Scott Erskine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Scott Erskine | |
|---|---|
 mugshot of Scott Erskine |
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| Background information | |
| Born: | 1963 San Diego, California  |
| Penalty: | Death |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims: | 3 |
| Span of killings: | June 23, 1989 through 1993 |
| Country: | U.S.  |
| State(s): | Florida, California |
| Date apprehended: | 1993 |
Scott Thomas Erskine is an American serial killer convicted to death row for the murder of two California boys in 1993. He is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.
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[edit] Early childhood
Erskine grew up in southern California. When he was five years old, he darted into traffic on the Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach and was hit by a station wagon. He remained in a coma for 60 hours. Although physically he appeared recovered, he frequently complained to his mother about headaches, and he experienced "black out" moments where he couldn't remember what he was last doing. At the age of 10, he started molesting his 6-year-old sister, forcing her to perform oral sex upon him. He soon began abusing her friends, threatening to kill them if they told anybody. Erskine attended Southwest Junior High School in San Ysidro, California and was placed in "special classes" for the emotionally disturbed. At 15, Erskine escaped from a juvenile detention facility, pulled a knife on a 13-year-old girl and raped her. The next morning, he assaulted a 27-year-old female jogger with a knife.
In 1980, while on his way to interview for a camp counselor's position, Erskine beat a 14-year-old boy unconscious during an attempted rape. He also raped another inmate while imprisoned. Erskine begged the San Diego judge at the time to spare him from adult prison. Despite his mother's pleas to send her son to a mental institution, Erskine was sentenced to four years in prison; he was paroled in 1984.
Upon his release, Erskine met a woman named "Deborah," whom he dated on and off, and moved to Orlando, Florida, with her in 1988. They were married that year, and had a child. The marriage was brief and dysfunctional; Erskine physically abused his wife, even kicking her in the stomach when she was pregnant, and she eventually left him. Erskine moved back to Southern California.
In 1993, Erskine invited a woman, who was waiting for the bus, into his home and held her hostage for several days, repeatedly raping and sodomizing her before letting her go. He was quickly arrested. He was convicted of rape and kidnapping, declared a sex offender, and sentenced to 70 years in prison. As a convicted sex offender, Erskine had to submit his DNA to a database.
In March 2001, the San Diego Cold Case squad reopened the investigation of the unsolved murders of nine-year-old Jonathan Sellers and 13-year-old Charlie Keever. The police tested cotton swabs found in Charlie's mouth that contained semen. Since it was determined the boy was not physically mature enough to produce sperm, the semen could only have originated from the killer. The DNA sample was entered into CODIS, and they soon got a hit. The DNA belonged to Erskine.
[edit] The trial
In September 2003, Erskine went on trial for the two murders. The jurors were shown photos of the crime scene; Jonathan was at the entrance of the make-shift fort hanging from a castor bean tree branch. He was naked from the waist down, his legs and arms bound with rope, and his mouth gagged. His genitals showed obvious signs of sexual assault, and a noose was tied around his neck. On the ground laid Charlie, his head resting on a pile of his and Jonathan's clothes. He was also naked from the waist down, legs and arms bound, his mouth gagged, and his genitals were bleeding from extensive bite marks. He, too, had a rope around his neck. The pathologist determined Charlie was alive when the bite marks were inflicted. Erskine's DNA was also found on two cigarette butts found near the bodies. On October 1, 2003, the jury found Erskine guilty of murder; however, they could not agree on the sentence. Eleven jurors voted for the death penalty, while one juror insisted on giving Erskine life without parole. The judge declared a mistrial on the penalty phase. In April 2004 Erskine went before a second jury to decide his punishment for the murder. This jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. On September 1, 2004, a California judge upheld the jury's recommendation and gave Erskine the death penalty. He was transported to San Quentin six days later.
[edit] Other crimes
While awaiting the start of his trial, Florida investigators matched Erskine's DNA in the unsolved case of 26-year-old Renee Baker, who was murdered on June 23, 1989. He was formally charged in 2003, but didn't get sentenced until August 2004. Erskine, who did indeed live in Palm Beach County, Florida, at the time, admitted to raping and killing Baker, and was given life without parole. Baker drowned when Erskine broke her neck and left her near the bank of the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach. Florida authorities suspect Erskine may be linked to other unsolved homicides.
