Jury Doesn't Buy Kinky Sex Defense In South Bay Rape/Murder Trial

REDONDO BEACH, CA – A Gardena man was found guilty on 25 felony counts he faced, including: one count each of murder, sodomy of an unconscious victim and forcible sodomy, seven counts each of rape of an unconscious person and forcible rape, six counts of sexual penetration by foreign object and two counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

Kevon Takashi Ross, 33, faces up to 300 years in prison for the murder of a woman and rape of three others in bondage-style motel encounters in the South Bay (Warning: the details of the case are violent and graphic in nature).

Kellie Marie Nolan, a 27-year-old from Torrance, was found unresponsive in a Gardena motel room on Dec. 12, 2015, wrapped in cellophane and duct tape from her abdomen to her hair, including her mouth and nose, police said. Authorities later said she died of asphyxiation, and her death was ruled a homicide.

Police discovered a camera and cellphone had recorded the events, and later discovered more videos on Ross' hard drives that allegedly show him sexually assaulting unconscious women. According to prosecutors, the videos show Ross wrapping the women up in cellophane and duct tape, and in some instances – hanging them from a pull-up bar in a doorway and having sex with them while they were unconscious, the Daily Breeze reported. Multiple women testified that they didn't know what Ross had done to them until after they were shown the video, according to the newspaper.

Prosecutors said that the videos show an abuse of trust. The defense said it was an accident, and a result of a risky lifestyle choice, the newspaper reported.

According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, Ross also sexually assaulted a girlfriend in October 2007, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office announced. Two other women also were raped by Ross between June and November 2015, one of them in Riverside County, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing, the District Attorney's Office said.

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