Free of Prison, Set for Vacation

As freed prisoner Kevin Lee Green prepared Monday for a trip to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate his first birthday on the outside in 17 years, the suspected serial killer accused of bludgeoning Green’s wife arrived in Orange County to face murder charges.

The lives of the two Marines seemed to diverge Monday as dramatically as they had collided last week, after Gerald Parker’s alleged confession to investigators abruptly ended Green’s nightmare and he walked out of a Santa Ana courtroom a free man.

Accompanied by investigators, Parker, a 41-year-old convicted rapist, flew Monday from the California State Prison at Corcoran. He was booked into the Orange County Jail on six counts of murder for slayings in Costa Mesa, Tustin and Anaheim.

Investigators allege Parker is the so-called “Bludgeon Killer” who haunted Orange County in the late 1970s. He faces charges that carry a possible death sentence and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Orange County Municipal Court.

The attacks stopped abruptly after Parker confessed to raping a 13-year-old girl in Tustin in 1980 and was sentenced to prison, investigators say.

Detectives said they belatedly linked Parker to the attacks using advanced genetic tests at the Orange County crime lab, a countywide database of unsolved murders and a statewide bank of the genetic material of convicted felons, including Parker.

Those high-tech methods were not available in 1980 when Green was found guilty of attempting to murder his pregnant wife and killing his unborn daughter.

Green, 38, moved further Monday from prison life, relaxing with family and planning a trip to Mexico with help from the Rev. Robert Schuller, minister of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove.

Schuller contacted Green in Missouri Sunday after reading of his wrongful incarceration. The plight of Green’s former wife, Dianna D’Aiello, was familiar to Schuller, a church spokesman said.

In October 1979, as the Schullers’ daughter recovered in an Orange County hospital from a motorcycle crash that cost her a leg, Arvella Schuller, the pastor’s wife, clasped hands with the Green family in the waiting room and prayed for Dianna D’Aiello.

“Kevin told him yesterday that he has never, ever forgotten Mrs. Schuller praying for his wife at that time,” Crystal Cathedral spokesman Michael Nason said. “Dr. Schuller has offered to do whatever he can to help him. Kevin is trying to sort things out right now.”

Schuller, impressed by the faith that Green said kept him from lapsing into bitterness in his years in prison, invited Green to come to the Cathedral as a guest speaker, Nason said.

A source familiar with Green’s plans said Schuller also is arranging accommodations for Green and his third wife, Darlene Green, in Cabo San Lucas when he celebrates his birthday next week.

Green is relishing his new-found freedom and looking to the future, considering what he will do for a living.

Requests for television interviews have been pouring in for Green from Inside Edition, Prime Time Live and other programs, said Green’s attorney, Ronald Brower. Some shows have offered Green several thousand dollars for his story, he said.

There have also been several contacts made by the book and movie industry, said Brower, who declined to elaborate.

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Green is amazed by the kindness of strangers, Brower said. There have been offers to train Green to become a carpenter or work in a market. Fullerton school teacher John Hamilton plans to send Green some money.

“Just a little something, after all he’s been through,” Hamilton said.

Brower said he plans to petition a state restitution fund that compensates victims of crimes.

“We’re looking at the possibility that he’s a victim, a victim of the system,” Brower said. “We would like to apply to that fund for some compensation.”

Brower said his client is not in a position to file a lawsuit, because there is no evidence that police or prosecutors did anything wrong, or conspired to keep Green behind bars. Green’s former wife, D’Aiello, had emerged from a coma and testified that he attacked her. Brower said he is also seeking the advice of two former Marines who are now lawyers to further assist his client. Green, a former Marine corporal, was dishonorably discharged after his arrest and conviction.

Green wants the documents to be changed to reflect an honorable discharge and is looking into the possibility of seeking back pay.

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Meanwhile Monday, the investigation of Parker continued. Investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and other local law enforcement agencies said they are continuing to look into whether Parker might be a suspect in similar crimes in other areas where he was stationed during his 7 1/2 years with the Marines, including North Carolina, Alaska and Mississippi.

Naval investigators spoke to Parker at the state prison Friday--after he had previously talked with other police detectives. “He was cooperative,” said naval investigator Michael Devine.

The service investigates any crimes committed by active duty personnel and is participating in a task force probing the Parker case, he said.

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said his department also is reviewing other similar unsolved cases to see whether they match Parker’s methods.

Law enforcement investigators have also shipped paperwork to the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program at Quantico, Va., so agents there can start a nationwide search for crimes that may match Parker’s profile.