Deputies Kill Man Sought in Three Murders

Sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday killed a man wanted in the murders of three people, including a health inspector whom he was accused of beating after she condemned slum apartments he managed.

Deputies and Robert Courtney, armed with a semiautomatic weapon, exchanged gunfire during a 20-minute chase on California 58 east of Bakersfield, Kern County Sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Lantz said.

Courtney, 48, stopped his car after it was peppered with gunfire, Lantz said.

Deputies surrounded the car and fired a barrage of shots when Courtney got out, witnesses reported. One deputy was hit by flying glass or shrapnel, but the injury was considered minor, Lantz said.

The chase came one day after Courtney allegedly gunned down Kern County health inspector Cindy Volpe, 39; her husband, Kenneth Volpe, 38; and Cindy Volpe’s mother, Betty Reed, 62, of Scottsdale, Ariz.

The sheriff’s office released the tape of a call from Cindy Volpe to a 911 dispatcher as she was being murdered. She gave her address and first name and said “there’s an intruder in my house.”

Then, scream after scream is heard on the tape intermingled with gunshots and ending with a whimper.

Courtney, on trial but free on bail on a charge of assaulting Cindy Volpe, walked through an open back door in the Volpe’s home in Bakersfield and fired 10 to 15 rounds, investigators said.

There were signs of a struggle in the house, and Kenneth Volpe may have been killed while fleeing, Sgt. Glenn Johnson said.

The Volpe’s two children and Cindy Volpe’s father were at the home when the shooting occurred, but they escaped unharmed.

A Superior Court jury had been deadlocked Monday on charges that Courtney broke Cindy Volpe’s jaw after she cited his apartment complex for raw sewage seeping into the water well. Judge John Kelly had asked the jurors to continue deliberating but called off Tuesday’s sessions after the murders. On Wednesday, he dismissed the assault case and offered counseling to any jurors who requested it.

Some jurors were weeping as they left the courtroom.

Courtney remained at large for more than 24 hours after the killings until a convenience store clerk in the rural town of Lamont recognized him from media descriptions and notified authorities.

Dist. Atty. Ed Jagels said Courtney had shown a pattern of violent crimes since 1968 with “four or five” arrest warrants issued in Los Angeles County.