John William Kelley, a California man, was convicted of one murder and charged with two more. In December 2015 he was sentenced in San Mateo County to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1986 murder of Annette Thur, a 17-year-old girl. The same month he was charged in Del Norte County, near the Oregon border, with murder in the 1988 deaths of a married couple from Lake Oswego, Oregon, Douglas and Rozina Anderson, after confessing to investigators. The first case was solved by DNA more than a quarter century after the killing. The second came to light through Kelley's own confession, given in exchange for a promise about the penalty.
He was 49 when he was arrested in August 2012. At that time he lived in Placerville, in El Dorado County, and had lived in California and Oregon. He was 23 and married in 1986. His date of birth, his upbringing and his work history are not on record.
Annette Thur was 17 and came from Ben Lomond, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She died in December 1986 in San Mateo County, and the crime went unsolved. Sheriff's investigators interviewed many people who had known her and others, but no suspect emerged.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reopened the case in 2012. DNA evidence led investigators to Kelley. Detectives interviewed him in Placerville in August 2012 and arrested him there. He was taken to San Mateo County and held without bail. He was held on a murder charge, with other charges.
In March 2013 a grand jury indicted him, and he pleaded not guilty in San Mateo County Superior Court. The penalty on conviction was either death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kelley later pleaded no contest to first degree murder, with Judge Jonathan Karesh presiding. The date of the plea is not on record; he was 52 when it was entered. Prosecutors said the sentence would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. San Mateo County prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty, and on December 11, 2015, Kelley was sentenced to life without parole.
His plea carried an offer. He told investigators he wanted to clear his conscience about other similar crimes, including some in Del Norte County, but only if the death penalty was off the table.
Douglas Neal Anderson and Rozina Anne Anderson were a married couple from Lake Oswego, Oregon, who had been married for about two years. Douglas was 26 or 28, and Rozina was 31. In August 1988 they were visiting the Crescent City area of Del Norte County, California, on a trip. They died that month, and the case remained unsolved for 27 years.
In late 2015, after the San Mateo plea, Del Norte County District Attorney Dale P. Trigg, Sheriff's Office Commander Bill Steven and Sergeant Richard Griffin interviewed Kelley. Trigg agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for a full confession. Trigg said that without an agreement for life without the possibility of parole, Kelley would not have confessed, and that Kelley knew details of the crime that had never been made public.
In December 2015 Trigg charged Kelley with two counts of first-degree murder, with special circumstance allegations. Kelley was transferred from San Mateo County to Del Norte County later that month. Investigators had called the family of Rozina Anderson about six weeks before the news became public. Her brother and his wife said the family found the truth hard to hear, though better than not knowing. Sheriff's Office officials and Trigg said that the families were emotional when notified and that the case brought them closure.
A plea and sentence in the Del Norte County case are not on record. The charges there are allegations until a plea or verdict. Kelley's life term in San Mateo County stands on his no contest plea.
Kelley spoke of wanting to clear his conscience about "other similar crimes," including some in Del Norte County. No other deaths have been described, charged or attributed to him.
1986, December: Annette Thur, 17, of Ben Lomond, dies in San Mateo County.
1988, August: Douglas and Rozina Anderson, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, die in Del Norte County, California.
2012: the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reopens the Thur case; DNA evidence leads investigators to Kelley.
2012, August: Kelley is arrested in Placerville.
2013, March: grand jury indicts him; he pleads not guilty.
2015: Kelley pleads no contest to first degree murder; he tells investigators he will confess to other crimes if the death penalty is dropped.
2015, December 3: Del Norte County announces he has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
2015, December 11: Kelley is sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in San Mateo County.
2015, December: Kelley is transferred to Del Norte County.