Déjà vu – Another Monster in our Midst

Killer, Rapist Dennis Stanworth

Serial rapist and child killer and registered sex offender Dennis Stanworth B-5936 had previously been sentenced to death and life without the possibility of parole, yet he was arrested yesterday for murdering his mother.

Dennis Stanworth’s violent crime spree began on August 12, 1965 when he carjacked a 20-year old nursing student’s car, drove her to a remote location not far from Oakland’s Bay Bridge, threatened her life and raped her.

It was about sixty-degrees Fahrenheit at 8:30 p.m., on November 4, 1965 when Stanworth dragged a 24-year old into a field in El Sobrante, held an ice pick to her throat, raped and robbed her.

On the evening of May 13, 1966 Stanworth similarly carjacked, raped, and threatened a 17-year old high school student in Richmond.

Less than three months later, on August 1, 1966, near Pilole he brutally raped and murdered  15-year old Susan Muriel Box and 14-year old Caree Lee Collison.

On August 3, 1966, the day the girl’s bodies were discovered, Stanworth carjacked, raped and robbed, and stole the car of an 18-year old young lady near the San Mateo Coastline. The authorities arrested him in her car a short time later, finally putting an end to his crime spree.

Dennis Stanworth pled guilty to two counts of first degree murder, one count of kidnaping to commit robbery with bodily harm, four counts of kidnaping, three counts of forcible rape, one count of sexual perversion, and one count of robbery. He was sentenced to death for each of the murder counts and life without the possibility of parole on the aggravated kidnapping count.

Stanworth became eligible for parole when the California Supreme Court ruled that the use of capital punishment was considered impermissible cruel and unusual as it degraded and dehumanized the parties involved. 

In 1979 the California Board of Prison Terms (BPT) recommended Stanworth’s parole based on the following factors: lack of prior serious criminal history or history of violent conduct; an excellent work record while in prison, six-years of participation in therapy programs, and personal savings of $3,000. Finally, after spending seventeen years in prison for a litany of crime that should have mandated his extinction Dennis Stanworth was released back into the community.

Has Dennis Stanworth been living quietly these past decades, or might he be responsible for unsolved crimes that have plagued the Bay Area over the years? According to the California Sex Offender Registry Dennis Stanworth is guilty of oral copulation. The California Department of Justice is unable to determine if there are any subsequent felony convictions for this registrant at this time. Finally, why were our elected officials protecting this monster when they should have been protecting us?