Thousand Oaks Man Guilty in Nurse’s Death
A Ventura County jury Monday convicted a 20-year-old Thousand Oaks man of murder with a special circumstance that could send him to the gas chamber for last year’s slaying of Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan.
Mark Scott Thornton sat quietly as Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath read guilty verdicts to the 13 counts he faced.
O’Sullivan disappeared on her way home from work Sept. 14, 1993, after running some errands. Later that day, police began a manhunt for Thornton, after he kidnaped his 16-year-old girlfriend from her Westlake home.
Authorities did not suspect a link between the two crimes until they arrested Thornton in Reno five days later. He was driving the nurse’s Ford Explorer truck.
On Sept. 26, seven days after his arrest, the nurse’s body was found in a desolate area of the Santa Monica Mountains.
O’Sullivan was shot after she was ordered to her knees, prosecutors said. In about three weeks, the jury will begin hearing evidence to decide if Thornton should receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
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