Anthony Wimberly

Background

Anthony Wimberly was identified as a suspect in connection with multiple shootings and rapes in Oakland, California.

The offence

On November 8, 1984, a 12-year-old Oakland, California, girl was accosted by a black intruder who invaded her home, brandished a pistol, and forced her to surrender a jewelry box belonging to her parents. The man bound and gagged his victim, jammed a pillow case over her head, and brutally raped her. Afterward, he pressed a pillow over her face and shot her twice, leaving the girl for dead. The victim survived wounds to the head and neck, untying herself and phoning police. Police found the house ransacked and a screen removed from the bedroom window where her attacker had entered.

Six weeks later, on December 23, relatives found Anna Evardo, 25, inside a closet of the family home, nude and bleeding profusely from three small-caliber bullet wounds. The slugs recovered from her corpse were matched against the bullets fired in the attack on November 8.

Neighbors described a black man seen leaving the Evardo home.

On January 24, 1985, police responded to reports of gunshots on Oakland’s historic Bret Harte Boardwalk. They found a woman lying wounded in a beauty shop. The doors and windows were blocked by burglar bars. Firefighters managed to force entry, and two victims were discovered inside. One, Marilyn Moore, had been killed in a closet at the rear of the shop. The survivor described their black assailant and the stolen car—her own—in which he fled.

A week later, on January 31, Doris Lee was found dead at her home in the Oakland hills. She had been shot at close range with a small-caliber weapon and had been shrouded by a blanket in death, as if her killer sought to conceal his crime.

Investigation

The bullets fired in the November 8 attack were matched to slugs recovered from Anna Evardo’s corpse.

Forensics experts recovered latent fingerprints that did not match surviving members of the family.

After the January 24 attack, an all-points bulletin put officers on the trail of the stolen car, but they lost the suspect when he fled on foot, vanishing into a crowded apartment complex.

Arrest

On February 3, police informants came up with the address of suspect Anthony Wimberly, 23, a recent parolee.

Wimberly’s fingerprints matched those lifted from the December crime scene. The first victim had no hesitation in picking him out of a lineup. Wimberly was further identified by patrolmen and a surviving gunshot victim as the perpetrator of the January 24 attack.

Trial

Wimberly was charged with three counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and sundry other felonies.

He was held without bond, and prosecutors announced their intention to seek the death penalty.

Sentencing

In 1994, Wimberly was sentenced to three life terms without parole.

Outcome

Wimberly received three life terms without parole in 1994.

Other details

• Michael Newton — An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans — listed the case details: SEX: M; RACE: B; TYPE: T; MOTIVE: CE/Sex; MO: Burglar who raped/killed female victims in homes/stores. DISPOSITION: Three life terms without parole, 1994.
• SEX: M; RACE: B; TYPE: T; MOTIVE: CE/Sex; MO: Burglar who raped/killed female victims in homes/stores.