Vaughn Orrin Greenwood was convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder in Los Angeles and was sentenced to life in prison on January 19, 1977. The killings for which he stood trial were part of a series of attacks on men in the city that began on December 1, 1974, and continued for about two months, according to a 2012 history column in Los Angeles magazine. The same magazine attributed to him two killings of men about ten years before that series began.
Los Angeles magazine gave his age at the time of his arrest as 32 and described him as a Black man.
The first death in the 1974 series attributed to Greenwood was that of Charles Jackson, who was killed in Los Angeles on December 1, 1974. Over roughly the next two months, Los Angeles magazine reported, nine men were killed in the series. Which of the deaths the nine counts covered, on which the jury later convicted him, has not been established.
The two killings that Los Angeles magazine placed about a decade earlier remain largely undescribed, and no record shows whether he was ever tried for them.
The descriptions that circulated during the investigation pointed in the wrong direction. Early police descriptions of the suspect, as summarized by Los Angeles magazine, were of a white man in his late twenties or early thirties, about six feet tall and roughly 190 pounds, with long blond hair, who was possibly deformed. Greenwood did not match that description.
Greenwood was caught in Hollywood after he tried to kill a man there. At the scene he left a letter he had addressed to himself, and the letter led investigators to his home. Detectives searching it found cufflinks that had belonged to one of the men killed in the series, Los Angeles magazine reported.
A jury convicted Greenwood of nine counts of first-degree murder. On January 19, 1977, he was sentenced to life in prison. In 2012 Los Angeles magazine reported that he was serving his sentence at the California Men's Colony, a state prison in San Luis Obispo.
Los Angeles magazine counts nine killings over about two months and nine counts of conviction; which deaths the convictions covered has not been established. The two earlier killings rest on the magazine's attribution, and no verdict on them is on record.
About 1964: two killings later attributed to Greenwood, according to Los Angeles magazine.
December 1, 1974: Charles Jackson is killed in Los Angeles, the first death in the series attributed to Greenwood.
December 1974 to early 1975: nine men are killed in the series over about two months.
Early 1975: Greenwood is caught in Hollywood after an attempted killing; a letter addressed to himself leads detectives to his home, where they find cufflinks belonging to one of the men killed.
Later: a jury convicts him of nine counts of first-degree murder.
January 19, 1977: he is sentenced to life in prison.
2012: Los Angeles magazine reports that he is serving his sentence at the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo.