Task Force Deems Murders of 26 Women Solved

A law enforcement task force investigating for nearly five years the murders of 43 female prostitutes and hitchhikers announced Wednesday that 26 of the murders have been solved, although in 16 of the 26 cases there is not enough evidence to bring criminal charges.

Authorities said they believe the 16 murders were committed by two men currently in prison for attacking women.

“We do not have enough (evidence) to criminally charge them at this time and we may never,” said Dist. Atty. Edwin L. Miller Jr. “But we do have enough to consider those murders solved.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dick Lewis, who led the task force, said one of the two suspected killers, Ronald Elliot Porter, 45, an ex-Marine and onetime Escondido auto mechanic, committed 13 of the murders, in addition to the one for which he was convicted last year. Porter was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison.

Lewis said Porter is linked to the crimes by fibers, bloodstains, possessions and at least two witnesses. Also, many of the women died of neck fractures likely to be inflicted by a kind of hand-to-hand combat taught in the Marine Corps, Lewis said.

“When we got (arrested) Porter in October, 1988, we didn’t have a killing or attack after that,” Lewis said. “There are no bodies showing up on Interstate 8. There were no more ladies showing up at El Cajon Hospital begging for treatment.”

The Metropolitan Homicide Task Force, consisting of up to 32 investigators from the San Diego Police Department, district attorney’s office, Sheriff’s Department and California attorney general’s office, was formed in September, 1988, and spent $850,000, not including salaries. The task force has disbanded.

The murders occurred in a three-year stretch with women disappearing along Interstate 8 and from prostitute hot spots. They were found dead in rural areas of eastern San Diego County.

Part of the investigation focused on whether San Diego police officers were involved in any of the deaths. One officer was fired and another demoted for developing a personal relationship with one of the prostitutes, Donna Gentile.

After the 22-year-old Gentile was found murdered in 1985, a videotape surfaced in which she warned that if she was ever killed, it might be by police. Lewis said he is convinced that Gentile was killed by Porter.

Lewis identified the other suspected multiple killer as Blake Raymond Taylor, 27, of Lemon Grove, already serving nine years to life in prison for the attempted murder of a prostitute. Taylor killed three more prostitutes, Lewis said, although there is insufficient evidence to bring charges.

In addition to the 16 murders attributed by Lewis to Porter and Taylor, 10 other murders have resulted in 14 arrests. Nine people have been convicted in those cases and five others are awaiting trial.

Of the 17 murders considered unsolved, seven of the victims have never been identified.

Miller called the task force “the most successful serial killer task force in U.S. history.”

But the mother of one of the victims said the task force was shutting down prematurely, particularly since the two men linked to the 16 murders will someday be eligible for parole unless they are convicted of additional crimes.

“They want to trick us into believing it was money well spent on the task force,” said Lynda Coleman of San Diego, whose 25-year-old daughter, Cynthia Maine, disappeared in 1986. “All this time just to pin a bunch of murders on two guys in prison but not be able to prove it? That’s a joke.”