The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 12

A12 Sunday April 28 1996 The Fresno Bee i -Vsk 1 WOILILDIMlSs Death Row inmates from the Valley Fresno Tulare Madera Kings and Merced counties life wracked Profile of Death Row tomato ags Age County of conviction Though March 1 County Inmates Inmates par million residents Both men were convicted of killing three people at Fran's Market in September 1980 Allen already was senring a life sentence for murder when he sent Hamilton to the Fresno County store to kill a witness from the previous murder trial Hamilton used a sawed-off shotgun to execute store clerks Bryon Schletewitz 27 Josephine Rocha 17 and Douglas White 18 Clarence Ray Allen 66 Fresno County Billy Ray Hamilton 46 Frasno County On Death Row since 1981 On Death Row since 1982 Breakdown by net Mricat- Aresricsa: Johnny Avila 38 Fresno County On Death Row since 1995 Convicted of the execution-style slayings of Dorothy Medina and Ariene Sanchez fn August 1991 The bodtos of the 18eaK3ld Resnans were found near a canal west ofFresno Prosecutors said Avila shot the women to silence them about the rape of Medina Other 17 As a child he was sickly and beaten by his stepfather and later injured in accidents By Cyndee Fontana Ths Fresno Bee Keith Daniel Williams entered life already colored by loss Lucille Williams Smith his single mother drank during pregnancy and miscarried her twin Friends family and lawyers Bay it was the start of a life fractured by child abuse drugB alcohol and mental illness Williams now 48 faces execution Friday for the 1978 murders of Salvador Macias Miguel Vargas and Lourdes Meza relatives and supporters are pleading to save his life pointing to nis scarred background had an opportunity to be loved and guided when he should have been he would have grown into a totally different said Willard Smith a cousin William a life is detailed in court documents and family statements Williams called was born prematurely June 6 1947 in Pittsburg in the Bay Area He was a sickly child who had trouble Bleeping breathing and holding down food His big torso and spindly limbs led his mother to call him "little Although his mother married Harold Kilby Smith in 1948 for stability stepfather had no love in his heart for the son of another man only clear memories I have of Danny from those years are watching him getting yelled at or beaten said Kirby Touvell one of two half-sisters dog Ike got treated better than my son Lucille Smith said in a 1993 statement She and HK Smith are deceased Smith said ahe tried to leave her husband Once he found a number pinpointing her location "and looked through the entire phone bode until he found the address that matched it" The Smith family followed HK seasonal work as a harvester mechanic They moved often the children changed schools 12 times in one year and lived in tents mb-tels houses and even a converted chicken coop Williams was hurt in several accidents as a teen-ager that altered his personality family members say He was struck in the head by an irrigation pipe during a traffic accident and he lapsed into a coma after a motorcycle crash Those and other head injuries triggered headaches blackouts and seizures Williams turned to Btreet drugs and began drinking heavily to relieve the pain and symptoms At his stepfather's insistence Williams left high Bchool to work off and on as a ranch hand farm laborer cleanup man and mechanic In the early 1960s he was convicted of auto theft attempted forgery and several burglaries Time in the California Youth Authority the state incarceration system for juveniles increased his mental problems partly due to the violence and gang rapes around him By 1977 Williams had been arrested at least 11 times and spent close to a third of his life in prison His two marriages ended in divorce Defense lawyers and doctors say Williams began suffering from bipolar mood disorder manic-depree-sion in his 20s In 1976 Williams stabbed his best friend and tried to commit suicide before checking into the Clairmont Community Hospital in San Diego lawyers argue he was in a or state when he killed three people 18 years ago They say his illness has been controlled since through medication Length of timo on Death Row Number of John Michael Realties 43 Mara County On Death Row since 1995 Convicted of killing l-yeardd Cassie Elizabeth McMains the daughter of his Visalia girlfriend Angel ita McMains in January 1 994 Ths toddler's body was found in the trunk tire well of car A doctor testified Cassie died from a blow so severe it nearly tore her liver in half Fernando Caro 46 Fresno County On Death Row since 1982 Convicted of killing 15-year-old cousins Mark Hatcher and Mary Ben Booher in August 1980 Prosecutors said the teen-agers were main as they took a sunset bicycle ride outside Fowler Data analysis: Rusa The Fresno Bee Jose Luperso Casares 39 TUIara County On Death Row since 1992 Convicted of shooting Guadalupe Sanchez in the back of the head altar a robbery in March 1 989 Casares was involved in a drug deal near Ivanhoe in rural Tulare County and had intended to rob Sanchez his cocaine connection Sources: Calif Dept of Corrections CaMomla Dept of Finance Severiano The Frasno Bee family seeking closure with execution Royal Clark 34 Fresno County On Death Row since 1995 Convicted of stranding Laurie Farkas 14 and attempting to murder her friend Angie Higgins in January 1 991 He picted up the Fresno High School friends and said he was taking them to a party at Lost Lake State Park "He always took his kids with him everywhere he went he loved to have them she said was very hard for him to leave his family back home when come every year to work in this Today Salvador Macias would have relished the company of his death will not make my father come back Even if that man never repents I hope God forgives him I Just believe in revenge When you look for revenge you consume your soul with hurtful feelings and you only destroy Rafaela Macias on the probable execution of Keith Daniel Williams who killed her tether in 1978 32 grandchildren Baid Macias now a farmworker who lives in La- Robert Zane Curl 39 Fresno County On Death Row since 1993 Convicted of the execution-style murder of Richard John Urban Jr 25 in Match 1987 Urban described as a drug dealer was shot three times in the head and left beside a rural road northwest of Fresno ton with her own family While the loss of her father was a personal tragedy Marias has forgiveness in her heart for Williams death will not make my father come sire said if that man never repents I hope God forgives him I just believe in revenge When you look for revenge you consume your bouI with hurtful feelings and you only destroy Fnends relatives remember slain victims as friendly and good-hearted incfividuals By Sytvfa Castro Uribes The Freeno Bee Rafael heart and soul have brimmed with hate for nearly 18 years and all of it is aimed at the man who killed his brother and his cousin In mind countless unanswered questions burn like a raging fire But a melancholy peace may come Friday when Vargas watches the death of the man who left two holes in his family Keith Daniel Williams scheduled to die Friday by lethal injection was convicted of the 1978 murders of Miguel Vargas 31 Salvador Marias 41 and live-in girlfriend Lourdes Meza 25 In the Valley relatives and friends vividly remember the shock of their deaths in rural Merced They describe the men as friendly kind and devoted to their extended families and Meza as a lovely woman with four children Nadine Dhaqju who met the two cousins several times said Ronnie Dale Dement 32 Fresno County On Death Row since 1994 Convicted of strangling his Fresno County JaH cell mate Gregory Michael Andrews in April 1992 Other inmates said Dement sexually assaulted Andrews and then strangled him with a towel Very 1 Lourdes little is known about Meza Colin Raker Dickey 31 Fresno County On Death Row since 1992 Convicted of the November 1988 torture-slaying of Fresno couple Marie Calon 78 and Louis From 67 Prosecutors said Dickey killed the pair while ransacking their home for money to buy drugs Relatives and acquaintances say Vargas and Meza had a child together who was about lVfe years old when they were killed It is also believed she had Lourdea Meza three other children and that perhaps mother who lived in Tijuana Mexico was raising than None of relatives could be located for an interview Some relatives of the Vargas and Macias family declined to be interviewed and photographed fearing that Williams could harm them Peter Edelbacher 40 Fresno County On Death Row since 1983 Convicted tf murdering Ns 25-year-old wife Leia in April 1981 She was killed by a shotgun blast fired into her house in Fresno a few weeks after Edelbacher was acquitted of raping her He feces retrial on his death sentence turn home during Christmas Baid his daughter Rafaela Marias The job switch proved to be the biggest mistake Salvador Macias ever made she said The dreadful memory of his death resonates in her mind was three months pregnant at the time and my husband sure if he should tell me of my death for fear that such a scare could hurt the Baid Rafaela Macias 21 at the time I could think about was that my baby was my first grandchild and now he would never get to Bee the She said her mother Jocefena Marias who still lives in Mexico never recovered from the murder Then Jocefena Marias was home in Tepatitlan Jalisco taking care of six of their nine children The others already had married by Hum want to tell her my father had been killed Instead I called iqy mother told her I was sending my father home because he was terribly sick bo much so that he might not even make it home alive" she said Unfortunately an aunt already had delivered the bad news wanted to spare her the shock but it waa too Marias said She said she has many great memories of her father that have helped her make it through hard times town of Tepatitlan Jalisco in Mexico Miguel was the one with all the solutions Baid Vargas now a factory worker It was idea that the four oldest brothers come to the United States to work in the fields Vargas made the trip when he was 15 settling with Miguel was like a father to me and my three other Vargas said Both Miguel Vargas and Salvador Macias have been described as good-natured men who often went out of their way to help family members That included loaning money serving a meal or lending emotional support Both the men sported white straw cowboy hats jeans and plaid cowboy-style shirts family members said and especially an easy smile brother loved to tell jokes he was a said Vargas his voice choking on the telephone sony this brings back so many good memories Ones that make me happy and Bad at the same Vargas and Macias worked at the same Merced dairy and shared a house cm the form Miguel Vargas suggested that Macias come work at the dairy This job paid more than the (me Macias had at a diary in Galt Marian was Supporting his family in Mexico and he planned to re Some relatives have favored execution while others would rather Bee him suffer behind bars Salvador Marias she said had a good heart and the rugged hands of a hard-working man Miguel Vargas was feisty and quick while his girlfriend Meza was an impressive slender woman with long dark hair Miguel Vargas was Rafael brother Salvador Marias was his cousin Vargas 40 of Oakdale hopes the execution will open heeling doors for him and his family were on the verge of going crazy when we heard my brother and my cousin had been killed We had never had a dose death in the family hofnra Miami wa lrillad We took it Vargas who was 20 when his brother was killed Miguel was the sixth child in a line of 14 siblings and the third-oldestaon He and his family grew up impoverished in the small ranch Rafael Vargas struggles daily with his loss and tries to mk sense of the whole ordeaL Still dark emotions consume him at every turn feel such an anger that if they would let me push the button I would do it without any he said Donald Griffin 46 Fresno County On Death Row since 1980 Convicted of slaying 12-year-old Kelly Janice Wilson the stepdaughter who called him in December 1979 Kelly's body was found by a motorist on a road north of Kerman She had been raped sodomized stabbed in the neck strangled and cut open with a hunting knife know once he is Ad I will feel better but I will never be able to forgive him Michael Hamilton 44 Mara County On Death Row since 1982 Convicted of the shogun murder of his 26-year-oid wife Gwendolyn and their unborn child in November 1981 Prosecutors said he wanted to collect $100000 in life insurance Gwendolyn was killed as she waited in their parked pickup along Highway 65 near Terra Bella Staff water Cyndee Fontana contributed to this report Oct 13 -Tyson turns himself In and leads officers to body in a field near Tuolumne Albert Cecil Howard 44 Mara County On Death Row since 1983 Convicted of killing 74-year-old Roy Fried of lUlare in May 1992 Prosecutors said Howard of Compton was visiting relatives when he robbed and killed Fried He later bragged at a party that he had fetomped someone fl mOOcLS-Ksith I ff Daniel Wiliams kills Miguel Vargas and Salvador Macias at their home in rural Merced He and accomplice Robert Tyson kidnap Lourdes Meza Vargas' girlfriend whom Wiliams 1 Dec 22- Meiced County authorities charge Wiliams with three counts of murdar andlOspedal circumstances that could bring the death penalty 1983 May 16 -Wifiama files the first in a series of appeals in state and federal court claiming Incompetence by his trial lawyer and other problems with the Robert Tyson 1979 Jan 2 -Williams pleads Innocent by reason of insanity March 23 A jury begins hearing the case Tyson is the chief prosecution witness April 6 -The jure returns guity wrdkfe on the three murders Williams Is acquitted of rape April 10 -The jury finds that illiams was sane when he committed the murders April 13 -Trial Judge Donald Fretz imposes a death sentence Now 24 Police In Kingman Ariz capture Williams He admits to the three murders In 1.