Inmate Found Guilty of Simi ‘Thrill Killing’

A Folsom Prison inmate was convicted Wednesday of the “thrill killing” of a homeless man stabbed to death in his sleep six years ago in an abandoned farmhouse in Simi Valley.

John Robert Kilroy, 23, was found guilty of conspiracy and first-degree murder for fatally stabbing Derek VanDusen at the house where Kilroy and some friends went to smoke marijuana in 1986.

VanDusen, 33, was found face down on Jan. 25, 1986, stabbed 36 times in a rear bedroom of the house dubbed the “Chicken Ranch” by Kilroy and his friends.

Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath ruled in the non-jury trial that there was no way that the four witnesses who testified against Kilroy--including David Arthur Dunlap, 23, who faces trial for the slaying on Aug. 24--could concoct such a complex story.

“The court is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the allegations are true,” McGrath said, rendering his verdict just seconds after attorneys finished their closing arguments.

Facing a sentence of 26 years to life, Kilroy said as he swaggered from the courtroom to the lockup:

“Way outta line!”

He is already serving a 19-year sentence for attempted murder after trading shots in 1991 with a Simi Valley resident, allegedly after he was surprised while prowling a neighborhood during a string of burglaries.

During his closing argument, defense attorney James M. Farley said no physical evidence ties Kilroy to VanDusen’s death.

Farley sought to discredit Dunlap and other prosecution witnesses as drug-addled narcotics users who could not accurately remember statements that they said Kilroy made about the killing.

“What they have is a bunch of drug addicts who admitted the fact that when any of these statements were made, they’d all been stoned,” said Farley, who was appointed by the court to defend Kilroy. “It always amazes me that somebody who’s fried their brain with drugs can have remarkably clear recollections of what was said, six years later.”

Farley said Dr. F. Warren Lovell, the county coroner, reported finding no evidence to support the testimony of another witness that Kilroy or Dunlap broke a log over VanDusen’s back before the stabbing.

Kilroy took the stand during the trial and testified that he did not stab VanDusen, and “was forthright and direct and stated what he believed was the truth,” Farley concluded.

However, Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison argued that Kilroy had confessed to the killing, according to witnesses’ testimony.

Todd Jones had testified that at the 7-Eleven store at Erringer Road and Cochran Street, Kilroy told him, “we’ve got something planned” and invited Jones to party with him and Dunlap, Ellison said.

The three walked to Rancho Park, where they smoked some pipefuls of marijuana, then went to the house on Patricia Avenue and smoked some more.

Kilroy led the other two to the darkened back bedroom where, Jones testified, Dunlap took a piece of wood and swung it at the floor.

Kilroy then disappeared into the darkness near the floor, where Jones testified he heard “a thumping sound . . . followed by a coughing sound and gurgling,” Ellison said.

“Kilroy then turned to Dunlap and said, ‘Here Dave, it’s your turn,’ ” Ellison said. “Mr. Dunlap bends down and Mr. Jones hears the thumping sound again, along with coughing and gurgling sounds.”

Jones, who was offered immunity in exchange for his testimony, told the court that one of the other youths threatened him to make him take the knife. Jones testified that he made stabbing motions toward the floor but was not sure whether he struck VanDusen, who was already dead, Ellison said.

Kilroy’s former girlfriend, Laura Barrett, testified that Kilroy kept newspaper clippings about VanDusen’s murder.

An acquaintance named Louis Guthrie testified that Kilroy showed him a switchblade knife in 1987, telling him that it was “no longer a virgin” and confessing to the killing, Ellison said.

“This is nothing less than a coldblooded, premeditated and deliberate murder,” Ellison concluded. “The motive is not clear, other than this was a thrill killing to see what it felt like.”

Kilroy’s sentencing for conspiracy and first-degree murder is scheduled for Sept. 10.