A 65-year-old man convicted of murdering a San Bernardino County couple during a burglary in 1979 has died of natural causes while incarcerated at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, officials said Monday.
The inmate condemned to death, Richard Dean Turner, was pronounced dead by medical staff on Saturday at 3:45 a.m. at an outside medical facility, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a news release. He was initially admitted to the prison system in 1980 for convictions of first-degree murder in the deaths of the couple from Apple Valley.
Turner, then 20 of Victorville, fatally shot 78-year-old Merle Claxton and his wife, 77-year-old Freda Claxton, inside their home on March 8, 1979, while under the influence of alcohol and a substance similar to PCP, according to court records and a San Bernardino Sun story from 1979. Turner’s co-defendant, William Souza, then 21 of Stockton, testified in court, stating that the two decided to burglarize a house for food and chose the Claxton house because it appeared that no one was home.
Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department initially investigated a report of two cars, a Pinto station wagon and a Comet registered to Merle Claxton, that had been stolen and were found nearby. Upon arrival, officers found both cars abandoned with the lights on, doors open and a shotgun left on top of one of the cars. Two rifles were discovered inside one of the vehicles, along with Turner’s wallet and Merle Claxton’s wallet. An additional rifle was found in nearby bushes, as well as household items and frozen food, a California Supreme Court ruling stated.
Later that evening, a deputy arrived at the Claxton home and found it ransacked with the front and garage doors open, a smashed window and all the lights turned on. The bodies of the Claxtons were discovered in the kitchen. A dog was also found shot inside the home.
Using footprints found around the home, deputies tracked Turner and Souza 12 miles into the desert, where they were found hiding behind a bush. Turner and Souza were found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder by a jury. Before the crime, Turner and Souza had been roommates at a halfway house in Stockton, a court ruling said.
