Death Row Inmate Dies At San Quentin

SAN QUENTIN, CA — A convicted child molestor and murderer who had been on California's death row since 2007 died Wednesday at San Quentin State Prison.

Joseph S. Cordova, 75, was found unresponsive at 4:08 p.m. in his single cell and was pronounced dead at 4:22 p.m. at the prison in the unincorporated town of San Quentin in Marin County. There were no signs of trauma, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. His cause of death and whether he had contracted COVID-19 were not yet known.

Also see: Death Row Inmate Who Died At San Quentin Had COVID-19

Cordova was sentenced to death in 2007 in Contra Costa County for the August 1979 rape and murder of 8-year-old Cannie Melinda Bullock in San Pablo.

"On Aug. 24, 1979, her mother had left her home alone that night," according to a release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "Her lifeless body was found in the backyard the next morning."

In 2002, investigators matched DNA from the crime scene to Cordova. He was serving a prison sentence in Colorado for child molestation. Cordova was admitted onto death row on May 22, 2007.