Murderer on San Quentin Death Row for Violent 1979 Crime Dies: Prison

By Bay City News Service:

A death row inmate at San Quentin State Prison died of natural causes at a medical center in the community, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said Monday.

Bernard L. Hamilton, 64, was pronounced dead at 10:45 a.m.

A San Diego County jury sentenced Hamilton to death on March 2, 1981, for second-degree burglary and the first-degree murder of Eleanore Buchanan on May 31, 1979, corrections officials said.

Hamilton kidnapped, murdered and dismembered Buchanan's body after she caught him burglarizing her van, Robinson said.

Hamilton also had a conviction for burglary in 1973, and was on death row since March 4, 1981, according to corrections officials.

Since 1978 when California reinstated the death penalty, 70 condemned inmates, including Hamilton, have died of natural causes, 25 have committed suicide, 13 have been executed in California and one was executed in Missouri, one in Virginia, eight have died of other causes and one cause of death is pending, according to the CDCR.

There are 747 inmates on the state's death row, corrections officials said.

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