California IN BRIEF : SAN RAFAEL : Death Row Convict Dies in Hospital

Convicted killer Louis Craine, who faced death in the gas chamber for the strangulation murders of four women in Los Angeles, died in a hospital in San Rafael. San Quentin Prison officials reported that the 32-year-old illiterate former construction worker died in Marin General Hospital of an undisclosed ailment. Craine was convicted in April and sentenced to death in June for four murders. Two of his victims were counted among 18 Southside Slayer victims. According to police, the other women were killed by at least two other people between the fall of 1983 and May, 1987.