Anaheim Police Arrest Two Registered Sex Offenders, Steven Dean Gordon and Franc Cano, in the Deaths of Four Women
One woman was found dead at a recycling plant, and three had vanished from Santa Ana. Police said GPS data from the men's monitoring devices linked them to the victims.
Published
Three women had vanished from the streets of Santa Ana in the fall of 2013. A fourth was found dead on a conveyor belt at an Anaheim recycling plant in March 2014. On April 11, police arrested two registered sex offenders.
Franc Cano, 27, was taken into custody shortly after 6 p.m. in the 5100 block of East La Palma Avenue in Anaheim, and Steven Dean Gordon, 45, about an hour later in the 3100 block of the same street, Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn said. The case began on March 14, when employees at Republic Waste Services found the body of Jarrae Nykkole Estepp, a 21-year-old from Oklahoma. Santa Ana homicide detectives then contacted Anaheim police about three women missing from their city: Kianna Jackson, 20, of Las Vegas, last seen in Santa Ana on October 6, 2013, and Santa Ana residents Josephine Vargas, 34, and Martha Anaya, 28, last seen on October 24 and November 12. Investigators believed all three had been killed. Their bodies had not been found.
Both men were under monitoring requirements as registered sex offenders and were wearing GPS devices when the women were attacked, Dunn said, and investigators used the positioning data to link them to the victims.
On April 14, the Orange County District Attorney's Office charged each man with four counts of special-circumstances murder, alleging murder during a rape, multiple murders and lying in wait, and four counts of forcible rape. Cano had a 2008 strike conviction for lewd acts on a child under 14; Gordon had strike convictions for the same offense in 1992 and for kidnapping in 2002. Both were held without bail and, if convicted, faced at least life in prison without parole and were eligible for the death penalty.
Dunn said the two men were also suspected in at least one more killing, and that police were working with other jurisdictions to learn whether there were further victims.
Sources
- Media Advisory – Cano and Gordon Charges, Orange County District Attorney's Office
- 2 Suspects Arrested In OC Serial Murder Case, CBS Los Angeles
- Two California men charged with serial killings of prostitutes, Bangor Daily News (Reuters)
Related News
- December 15, 2016: Steven Dean Gordon Found Guilty of Murdering Four Orange County Women
- February 3, 2017: Steven Dean Gordon Sentenced to Death for Killing Four Orange County Women