Pittsburg serial murders
The Pittsburg serial murders refers to the killings of one man and four women in the city of Pittsburg, California between 1998 and 1999. Some of the victims either engaged in prostitution or were drug addicts. At the time of the killings, the city had a high crime rate which, coupled with the recent murders of several people, culminated in public outcry from both the public and the media for a resolution to the situation and capture of the supposed serial killer. Despite an investigation by the FBI and a financial reward for the killer(s)'s capture  being offered by the then-Governor of California Gray Davis, none of the murders were ever solved. Murders. Between November 9, 1998 and January 9, 1999, five deaths, thought to have been the work of a single offender, were recorded in Pittsburg. They were the following: Investigation. While investigating Lisa Norrell's murder, a witness was found who claimed to have seen the girl shortly after she had left the party, later seeing her walking alongside a man on the highway. In early January 1999, two unemployed men from Antioch, 39-year-old Garry Lee Walton and 24-year-old  David Michael Heneby, were arrested for Norrell's murder. Both men had past convictions ranging from assault to drug possession, with Heneby in particular having a notable arrest in November 1998, when he assaulted and threatened to kill his wife Karla with a pistol. After his arrest, Heneby confessed to kidnapping and murdering Norrell together with Walton. According to his testimony, after the pair kidnapped her, they kept her as a sex slave, sexually and physically abusing her for several days before killing her. That same month, both men were released due to lack of evidence, as their individual testimonies  were full of discrepancies. Heneby would later be convicted of assaulting his wife and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. In response to the murder of Lisa Norrell, the Governor of California Gray Davis offered a reward of US$50,000 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of her killer(s). In March 1999, 51-year-old Mohammed Ismil Niaz, Frederick's boyfriend, was arrested as a suspect in her murder. In December 1998, he had voluntarily provided the police with samples of his blood and hair, and while examining his apartment, investigators located washed-out blood stains. Based on  the results of DNA profiling, it was established that the blood belonged to Frederick, but further forensic expertise excluded Niaz as the potential killer of either Frederick or the other victims in 2001. In 2009, the list of suspects included 59-year-old Phillip Garrido, who had been arrested together with his 55-year-old wife Nancy in August for the kidnapping of 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard in 1991, whom he forcibly kept in a building in the backyard of his house and sexually abused for 18 years. During this period, Dugard gave birth to two children. After his  arrest, authorities discovered that Garrido had a past of involving kidnapping and sexually assaulting young girls in the area, for which he was either acquitted or paroled. From 1998 to 1999, he worked near the places where the female victims' bodies were found. However, after a 4-day search of his home by the police, no evidence linking him to the murders were located. At one point, the suspected killer of Suzanne Bombardier, convicted sex offender Mitchell Lynn Bacom, was investigated for the killings, but no connection thus far has been made.