'Tool Box' Serial Killer Dies At San Quentin State Prison

SAN QUENTIN, CA — Convicted kidnapper, rapist and murderer Lawrence Bittaker, one of the two Los Angeles County "Tool Box" serial killers, died of natural causes last week at San Quentin State Prison, the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation announced Monday.

Bittaker, 79, died at 4 p.m. Friday. The Marin County Coroner will determine his cause of death.

Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris, 71, kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered five teenage girls between June 24 and Nov. 20, 1979. They were known as the "Tool Box Killers" because they used screwdrivers, vice grip pliers and other tools to kill their victims.

The victims were Lucinda Lynn Schaefer, 16; Andrea Joy Hall, 18; Jacqueline Doris Gilliam, 15; Jacqueline Leah Lamp, 13; and Shirley Lynette Ledford, 16. The bodies of Schaefer and Hall were never found.

Bittaker was convicted in Los Angeles County on all 26 counts against him, including murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, rape, oral copulation and sodomy. He was sentenced to death on March 22, 1981, and was admitted to death row on March 30, 1981.

Norris pleaded guilty on all counts, and in exchange, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. He testified against Bittaker and was sentenced on April 28, 1981, to 45 years to life in prison. He is in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

Since California reinstated the death penalty in 1978, 82 condemned inmates have died from natural causes, 27 committed suicide, 13 were executed in California, 14 have died from other causes, and four – including Bittaker – are pending a cause of death. There are 729 offenders on California's death row.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.