Police: DNA matches California death-row inmate known as ‘trailside killer’ to cold case

Police: Calif death-row inmate linked to cold case

SAN FRANCISCO — Authorities say DNA ties a California death row inmate convicted in the killings of seven hikers to the unsolved 1979 slaying of a jogger in a San Francisco park.

Cold-case Inspector Joe Toomey said Tuesday that DNA evidence in the stabbing of 23-year-old Mary Bennett matched a sample belonging to David Joseph Carpenter.

Prosecutors haven’t decided whether to file new charges against the 79-year-old San Quentin State Prison inmate.

Carpenter became known as the “trailside killer” after the murders of seven hikers in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1980s. He was sentenced to death for the killings twice in separate trials.

A message left with San Quentin Prison seeking the name of Carpenter’s current attorney wasn’t immediately returned late Tuesday.

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, www.sfgate.com/chronicle