SAN DIEGO : Prison Terms in Woman’s Murder
Two homeless men were sentenced to prison Wednesday for killing a woman who lived with them in a squatters’ camp in the San Diego River bed.
Charles Kevin Rickard, 21, received a sentence of 19 years to life in state prison for the murder of Amanda Olmstead, 30, on Aug. 13. Superior Court Judge William Kennedy also ordered James Franklin Risner, 21, to serve 18 years to life in prison.
The men were convicted of second-degree murder in separate trials for stabbing and bludgeoning Olmstead with a rock after she argued with another woman over $5.
“I regret very deeply that my daughter is one degree less dead than I thought she was,” said Oliver Olmstead, who told the judge he believed the killers deserved a death sentence.
The trials gave a rare glimpse at homelessness. Witnesses testified that a large camp in the riverbed near Interstate 5 was home to dozens of people who often used methamphetamine and relied on discarded food to survive.
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