Grudge Killer Had 4 More on His Hit List

The police officer who arrested Malcolm Schlette 31 years ago, and one of five men on the elderly ex-con’s hit list, called Schlette “the most vicious criminal I ever bumped into.”

Schlette, 72, died last week after shooting to death former Marin County Dist. Atty. William Weissich at his San Rafael law office, then committing suicide by swallowing an unknown substance after police cornered him a few blocks away.

A small arsenal of weapons and survival gear was found in Schlette’s rented van, along with a list of five people--including Weissich--whom he had targeted for revenge for what he felt was an unfair 1955 arson conviction that sent him to prison for 20 years.

“He was the most vicious criminal I ever bumped into,” said retired San Rafael Police Lt. Nick Giampoli, who arrested Schlette for investigation of another 1955 fire that killed eight people at a rooming house.

Brooded Over List

“It was his attitude. He had that hit list in his cell, and he just sat there brooding over it,” Giampoli said, in reference to a similar list of Marin County death targets once found in Schlette’s prison cell. “I never forgot about him, even after I retired. I never forgot about the threats, and I always carried a gun.”

Giampoli also lives at a location not listed in public directories, but police reported finding the address listed in Schlette’s papers.

“I don’t know how he did that, but I do know that he was a shrewd, calculating s.o.b.,” Giampoli reacted.

Former Marin County Undersheriff Sid Stinson also was on Schlette’s hit list. Stinson said he adopted a pseudonym and moved to another city after his 1981 retirement because of lingering fears of the vengeful arsonist.

But Schlette’s suicide note and a statement discovered in his Santa Rosa apartment referred to Stinson’s pseudonym.

Investigator on List

Charles Daniels, a retired arson investigator, also was targeted for death by Schlette, a former mental patient said to have been a manic-depressive. Daniels said he worried when Schlette was released from prison but gradually stopped thinking about him.

“I’ve always had a pretty fatalistic attitude about these things,” he said. “There are only so many things you can guard against.”

The last man on Schlette’s list was Fred Dupuis, a former arson investigator.

“Fred carried a gun for a few days back in 1966 when Schlette was first released and we heard that he was armed and out to get the people who sent him to prison,” said Dupuis’ wife, Marybelle. “But then he (Schlette) was sent back to prison and we just kind of forgot about it.”

She said her husband came home after hearing early reports about Weissich’s shooting and remarked that it would be “strange” if the killer turned out to be Schlette: “But then he thought about it and said, ‘No, that would be crazy.’ But it wasn’t.”