By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES- Sheriff’s investigators say they have been flooded with telephone calls and e-mails since releasing photographs of women they fear might have been raped or killed decades ago by the condemned murderer who took the pictures.
Two women have contacted cold-case detectives saying they are among the about 50 women in photographs posted on the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Web site, and a single e-mail from an unidentified sender listed 12 names.
Investigators are hoping the more than 100 phone calls and additional e-mails they received since publicizing the photos Tuesday will help identify many of the women, though none has been verified yet, sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Taylor said Wednesday. At least four have been recognized so far, one of them as a murder victim.
“I can’t say it’s for sure, but we’re working toward making some identifications,” said Taylor.
The photographs belonged to William Richard Bradford, who is on death row for killing two aspiring models in the early 1980s. Authorities say Bradford, now 60, posed as a freelance photographer and shot photos of women he met at bars and elsewhere.
In the penalty phase of his 1987 trial, Bradford asked jurors to sentence him to death, telling them, “Think of how many you don’t even know about.”
About 50 of his photos of women, many scantily clad and striking poses like amateur models, were seized from Bradford’s home in 1984 but languished in an evidence room until detectives rediscovered them last month.
Bradford’s appellate attorney, Darlene Ricker, called the photos “old news.”
“The existence of these photos has been known for 20 years. All of a sudden, for whatever reason, law enforcement has decided to look into them,” Ricker said.
Ricker said she hadn’t spoken with Bradford, imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison, since sheriff’s officials went public with his photos. But she added, “I’m sure Bill would say, if he could: ‘The man was a photographer. Gee, what a surprise they find photographs in his belongings.’”
One woman in the photos has since been identified as Donnalee Campbell Duhamel, a 31-year-old mother of two whose decapitated body was found in a Malibu canyon in 1978. A sheriff’s official said Tuesday that the body was found a few days after the woman met Bradford at a bar. Bradford was never charged in that case.
On Wednesday, her daughter questioned why it took so long but was relieved that authorities were investigating.
“My mom just disappeared, and now she’s getting the attention I feel she deserves,” said Lisa Mora, 36, who was only 7 when her
Bradford was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1984 stranglings of Shari Miller, 21, who he met in a bar, and Tracey Campbell, 15, a neighbor. Prosecutors said he lured them into accompanying him with promises to help their modeling careers.
The photos date to the mid-1970s and could have been taken in any of several states: Bradford’s past whereabouts extend to Illinois, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and elsewhere.