Killer of 2 Women Sentenced to Die
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Fred Berre Douglas, who claimed he had been “railroaded” by his own attorney, was sentenced Friday to die in the gas chamber for the murders of two young Anaheim women he and another man lured to their deaths in the Southern California desert with the promise of paying them $500 each for nude modeling.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Owen described the Garden Grove furniture upholsterer as a “sadistic, unbelievably cruel and senseless killer” who murdered to “gratify some weird sexual fantasy.”
Douglas, 56, was convicted last November in the deaths of roommates Beth Jones, 19, and Margaret Kreuger, 16, who disappeared in August, 1982. Their remains were found eight months later in Anza Borrego State Park.
The key witness at the trial was Richard Hernandez, 40, who said he and Douglas took the girls to the desert park, where Douglas bound the women and killed them.
Hernandez was granted immunity from prosecution.
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