SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — A man sitting on death row inmate convicted for a series of heinous murders from 1979 died of natural causes at San Quentin State Prison last week.
Lawrence Sigmond Bittaker, 79, was pronounced dead at San Quentin at 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, according to the California Department of Corrections. He had been on death row since May 30, 1981.
Bittaker and his accomplice, Roy William Norris, were convicted of a crime spree that stretched from June 24, 1979 to Nov. 20, 1979, that included kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering five teen girls, department of corrections officials said. In March 1981, Bittaker was tried and found guilty of all 26 counts against him. His conviction was made, in part, because Norris cooperated with prosecutors and testified against Bittaker in exchange for a sentence that did not include the death penalty.
For his cooperation, Norris was sentenced to 45 years to life. He is still alive and serving his sentence at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County.
According to the department of corrections, Bittaker and Norris were responsible for the June 14, 1979 death of 16-year-old Lucinda Lynn Schaefer; the July 8, 1979 death of 18-year-old Andrea Joy Hall; the Sept. 2, 1979 deaths of 15-year-old Jacqueline Doris Gilliam and 13-year-old Jacqueline Leah Lamp; and the Oct. 31, 1979 death of 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford. The bodies of Schaefer and Hall were never recovered.
Bittaker’s specific cause of death will be determined by the Marin County Coroner.
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