SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A California sex offender was found guilty Thursday of killing four women while he was being tracked by GPS. He now may face the death penalty.
Steven Dean Gordon was found guilty of four counts of murder for the attacks in 2013 and 2014. Orange County jurors only deliberated for about an hour before issuing the verdict. They also found true special circumstances of murder during a kidnapping and multiple murders, which will make Gordon eligible for a death sentence. On Monday a penalty phase will begin where jurors will decide whether to recommend death or life in prison without parole.
Authorities said the 47-year-old Gordon and 30-year-old sex offender Franc Cano abducted and killed four women. Prosecutors charged both men with rape but later dropped the rape charges against Gordon.
Investigators said they pieced together the case after the body of missing 21-year-old Jarrae Nykkole Estepp was found at a recycling center in Anaheim. Authorities said the men’s tracking devices linked them to the disappearance of the women.
Gordon, who represented himself at trial, confessed to authorities in an interview played for jurors about his role in the killings.