 2010 he was
00:09:11
released the 41-year-old headed to
00:09:14
Orange County California an area with
00:09:17
high rates of homelessness and
00:09:21
poverty Anaheim and Santa Ana are the
00:09:23
two most populated cities in Orange
00:09:26
County in 2013 three women completely
00:09:30
disappear off the streets of Santa
00:09:34
Ana the first one disappears about 20
00:09:37
days later another woman
00:09:39
disappears about 20 days after that
00:09:42
another woman disappears they're all
00:09:43
from Santa Ana they all worked as
00:09:47
prostitutes no one certain that
00:09:49
anything's happened to them they could
00:09:51
just have decided to give up or go to
00:09:53
another state or do something
00:09:55
different the first woman to be reported
00:09:58
missing was 20-year-old Kiana
00:10:02
Jackson she was originally from Willets
00:10:05
California in the northern California
00:10:09
area she did uh go to college After High
00:10:12
School but after one semester she
00:10:14
decided she wanted something a little
00:10:16
more exciting and she moved to Las
00:10:18
Vegas whilst living in Las Vegas Kiana
00:10:22
had started earning money by becoming a
00:10:25
sex
00:10:26
worker in October 2013 K Jackson and
00:10:29
took a bus from Las Vegas to the Anaheim
00:10:32
area so that she could attend a court
00:10:33
date for a previous prostitution
00:10:36
charge she checks into a hotel on her
00:10:39
way to court she never gets to court she
00:10:42
disappears literally Into Thin
00:10:46
Air her mom at the time said she didn't
00:10:48
know her daughter was working as a
00:10:50
prostitute she filed a missing person's
00:10:52
Report with police but police said to
00:10:54
her that she's an adult so really our
00:10:57
hands are tied there's not much that we
00:10:58
can do
00:11:01
the lifestyle of a sex worker is
00:11:02
transient by Nature they often move
00:11:04
around and they don't have any records
00:11:06
and they don't sign a lease for an
00:11:07
apartment they often live on the street
00:11:10
and it's very difficult to know whether
00:11:12
one of these missing women has just gone
00:11:14
on the run or whether some harm has come
00:11:17
to
00:11:19
them 17 days after Kiana Jackson went
00:11:23
missing on October the 23rd 2013 another
00:11:27
sex worker disappeared from the streets
00:11:30
of Santa
00:11:32
Anna 34-year-old mother of three
00:11:35
Josephine Monique
00:11:39
vas she had just attended birthday party
00:11:42
of a family member and then said she was
00:11:44
going to walk to the store to pick up
00:11:45
some items but they never saw her
00:11:49
again initially her husband thought that
00:11:52
she was still with her family and then
00:11:53
her family thought she was with her
00:11:54
husband so there was a little bit of a
00:11:55
delay before reporting that she was
00:11:57
missing
00:11:59
the family of Josephine Vargas got out
00:12:02
there on the street they had missing
00:12:03
persons Flyers with Josephine's face on
00:12:05
it and they were putting these flowers
00:12:07
up all around the
00:12:10
neighborhood she's
00:12:12
disappeared they realize and police
00:12:15
acknowledge that there's been no
00:12:16
activity on her credit card or on her
00:12:18
bank card she's just
00:12:21
gone fellow sex worker 27-year-old
00:12:25
Martha annah had seemingly known the
00:12:28
missing woman 10 years on Martha's
00:12:31
eldest daughter Melody recalls that
00:12:35
time she did mention to me one of my
00:12:38
friends is
00:12:40
missing I believe that friend might have
00:12:43
been um Josephine Monique Vargas because
00:12:46
it was around the time that you know
00:12:48
that she had gone
00:12:51
missing I was 12 years old my sister was
00:12:54
four about to turn
00:12:56
five my mom was very close in age to me
00:13:00
she's only 15 years older than me so I
00:13:02
feel like we would be able to joke
00:13:04
around a lot she's like a best
00:13:08
friend 20 days after Josephine went
00:13:11
missing on the 12th of November 2013
00:13:15
Melody's mother Martha sent a text
00:13:17
message to her boyfriend before going
00:13:19
out to work that day her family were
00:13:22
unaware of what Martha was doing for
00:13:25
work we grew up in sanana I mean sana's
00:13:29
known to be like not the greatest City
00:13:31
in Orange
00:13:32
County I would say that back then Harbor
00:13:37
uh was known to have a lot of
00:13:39
prostitution Harbor Boulevard in Santa
00:13:42
Ana was where many sex workers would
00:13:45
wait for
00:13:46
business Martha anniah was one of these
00:13:49
women and felt safe being on the streets
00:13:52
there at night one time me and my mother
00:13:55
were walking it was around like 8:00 at
00:13:57
night and I was like you don't ever get
00:13:59
scared walking alone at night and she
00:14:01
was like no because I know how to fight
00:14:03
she wasn't scared of
00:14:05
anything when Martha didn't turn up the
00:14:08
day after she'd messaged her boyfriend
00:14:10
about going to work her family knew
00:14:13
something was
00:14:15
wrong Martha would message her mother
00:14:18
Linda regularly throughout the day
00:14:31
Linda then had a tough decision to make
00:14:34
how to tell her 12-year-old
00:14:36
granddaughter that something was wrong I
00:14:39
had gotten home and my grandma was
00:14:42
sitting at the table and she was crying
00:14:45
and I was like why is she
00:14:47
crying finally she told me I haven't
00:14:49
heard from your mom all day
00:15:19
[Music]
00:15:22
Martha was last seen in Santa Ana as
00:15:26
well it was really sad because the
00:15:30
family had just had a very typical day
00:15:33
with her before they were running
00:15:34
errands everything seemed normal but she
00:15:36
left her home without her belongings and
00:15:38
was never found
00:15:40
again Martha and Nia's family started
00:15:43
posting Flyers around the area in the
00:15:47
space of 5 weeks three sex workers had
00:15:49
disappeared from the streets of Santa
00:15:52
Anna none of them had been
00:15:55
found it's very stressful to not know
00:15:58
what it happened to your loved ones
00:16:00
especially to your mom who you're used
00:16:01
to seeing every day we did have that
00:16:03
mind that you know there was a
00:16:05
possibility that she wasn't with us
00:16:06
anymore but we did have
00:16:10
hope on March the 14th 2014 in Anaheim
00:16:15
the neighboring City to Santa Ana
00:16:17
workers at a recycling plant were
00:16:19
shocked to discover something unusual on
00:16:22
one of the conveyor
00:16:24
belts it's an extraordinary thing to
00:16:27
happen but it's clearly a body it's
00:16:30
clearly a woman and she's clearly met a
00:16:32
an untimely
00:16:34
end local reporter Eileen fur remembers
00:16:38
finding out about the discovery that was
00:16:41
big news that was big attention uh
00:16:44
because it's not often you have a body
00:16:46
dump in Anaheim so I think that's what
00:16:49
gathered the
00:16:51
attention investigators struggled to
00:16:53
identify who the woman was the body
00:16:56
didn't belong to any of the three
00:16:59
missing sex workers a tattoo on her neck
00:17:02
was checked against a database held by
00:17:05
police it wasn't until the detectives
00:17:09
started investigating and doing really
00:17:11
good police work uh to make that
00:17:13
connection and identify the body as
00:17:17
being that of Dre
00:17:20
Eep Dre Eep 21 originally from adesto
00:17:25
California was living in Anaheim and she
00:17:27
had a previous prostitution arrest in
00:17:31
Oklahoma Jer was somebody who also
00:17:34
frequented the Southern California area
00:17:37
and was known for her sex crimes and was
00:17:40
actually well known to the police for
00:17:42
this
00:17:43
reason jeray Eep was now the fourth sex
00:17:47
worker known to have gone missing from
00:17:49
the area in 5
00:17:52
months the four cases were now thought
00:17:55
to be
00:17:56
linked now the police are looking at
00:17:59
something more than simply isolated
00:18:03
incidents in this
00:18:07
area although only one body was found
00:18:10
the fate of the other three women seemed
00:18:14
clear it wasn't long after that police
00:18:17
were piecing together that there was a
00:18:19
serial killer involved and then then it
00:18:21
blew out up you know everybody was
00:18:22
covering
00:18:24
it now that the police think they have a
00:18:27
murderer of sex workers the natural
00:18:30
investigative Avenue is to go back and
00:18:32
look at other male sex offenders that
00:18:35
are living or frequently living
00:18:37
frequenting or working in those areas
00:18:39
where these sex workers have gone
00:18:41
missing with the exact locations the
00:18:44
women were picked up unknown officers
00:18:47
would struggle to narrow down whether
00:18:49
any particular sex offenders were
00:18:52
involved a breakthrough in the
00:18:54
investigation gave them a much needed
00:18:57
lead police exam ined some of the
00:19:00
rubbish that was found around jer's body
00:19:03
on that conveyor
00:19:04
belt investigators also found a tube of
00:19:07
cocking with fingerprints on it they ran
00:19:09
the fingerprints it came back belonging
00:19:11
to a window installer they brought them
00:19:13
in for questioning and he said you know
00:19:15
after finishing a job he would often
00:19:17
throw the waste in a trash bin in
00:19:20
Anaheim right next to a paint and auto
00:19:23
body
00:19:24
shop when police looked at which
00:19:27
registered sex offend ERS had frequented
00:19:30
that location a name immediately came up
00:19:34
Frank
00:19:36
Carlo Frank Carno was born in 1986 in
00:19:41
California he had ecma and Asthma as a
00:19:44
child rather sickly the family are not
00:19:47
rich they moved to a trailer park in
00:19:49
1994 they're not conventional
00:19:53
Suburban Frank cono was also a convicted
00:19:57
child predator a convicted
00:20:00
pedophile something is going on in
00:20:03
carno's mind and believe it or not in
00:20:08
2006 at the age of 20 he molests his
00:20:12
9-year-old
00:20:14
niece when the police arrived canol told
00:20:17
police that he molested his niece
00:20:19
because he was sexually frustrated he
00:20:21
was a virgin and he was unpopular with
00:20:24
girls Frank Carno had pleaded guilty to
00:20:27
one count of child sexual abuse and
00:20:30
received a 2-year
00:20:32
sentence after being in prison for 16
00:20:35
months Caro was released on parole in
00:20:38
October
00:20:42
2009 now in April 2014 4 and a half
00:20:47
years after his release for the child
00:20:49
abuse conviction Carno had been linked
00:20:51
to the body found on the conveyor belt
00:20:54
at the recycling
00:20:56
plant he had been in the area of the
00:20:58
that trash bin and he had also been in
00:21:01
the area where Jer eep's cell phone last
00:21:04
pinged the last call that she
00:21:06
made investigators wanted more evidence
00:21:10
that Caro was involved before they could
00:21:12
bring him in for
00:21:14
questioning they have cono under
00:21:16
surveillance and they also get the
00:21:18
permission to wiretap his cell phone so
00:21:21
they can listen to the calls they can
00:21:23
look at his text messages and what the
00:21:25
police say they discover is just
00:21:26
chilling
00:21:31
the text messages found on Frank carno's
00:21:34
phone showed that he hadn't been acting
00:21:36
alone in the 4 and a half years since
00:21:39
his release from prison Caro had struck
00:21:42
up a bond with another sex offender and
00:21:45
what they had done together in that time
00:21:48
was truly
00:21:51
horrific when the police did their
00:21:53
analysis they realized that Frank Canó
00:21:57
was in the same area as each of the four
00:22:00
missing women when they went
00:22:02
missing text messages uncovered on
00:22:05
carno's phone revealed that if he was
00:22:08
the killer he wasn't acting alone the
00:22:12
conversations between him and another
00:22:13
man many many conversations texts and
00:22:17
the text messages detail their hunt
00:22:20
their hunt for
00:22:21
women investigators were able to
00:22:24
identify the second man he was another
00:22:27
convicted sex affair Defender
00:22:30
45-year-old Steven Dean
00:22:33
Gordon Steven Gordon is one dangerous
00:22:37
individual he's not even um like a
00:22:41
single
00:22:42
offense Predator he's molested children
00:22:47
he's an
00:22:48
abductor he's an
00:22:50
allround
00:22:54
Predator but how had these two sex
00:22:57
offenders become friends
00:23:01
12 years before Jer eastep's body was
00:23:04
found and Caro had been identified as a
00:23:07
suspect Steven Dean Gordon had been sent
00:23:10
to jail for kidnapping his wife and
00:23:13
daughter after serving 8 years of his
00:23:16
sentence Gordon was released from prison
00:23:20
in February of 2010 Gordon is released
00:23:22
from prison on parole with several
00:23:24
restrictions one that he can't go near
00:23:26
his family um two that he must wear a
00:23:28
ankle monitoring bracelet and three that
00:23:30
he can't be present anywhere where
00:23:32
children gather and also he had to
00:23:34
register as an official sex
00:23:37
offender he was on the sexual predators
00:23:40
registry he had to wear a GPS tracker he
00:23:43
clearly had to check in multiple times
00:23:45
with his parole officer a
00:23:47
month it's very hard for registered sex
00:23:50
offenders to find a place to live to
00:23:52
find work because they're very limited
00:23:54
on where they can be so he manages to
00:23:57
get odd job jobs at this paint and auto
00:24:00
body shop in
00:24:02
Anaheim he lived as a transient really
00:24:04
he had no place to live the people uh at
00:24:07
that paint not Body Shop allowed him to
00:24:09
uh sleep in his vehicle out in the back
00:24:12
of the
00:24:14
business it was while working at the
00:24:16
auto shop that Steven Dean Gordon met
00:24:19
23-year-old Frank
00:24:22
Carno cono was also a registered child
00:24:25
molester and he too had to wear a Je PPS
00:24:29
ankle
00:24:30
monitor here you have two men one much
00:24:33
older one 17 years older than the other
00:24:36
they strike up what will become an
00:24:40
absolutely extraordinary
00:24:43
[Music]
00:24:46
friendship I think they bonded a lot
00:24:48
over their childhood
00:24:50
difficulties cono also suffered from
00:24:53
multiple health issues as a child and
00:24:55
was also extensively bullied they were
00:24:57
both outside they both didn't feel like
00:24:59
they were part of a community and I
00:25:01
think even more so than their possibly
00:25:04
shared perversion for sexual predator
00:25:09
behaviors Gordon was living in a car at
00:25:11
the back of the auto shop where he
00:25:14
worked and with Carno struggling to find
00:25:17
accommodation Gordon invited him to live
00:25:20
in the vehicle with
00:25:22
him they both had problems building a
00:25:26
stable life for themselves they were
00:25:29
both borderline homeless the nature of
00:25:31
their offending I mean they were
00:25:33
ostracized from their family networks
00:25:37
they shared this you know feeling that
00:25:40
the world was against
00:25:41
them cono and Gordon lived in a car
00:25:46
together for quite a bit of
00:25:48
time on the one hand that could really
00:25:51
stress a relationship even if you really
00:25:53
like the person but on the other hand
00:25:55
it's also a certain type of bonding
00:25:59
their close relationship LED them to
00:26:01
make a risky decision
00:26:04
together Gordon and cono is so close and
00:26:07
they obviously identify with one another
00:26:09
with the given their track
00:26:11
records but they also want freedom and
00:26:14
in
00:26:15
2010 they both cut off their GPS
00:26:19
tracking devices and leave for
00:26:24
Alabama those ankle bracelets give
00:26:26
almost an immediate notification when
00:26:28
they're cut off and so they didn't last
00:26:30
long on the run and ultimately were
00:26:32
apprehended by federal agents in
00:26:35
Alabama they got caught of course they
00:26:37
were brought back they did some
00:26:39
time Gordon and Carno were both sent
00:26:42
back to prison for five months for
00:26:45
breaking the terms of their parole but
00:26:48
that didn't make them change their ways
00:26:50
and in 2012 2 years after fleeing for
00:26:53
Alabama they repeated the same
00:26:57
technique Gordon and Cano do the same
00:26:59
thing they do it again they remove their
00:27:01
ankle bracelets and they take
00:27:03
off this time they escaped to a very
00:27:06
family themed hotel in Vegas and
00:27:10
basically partied it up
00:27:12
there they were ultimately found at a
00:27:15
casino in Las Vegas that kind of um
00:27:17
specializes in attracting families and
00:27:19
children unlike most of the other hotels
00:27:22
in casinos in Vegas it's not a
00:27:25
coincidence that these two sex offended
00:27:27
ended up the one hotel in Vegas that's
00:27:29
known to have a bunch of children
00:27:30
running
00:27:32
around being that they both have a
00:27:34
history of molesting and um being a
00:27:38
predator to
00:27:39
Children it was probably a place that
00:27:41
they both felt very stimulated by
00:27:43
because there were so many children
00:27:45
around and families around and this is
00:27:48
another person for each of them that
00:27:51
could share that perversion with and
00:27:53
could understand you and wouldn't judge
00:27:55
you
00:27:58
it was two weeks before the authorities
00:28:01
finally tracked the two sex offenders
00:28:03
down on this
00:28:06
occasion on the 8th of May 2012 both
00:28:10
Gordon and Carno were arrested for
00:28:12
breaking the conditions of their
00:28:15
parole they're both sentenced to P in
00:28:18
jail Carno gets 10 months and Gordon
00:28:23
gets eight one in state prison one in
00:28:26
Federal in a way that's they're
00:28:29
cementing this extraordinary intense
00:28:32
relationship between these two
00:28:35
men Caro and Gordon were back on the
00:28:38
streets in early
00:28:40
2013 and the criminal pair were quickly
00:28:44
reunited they hook up and start spending
00:28:47
much more time together and they start
00:28:49
traveling around
00:28:51
together they're back out they're still
00:28:53
wearing GPS ankle bracelets to be
00:28:55
monitored in Gordon's case he was being
00:28:57
monitored by federal probation and in
00:29:01
con's case he was being monitored by
00:29:03
state parole
00:29:06
agents as part of their parole
00:29:08
restrictions both men were ordered to
00:29:11
stay away from other sex offenders
00:29:13
including each
00:29:16
other but as their GPS devices were
00:29:19
being monitored by different agencies
00:29:22
Gordon and conno constantly being in the
00:29:25
same location as each other wasn't
00:29:28
blacked cono and Gordon were basically
00:29:31
living their own altered reality because
00:29:33
they were spending almost all of their
00:29:35
time exclusively with one another and
00:29:38
they really bounced off of one another
00:29:41
in terms of their ideas and their
00:29:42
beliefs and here's this person basically
00:29:44
justifying that what you're thinking and
00:29:46
what you're planning is okay and maybe
00:29:47
even welcomed which is really scary
00:29:50
because they found some kind of
00:29:51
community with one
00:29:54
another now after the discovery of jeray
00:29:57
E body carno's text conversations with
00:30:01
Gordon provided the police with an
00:30:03
insight into the relationship between
00:30:06
the two Predators they examine the phone
00:30:10
records between the two
00:30:12
men and in particular they come up with
00:30:16
the chilling remark that Gordon sends to
00:30:18
Carno in the wake of the Estep killing
00:30:21
this is the best one
00:30:23
yet in the text messages Gordon and Caro
00:30:28
referred to the women as cats or
00:30:31
kitties Gordon thought jeray was
00:30:34
beautiful he said cat is beautiful in
00:30:36
one of his texts uh he didn't want to
00:30:38
kill her the text messages between the
00:30:41
two are just chilling as they decide
00:30:44
whether she's going to live or
00:30:47
die I think in some ways cono and Gordon
00:30:51
referring to the women that they hunted
00:30:53
and killed as kitties it was that sort
00:30:56
of feeling of predator and prey so a
00:30:59
kitty being an innocent prey and again
00:31:02
that feeling of establishing dominance
00:31:04
and power over these women also I think
00:31:06
just points again to the fact that they
00:31:09
very much did not really view these
00:31:10
women as human beings they did not have
00:31:13
any respect for them so almost treated
00:31:15
them like
00:31:17
animals it was clear the two men may
00:31:20
have been praying on women together
00:31:22
before raping and murdering them police
00:31:26
needed to act fast
00:31:28
they apprehended Frank Carno and then
00:31:30
tried to find Steven Dean Gordon but
00:31:34
Gordon seemed to know they were coming
00:31:36
for
00:31:37
him police are closing in on the body
00:31:39
shop where Gordon Works Gordon senses
00:31:42
this removes his ankle bracelet hops on
00:31:44
his bike and takes off fleeing from the
00:31:48
police a dangerous sexual predator was
00:31:51
on the run from the law Steven Dean
00:31:54
Gordon had a history of removing his GPS
00:31:57
ankle Monitor and fleeing to other
00:32:00
states the police needed to locate their
00:32:03
suspect before he disappeared for good
00:32:07
the police catch up with him less than a
00:32:08
quar mile away where he tries to jump
00:32:10
off the
00:32:11
bike he doesn't make a very far he flies
00:32:14
over the handlebars and they arrest
00:32:17
him Gordon was taken to the station for
00:32:20
questioning fellow suspect Frank Carno
00:32:23
was waiting for a lawyer and therefore
00:32:26
not talking to the police
00:32:29
investigators may have expected the same
00:32:32
reluctance to answer questions from
00:32:35
Gordon after initially saying I don't
00:32:38
want to talk he embarks on what is
00:32:40
amounts to the most extraordinary
00:32:45
confession 13 and 1 half hours of
00:32:48
conversation in which he goes into the
00:32:51
most elaborate detail of what he and
00:32:54
Cara have done to their victims
00:32:59
they started to hunt down women in
00:33:01
particular prostitutes they would be
00:33:04
cruising up and down Beach Boulevard in
00:33:06
Orange County and looking for the
00:33:10
victims Gordon tells police how he would
00:33:13
pick up the woman in his car while Canó
00:33:16
was hidden in the back seat once they
00:33:18
were in the car Canó would come up from
00:33:20
the back seat and overpower the
00:33:22
women they would then take the car and
00:33:24
drive the women in the car behind the
00:33:26
auto body shop with they were kind of
00:33:28
camping out where the women would then
00:33:30
be raped by the two of
00:33:34
them Gordon described how Canó would
00:33:36
strangle the women and he would punch
00:33:38
them in the stomach to make sure the air
00:33:40
got out quicker so that they would die
00:33:43
quicker they kidnapped
00:33:45
them they raped
00:33:48
them they killed them and they threw
00:33:51
their bodies
00:33:53
out during the interrogation Gordon
00:33:57
seemed to Revel in sharing the details
00:34:00
of the four
00:34:01
murders there were times where he would
00:34:03
get frustrated with the police for
00:34:05
asking him questions about the victims
00:34:07
out of order and he would actually
00:34:09
physically rearrange the photographs of
00:34:11
the women that they laid out for him so
00:34:13
that they were in the order in which he
00:34:15
abducted and murdered
00:34:16
them he was actually showing almost a
00:34:19
sick pride in what he had done by
00:34:22
correcting them and getting it right cuz
00:34:24
he knew he wanted them to get it right
00:34:29
there was another shock in store for
00:34:32
investigators when Gordon revealed some
00:34:35
unexpected
00:34:36
information he also during that time
00:34:39
brought up a fifth victim he said you're
00:34:42
missing
00:34:44
one the Anaheim Police detective said
00:34:46
you know she didn't want to show shock
00:34:48
but she was shocked everyone was shocked
00:34:51
because they didn't know that there was
00:34:52
another person
00:34:54
missing no one knows who that was or
00:34:57
where it was there's no evidence and
00:34:59
again there's no
00:35:00
body only one body had been found but
00:35:04
with Gordon's confessions investigators
00:35:07
were sure that all four missing women
00:35:10
had been
00:35:11
killed Frank Carno and Steven Dean
00:35:14
Gordon were both charged with four
00:35:17
counts of
00:35:20
murder Melody annah remembers being
00:35:23
given news about her mother Martha
00:35:27
as soon as I found out how my mom was
00:35:30
murdered I couldn't help but to picture
00:35:32
like her last
00:35:34
moments it just made me very angry I had
00:35:37
read about how she was the one that
00:35:39
fought the most for her life and it the
00:35:41
flashbacks of her telling me I know how
00:35:43
to fight like I'm okay like nothing's
00:35:45
going to happen to me came into my head
00:35:47
and it made me think like wow you never
00:35:48
really think this kind of stuff is going
00:35:50
to happen to you but there's always that
00:35:54
chance one of the hardest things Linda
00:35:57
had to do do was to tell Martha's
00:35:59
5-year-old daughter the truth
00:36:19
[Music]
00:36:28
Gordon's trial commenced on November the
00:36:30
16th
00:36:32
2016 the 47-year-old decided to
00:36:35
represent himself in
00:36:38
court but this time his story changes he
00:36:42
says no no Carno was responsible for
00:36:45
planning this I was merely following on
00:36:48
I had nothing to do with it I wasn't the
00:36:51
initiator this is like the ultimate
00:36:54
control for Gordon he's in control of
00:36:57
the courtroom everybody's listening to
00:36:59
what he has to say everybody's watching
00:37:01
him he can call who he wants to the
00:37:04
stand to me it seemed like he relished
00:37:06
in the
00:37:08
moment during his trial Gordon blamed
00:37:12
his probation officers for not keeping a
00:37:15
closer eye on him and tracking him he
00:37:18
believe that they should be monitoring
00:37:19
me more
00:37:21
carefully they both knew that they
00:37:23
shouldn't be consorting with each other
00:37:25
they both knew that was a violation of
00:37:26
their parole and they kept doing it it
00:37:28
anyway for him to confess to having
00:37:31
murdered all these women and then try to
00:37:33
blame all these other people for it is a
00:37:35
little
00:37:38
disingenuous Melody anayah who was now
00:37:41
15 years old was living out of the
00:37:44
country during Gordon's
00:37:47
trial I really wish I would have
00:37:49
attended I I had a lot to say he watched
00:37:52
women die so I would have just wanted to
00:37:55
express to him like how it affected me
00:37:57
just to let him hear
00:38:00
it I would have just wanted to let that
00:38:02
out and let him know you know I don't
00:38:04
have my mom anymore my little sister
00:38:05
doesn't have her mom
00:38:07
[Music]
00:38:23
anymore on December the 15th 2016
00:38:28
the jury returned their
00:38:31
[Music]
00:38:34
verdict it took jurors just about an
00:38:37
hour before coming back with a decision
00:38:39
on Steven
00:38:41
Gordon before the jurors came in he
00:38:44
laughed a
00:38:45
little the jury don't hesitate in
00:38:48
confirming Gordon's guilt and in a most
00:38:52
remarkable
00:38:53
Outburst he then says to the court and I
00:38:58
quote if you kill people like this in
00:39:01
Cold Blood you deserve to die I believe
00:39:04
that and went on my actions are evil and
00:39:09
horrible and you're going to get your
00:39:11
Justice very
00:39:13
shortly on February the 3rd
00:39:16
2017 Steven Dean Gordon was sentenced to
00:39:21
death he doesn't complain at all when he
00:39:25
sentenced to death in fact he accepts it
00:39:28
he's sent to death row in s Quentin in
00:39:31
California Gordon he got the death
00:39:34
penalty but obviously to me and the
00:39:37
other families that's not fair like you
00:39:40
know we're never going to get our loved
00:39:41
ones back and it'll never really be
00:39:44
fair Frank Carno was tried separately
00:39:48
and in 2022 he was handed his
00:39:52
punishment Caro finally pleads guilty to
00:39:55
the four rapes and murders
00:39:58
but he's done a deal with the district
00:40:01
attorney that if he confesses and pleads
00:40:04
guilty they won't ask for the death
00:40:06
penalty so he's effectively saying whole
00:40:09
life in
00:40:13
prison Justice may have been served in
00:40:16
the eyes of the law but the families
00:40:19
were left with unanswered
00:40:22
questions the only body that was ever
00:40:24
found was J
00:40:27
the bodies of the three other women were
00:40:29
never found they are believed to be in
00:40:32
the Brea landfill and in fact Martha
00:40:35
annia's family that's where they held a
00:40:37
memorial for was at the landfill that
00:40:39
was the last known place where they
00:40:40
believe she is
00:41:02
kava during his police interview Gordon
00:41:06
had confessed to an additional murder
00:41:10
the fifth victim was identified as sable
00:41:12
picket 19 years old from Compton which
00:41:15
is located in Los Angeles County her
00:41:17
body was never found
00:41:24
either people like Gordon are evil
00:41:26
they're just they're kill machines they
00:41:28
spend their whole lives doing this until
00:41:29
they're
00:41:31
caught that's kind of the easiest way to
00:41:33
think of these people they just evil
00:41:37
personify five women lost their lives at
00:41:40
the hands of Steven Dean
00:41:42
Gordon if he hadn't been caught when he
00:41:45
was there may have been more
00:41:49
victims I believe he's evil because you
00:41:53
know he looked these women in the eyes
00:41:55
he saw them take their last breath and
00:41:57
still that didn't make him feel guilty
00:41:59
enough to stop doing
00:42:01
[Music]
00:42:03
that I'm glad this isn't going to happen
00:42:05
to any other women the only thing as
00:42:07
selfish as it is like I wish it wouldn't
00:42:09
have been my mom the person that I
00:42:11
needed more than anything in this
00:42:17
world Steven Dean Gordon sexually
00:42:20
molested a child and then formed a bond
00:42:23
with another child predator working
00:42:26
together the they acted out their sick
00:42:28
perversions resulting in abduction rape
00:42:32
and the murder of five innocent women
00:42:35
Steven Dean Gordon will forever be known
00:42:38
as one of the world's most evil killers
00:42:44
[Music]
00:43:05
[Music]
