Opinion ID: 4530962
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: m., just before the flames began to rage, he

Text: fled. People v. Benson, 802 P.2d 330, 336–37 (Cal. 1990). On Monday morning, January 6, 1986, Mike Owen stopped by a liquor store in Nipomo. Benson approached him and asked for a ride to Oceano. Owen agreed. Benson retrieved his briefcase and was dropped off in Oceano just after 8:00 a.m. At around this time, smoke was seen coming from Laura’s home and the fire department was called. The BENSON V. CHAPPELL 9 home was heavily damaged and charred. According to the district court: Laura’s three children, Stephanie, Shawna, and Sterling, were all dead, on the floor in the middle of this room, which the fire had heavily damaged. A lot of burnt and partially burnt debris was under and around the girls’ bodies and on the floor of the second room. A pink and black, wire-ribbed female corset was next to Stephanie’s body. A partially-burnt claw hammer was lying on top of Stephanie’s shoulder. Petitioner’s ring mandrel was lying next to Shawna. Another hammer was hanging on the wall next to the kitchen sink. Investigators found pornographic magazines, newspapers, and a photo album under the two girls’ bodies. . . . The arson investigator . . . examined the fire, and determined someone had deliberately set on fire the surface of a four foot wide pile of magazines, paper goods, clothing, and toys, in the middle of the children’s room next to and underneath the bodies of Stephanie and Shawna, allowing it to burn down into the pile. On Tuesday, January 7, Benson asked a friend of a friend, K.S., for a ride to Los Osos, a town north of San Luis Obispo. K.S. agreed to give him a ride as far as San Luis Obispo, 10 BENSON V. CHAPPELL Benson picked up his belongings, and they left for San Luis Obispo around 6:30 p.m. They drove to an apartment complex where Benson got out and asked K.S. to wait while he went inside. When Benson returned, he started gathering his belongings, then he grabbed K.S. from behind, put a knife to her throat, and ordered her to drive to Los Osos. K.S. panicked and offered Benson her car. He rejected the offer and “took out a cylinder with something like a needle sticking out of it and told her it would kill her if he pricked her with it.” Benson made K.S. drive to a liquor store in San Luis Obispo where he forced her to buy a bottle of whiskey and pornographic magazines. They returned to the car and Benson forced her to continue driving to Los Osos. When they got there, Benson said he was on a mission to rescue a family in Los Osos.1 They talked in the parked car for more than an hour until Benson made a phone call. K.S. was terrified of Benson, who remained within reach of her. Benson made K.S. drive to an abandoned house, where he eventually got his things out of the car and went inside. K.S. drove straight home to San Luis Obispo and called the police. 1 The district court noted: Petitioner claimed he knew a police officer in Los Osos who had been suspended for molesting an 11 year-old girl, and was producing and filming a home-made pornographic movie in which he was forcing his wife and two daughters to participate. Petitioner claimed he had borrowed some pornographic magazines from the policeman, and, under the guise of returning them, he would go to the policeman’s house to rescue the two girls. BENSON V. CHAPPELL 11 Later that night, K.S. accompanied the police to the abandoned house in Los Osos. The police went to the house and arrested Benson. Benson was booked at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 7, in connection with the kidnaping of K.S. On Wednesday, January 8, Benson’s parole agent, Felix Martel, was notified of Benson’s arrest. Benson had four prior felony convictions for abducting minors. Martel went to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office to discuss the matter with detectives. He authorized the breaking of the lock on Benson’s briefcase to conduct a parole search, and he placed a parole hold on Benson. Law enforcement officers spent Wednesday consolidating and reviewing the evidence they had concerning the murders.2 On Thursday morning, based on evidence pointing toward Benson as responsible for the murders, the Sheriffs Office called someone with the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit to discuss how best to approach a pedophile like Benson.