David Allen Lucas

Case record

Overview

David Allen Lucas was an East San Diego County carpet cleaner. He fatally slashed the throats of two women, including a USD co-ed, and a 3-year-old boy. The case lasted five years, including a yearlong effort to introduce blood evidence linking Lucas to one of the victims through serological testing, a precursor to DNA testing.

Timeline

• November 24, 1984 — The body of University of San Diego student Anne Catherine Swanke was found in a remote area of Spring Valley four days after she disappeared after her car ran out of gas at a La Mesa intersection.
• June 12, 1989 — Dr. John Swanke heard for the first time that the verdict was in.
• July 12, 1989 — Jurors deciding whether David Allen Lucas should be sent to the gas chamber or prison for life heard a psychologist testify during the penalty phase before Superior Court Judge Laura Palmer Hammes.
• June 21, 1989 — A Superior Court jury convicted Lucas of first-degree murder in the May 4, 1979, slayings of Suzanne Jacobs and her 3-year-old son Colin; the Nov. 20, 1984 slaying of Anne Catherine Swanke; and the attempted murder of Jodie Santiago Robertson.
• September 19, 1989 — Superior Court Judge Laura Palmer Hammes formally sentenced Lucas to death.
• September 26, 1989 — Lucas, sentenced to death for three throat-slashing murders, did not face a second trial for two slayings in which a jury was unable to reach a verdict.
• Oct. 23, 1984 — The slayings of Rhonda Strang, 23, and Amber Fisher, a 3-year-old girl, occurred at Strang’s Lakeside home, where Strang was babysitting.
• Dec. 8, 1981 — Lucas was acquitted of the murder of real estate agent Gayle Garcia, 29, who was slain in a Spring Valley home she was showing to prospective buyers.
• May 4, 1979 — Suzanne Jacobs, 31, and her 3-year-old son, Colin, were murdered in their Normal Heights home.
• Nov. 20, 1984 — Anne Catherine Swanke, 22, was murdered.
• June 9, 1984 — Jodie Santiago Robertson, 35, of Seattle, was the victim of attempted murder; she was abducted while walking home from a La Mesa nightclub.
• June 1984 — Jodie Santiago Robertson was abducted as she was walking home from a La Mesa nightclub and was later subject to an attempted murder; the kidnap and attempted murder occurred in June 1984.
• June 21, 1989 — A jury convicted Lucas of first-degree murder in the May 4, 1979 murders and of the Nov. 20, 1984 murder, and convicted him of the attempted murder on June 9, 1984.
• Oct. 23, 1984 — Deputy District Attorney Daniel Williams sought dismissal of murder charges involving the Oct. 23, 1984 slayings of Rhonda Strang and Amber Fisher.

The offence

Lucas fatally slashed the throats of:

• Anne Catherine Swanke, 22, University of San Diego student.
• Suzanne Jacobs, 31.
• Colin, 3-year-old son of Suzanne Jacobs.

Lucas was also convicted of the June 1984 kidnap and attempted murder of Jodie Santiago Robertson, 34, a Seattle resident abducted while walking home from a La Mesa nightclub. The victims had their throats slashed.

Police said Swanke’s body had its throat slashed.

Investigation

For Anne Catherine Swanke:

• Her abandoned 1974 Dodge Colt had run out of gasoline.
• The car was found at a La Mesa intersection.
• Her body, throat slashed, was discovered in a remote area of Spring Valley.
• Police said she had walked back to the Grossmont Center Shell Station and bought fuel in a can.
• An hour later, police officers found her car where she had left it; the gas can sat behind it, and the gas cap and her keys lay on the trunk.
• Her purse and wallet were untouched inside the automobile.
• There was no sign of a struggle.

Swanke was described as dreaming of being a professional opera singer and having learned to play the piano to accompany herself; an opera score was on her desk at home the night she was killed.

Arrest

Lucas was convicted in 1989.

Trial

A Superior Court jury found Lucas guilty of three first-degree murders and also convicted him of the attempted murder involving Jodie Santiago Robertson.

Lucas, 34, was convicted June 21 of:

• The May 4, 1979 murders of Suzanne Jacobs, 31, and her 3-year-old son, Colin, in their Normal Heights home.
• The Nov. 20, 1984 murder of University of San Diego student Anne Catherine Swanke, 22.
• The June 1984 kidnap and attempted murder of Jodie Santiago Robertson, 34, a Seattle resident abducted while walking home from a La Mesa nightclub.

The same jury recommended the death penalty.

The psychologist testimony during the penalty phase included diagnosis and life history:

• Dr. Alvin Marks testified that Lucas had a personality disorder that caused him to fear men and both love and hate women.
• Dr. Marks was called by attorneys for Lucas to testify during the penalty phase of Lucas’ trial before Superior Court Judge Laura Palmer Hammes.
• The jury that found Lucas guilty of three first-degree murders determined his sentence.
• Dr. Marks described factors in Lucas’ life that caused the personality disorder, characterized by “lifelong maladaptive behavior.”
• Dr. Marks said Lucas suffered from asthma as an infant and was a thumb-sucker and bed-wetter.
• Dr. Marks said Lucas’ father was a “very brutal, iron- handed workaholic” who ruled the household while Lucas’ mother worked nights and often beat the boy.
• Dr. Marks said Lucas served as a church altar boy and loved children and animals.
• Dr. Marks said Lucas could feel remorse but had difficulty expressing his emotions.
• Dr. Marks said that when Lucas was 16, he got his girlfriend pregnant and she aborted the child; Dr. Marks said the abortion devastated Lucas.
• Dr. Marks said: “He told me from that instant on he hated women. Of course, he didn’t. He loved and hated them.”
• Dr. Marks said Lucas married but was concerned about the way his wife was raising her son, saying she abused the child.
• Dr. Marks said: “He had all this conflict about women, searching for the perfect one.”
• Dr. Marks said he believed Lucas suffered from minimal brain damage because he once fell out of his stroller when he was a baby and was in an automobile accident when he was 16.

During the guilty verdict period:

• Dr. John Swanke heard for the first time that the verdict was in and threw a left hook into the courthouse air.
• Dr. Swanke said he was pleased with the verdict and only sorry he could not get to the courthouse in time to see and hear it.
• Dr. Swanke said: “I really wanted to be in that courtroom to hear it,”
• Dr. Swanke said: “It’s been a torturous, hellish time for the family.”
• Dr. Swanke described that when he got the call, he said: “I had just tuned up the F scale and was practicing `Bye Bye Birdie' when the phone rang,”
• Dr. Swanke said: “I jumped in the car and sped down the freeway; must have been going 70.”
• Dr. Swanke said: “A highway patrolman started following me, and I thought I’d get stopped, but the officer pulled over somebody else.”
• Dr. Swanke said: “I didn’t get to see his face when they convicted him,”
• Dr. Swanke wondered aloud whether there would be any expressions of remorse.
• Dr. Swanke said: “I have my opinion, but I don’t want to say right now, while the jury is deliberating,”
• Dr. Swanke said: “I’m going to have to go through all this one more time,”
• Dr. Swanke said: “Then perhaps I can go back and kind of remember the good things about my daughter’s life instead of the tragic end. Now maybe I can finally bury her.”
• Dr. Swanke said he showed approval with a flying left look and later explained he strummed small index cards as study aids: “I always take something to study,”

Sentencing

Superior Court Judge Laura Palmer Hammes formally sentenced Lucas to death on Sept. 19.

The jury deliberated on whether Lucas should be sent to the gas chamber or prison for life. During the penalty phase, Dr. Alvin Marks testified as to Lucas’ personality disorder and related life history.

Appeals

An appeal of Lucas’ conviction had been filed, and Lucas’ attorneys said lawyers would have to be found to handle what was expected to be a lengthy appeal.

Outcome

Lucas was sentenced to death for three throat-slashing murders.

For the additional slayings:

• On Sept. 26, 1989, a hearing took place in which Deputy District Attorney Daniel Williams asked Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos to dismiss murder charges involving the Oct. 23, 1984 slayings of Rhonda Strang, 23, and Amber Fisher, a 3-year-old girl, whom Strang was babysitting in her Lakeside home.
• Judge Exarhos granted the request.
• Jurors had deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction in the murders of Strang and Fisher.

For another slaying:

• The jury also acquitted Lucas of the Dec. 8, 1981 murder of real estate agent Gayle Garcia, 29, who was slain in a Spring Valley home she was showing to prospective buyers.

Aftermath

Deputy District Attorney Daniel Williams said the district attorney’s office decided against retrying Lucas on the Strang-Fisher murders and said:

• “We have accomplished the goal we have set out to accomplish -- and that is justice,”

Rebecca Fisher, Fisher’s aunt, attended much of Lucas’ trial and said:

• “There’s not much more that can be proven. I’m just glad it’s over with,”
• “Maybe we can get our lives back together.... We know he did it.”

Lucas’ attorneys Alex Landon and Steven Feldman said the decision to dismiss the charges was appropriate:

• “At this point, the case is over,”
• Feldman said, “At this point, the case is over,”

Other details

Sex: M Race: W Type: T Motive: Sex. MO: Rape-slayer of women and children. Disposition: Condemned on three counts, 1989.