Bail Denied for Suspect in 2 East County Slayings

A 44-year-old man charged with the murders of two women in East County was ordered Thursday to remain in County Jail without bail.

The arraignment for Ronald Elliot Porter of Escondido, a former mechanic, was delayed until Sept. 27 by San Diego Municipal Judge H. Ronald Domnitz at the request of attorney Terry Kolkey.

After the brief appearance by Porter, who agreed to the delay, Kolkey said he has yet to talk to Porter except in court and does not know whether he will be retained by Porter.

Porter was charged Monday with the 1986 slaying of Carol Gushrowski, 26, a mother of two in El Cajon, and the 1988 murder of Sandra Cwik, 43, a hitchhiker.

The murder cases are part of the long-running Metropolitan Homicide Task Force investigation into the deaths of 42 women, many of them prostitutes, in East and North County since 1985.

Porter was paroled from state prison last December after serving two years of a four-year term for assaulting a prostitute in the Buckman Springs area in 1988. His parole was revoked earlier this year, and he was to have been released next week.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Dusek said “evidence has developed over time” in the cases against Porter, but would not elaborate.

“We just learned the identity of one of the victims this year. That was a big break,” Dusek said.

The prosecutor was referring to Gushrowski, whose body was found July 22, 1986, near Old Buckman Springs Road and Old Highway 80. Gushrowski had disappeared a month earlier, but the body was not identified until early July through dental records.

When the prosecutor was asked if Porter would be charged with other murders, he replied: “I have charged him with the ones I believe he did, and the ones I can prove.”

Porter is also accused of five counts of attempted murder and three rape charges involving other victims.