"A Probation Search Ultimately Unraveled a Chain of Evidence": KCRA 3 on the Arrest of Joseph Naso, April 2011

Name: "A Probation Search Ultimately Unraveled a Chain of Evidence": KCRA 3 on the Arrest of Joseph Naso, April 2011
Uploaded: 2011-04-12T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 7 s
Description: In April 2011, Marin County investigators announced that Joseph Naso, 77, of Reno, would face four cold-case murder charges. KCRA 3 reported live after the news conference on the probation search that led to him. Naso is not heard.

In April 2011, Marin County investigators announced that Joseph Naso, 77, of Reno, would face four cold-case murder charges. KCRA 3 reported live after the news conference on the probation search that led to him. Naso is not heard.

Subject: Joseph Naso
Recorded: about April 12, 2011
Runtime: 2:07

Content warning: Concerns the murders of four women; no graphic detail.

The Report

This is a 2-minute-7-second KCRA 3 news report from Sacramento, posted on the station's YouTube channel on April 12, 2011. Reporter Mike TeSelle reported live from Marin County moments after a news conference at which investigators announced the case against Joseph Naso, 77, of Reno, Nevada. A speaker at the news conference, apparently the Marin County District Attorney, is heard briefly. Naso is not heard.

Historical Context

Joseph Naso, a freelance photographer, lived in Reno from 2004. In April 2010, Nevada parole and probation officers searched his Reno home and seized about 10,000 documents, including a handwritten list of ten unnamed women with places. On April 11, 2011, he was charged with the murders of Roxene Roggasch (found near Fairfax in January 1977), Carmen Colon (found along the Carquinez Scenic Highway in August 1978), Pamela Parsons (found in Yuba County in September 1993) and Tracy Tafoya (found in Yuba County in August 1994).

Circumstances

KCRA's report followed the Marin County news conference on the charges. Naso made his first court appearance on April 13, 2011, the "formal arraignment" the reporter refers to as "tomorrow's."

What the Report Covers

The anchor says Naso "may be linked to several California murders in the '70s and '90s." The reporter says investigators revealed that "a probation search" had "ultimately unraveled a chain of evidence" connecting a single suspect to four murders, two of them of Yuba County women, Pamela Parsons and Tracy Tafoya, in 1993 and 1994. He says Naso was arrested "after being released from the El Dorado County Jail on unrelated charges," and that a search of his Reno home a year earlier had uncovered the evidence. The District Attorney says the special circumstance of multiple murder "makes Naso eligible for the death penalty under California law" and that Naso was held at the Marin County Jail without bail. The reporter adds that the District Attorney would not release the criminal complaint before the arraignment, and that Yuba County investigators could not even give the women's ages.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report is contemporary coverage of the announcement that opened the Naso prosecution, two weeks before his request in court to represent himself.

Archival Importance

A KCRA 3 news report on the station's own channel, by the reporter who covered Naso's self-representation request later that month.

Important Caveats

Naso is not heard. The news-conference speaker is not named in the report and is identified as the District Attorney only from the reporter's words that follow the clip (speaker uncertain). The statement that Naso was arrested after release from the El Dorado County Jail is KCRA's report and was not confirmed in the sources read. The reporter calls the victims "four young women"; Parsons was 38 and Tafoya 31. The probation search took place in April 2010, a year before the arrest. No captions exist, so the transcript rests on machine passes only.

Anchor: Here is the incoming information after the arrest of a suspected serial killer: 77-year-old Joseph Naso may be linked to several California murders in the '70s and '90s. KCRA 3's Mike TeSelle joins us live from Marin County, where a news conference about this case just ended moments ago. Mike?

Mike Teselle: Yeah, Walt, as you said, moments ago investigators here in Marin County revealing that it was a probation search that ultimately unraveled a chain of evidence now connecting a single suspect to the murder of four young women, including two Yuba County women. The suspect here, Joseph Naso: he was arrested yesterday after being released from the El Dorado County Jail on unrelated charges. It was a search of his Reno, Nevada, home that investigators say a year ago uncovered evidence that ultimately connected him to four cold case murders. That's their allegation. The Yuba County connection here are the two murders of those women in 1993 and '94. The victims were identified in those murders as Pamela Parsons and Tracy Tafoya. Now, investigators say Naso, beyond four counts of murder, he will also be added the special allegation of multiple murder.

District Attorney: The allegation of that special circumstance makes Naso eligible for the death penalty under California law. Naso, at this time, remains in custody at the Marin County Jail, and he is currently on a no-bail status hold.

Mike Teselle: Now, beyond that information that I just told you, what you just heard from the District Attorney, the District Attorney is not allowing much other information to be disseminated. He's keeping it very close to the vest and will not release even the criminal complaint until tomorrow's formal arraignment of Mr. Naso. Now, Yuba County investigators told me that they are holding this information so tightly they can't even release basic information about these two Yuba County women, including their ages when they were killed. Live in Marin County, Mike TeSelle, KCRA 3 reports.

Anchor: All right, Mike, thank you, with the latest from Marin County. [02:07: speech ends with the clip.] ---