Man Gets Life in Prison in Couple’s Slaying : Courts: Judge rules out any possibility of parole for Rudolph Benjamin in Anaheim shooting in drug dispute.
An unemployed Compton construction worker was sentenced Friday to life in prison for killing an Anaheim couple in an apparent dispute over drugs.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon ruled out any possibility of parole for Rudolph Benjamin, 30.
Benjamin was convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Diane Swarbrick, 23, and Louis Arturo Herrera, 24, in Swarbrick’s Anaheim apartment on May 30, 1989.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Molko said Benjamin was trying to force his way into Herrera’s drug-dealing business and killed him following a dispute. Swarbrick was killed to eliminate any witnesses, said Molko, who called the murders “callous.”
Two youngsters--the couple’s 20-month-old daughter and Herrera’s 18-month-old son--were alone in the apartment, unharmed, for about eight hours after the attack. The bodies were discovered when the older child made her way to a neighbor’s door and said: “Mommy has a boo-boo, and I can’t wake her up,” according to authorities.
Benjamin was identified as a suspect within days of the shooting but managed to elude police. He was captured after an anonymous tipster told police he was in a Los Angeles hospital under an assumed name.
Benjamin’s defense attorney could not be reached for comment late Friday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
