This documentary from an American crime series tells the sordid tale of the investigation into three murders in California. If the Golden State is not the home of serial murder, it has seen more of these than most, but the small town of Port Hueneme (some call it a city) is off the beaten track for this sort of thing.
In 1993, single mother Norma Rodriguez was found murdered in her home. She had married young, and as is often the case the marriage didn't work out. Her ex-husband was the first suspect, but he had a cast iron alibi. Then suspicion fell on a workmate, primarily because Norma's 4 year old son gave the police the name Warren. He saw his mother lying on the floor, her head wrapped in duct tape, but hadn't realised anything was wrong.
Detectives questioned Warren and eliminated him; another good suspect bites the dust. Then there were two more murders: a woman of 87 and another in her forties. Both had been raped, and the home of the latter set on fire. Clearly if the three murders are connected, the police are looking for one sick puppy.
The trail went dead for a year, then two, until they were handed the name of a suspected killer at large. The body of Mark Peters from Hamilton, Ohio was found in January 1994; the man suspected of killing the retired electrician was Glen Rogers. Rogers is currently on death row, having been convicted of murdering two women: one in Florida; the other in California. He is believed to have committed more murders, perhaps many more. Nevertheless, he could not be tied to any of the murders in Port Hueneme.
As the years passed, advances in DNA technology led to the arrest of Michael Schulz for the murder of the second victim, Cynthia Burger. Ten years after the death of Norma Rodriguez, her friend Warren Mackey became the prime suspect. The man who at the time had passed a polygraph test was indicted for and convicted of murder, albeit in the second degree. His motive appears to have been personal: he wanted to be more than friends; she did not. So he killed her. Yeah, that is a tough one to fathom.
Finally, the murderer of the elderly woman was brought to book; in August 2011, Ricardo Villa was convicted of first degree murder during the course of burglary and rape. He is currently on death row. Thus no serial killer, rather a bizarre anomaly: three unrelated murders in a quiet seaside town over a period of a few months.
This documentary interviews among others Norma's sister and the lead detective on the Rodriguez case. Not compulsive viewing but a well produced and narrated effort.