Crime & Safety

Alleged Serial Killer's Closing Argument Delayed by Message from Victim's Brother

Larry Roggasch traveled from Houston to attend the trial of the man accused of killer his sister in 1977; a message he wrote on his truck delayed Monday's proceedings.





By Bay City News Service

The resumption of closing arguments at the trial of accused serial killer Joseph Naso was delayed Monday morning because of writing on the parked truck of the brother of one of the murder victims.

Larry Roggasch, who has been attending the trial in Marin County Superior Court in San Rafael, wrote "Joseph Naso is charged with killing my sister" on the windows of his Ford Bronco.

Roggasch, whose sister Roxene is one of Naso's four alleged victims, also requested in writing financial help to allow him to stay for the duration of the trial.

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Naso's investigator Everson Thompson noticed the truck this morning, took photographs and informed Naso.

Naso, 79, who is representing himself in the trial, then asked Judge Andrew Sweet to poll the jurors to find out if they saw Roggasch's truck.

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Sweet agreed to ask each juror individually, delaying the start of Naso's continued closing arguments this morning.

It is the second time that the trial has been delayed because of writing on Roggasch's truck. Last week, the truck was parked in the jury parking lot.

Roggasch, however, removed the writing before the jury returned to court after a two-day break in the trial.

The truck was parked today in a different area outside the courthouse. Naso said a juror who works at the Civic Center complex may have seen it even if the other jurors did not.

On Friday, Naso said the remainder of his closing argument today would take at least an hour.
Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote will then give a rebuttal to Naso's closing argument and it is possible the jury will begin deliberations later Monday.

As Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote summed up the prosecution's evidence before the jury Wednesday, 56-year-old Larry Roggasch remembered his sister as a tough, 5-foot tall woman  "who didn't take any  crap from anybody."

"She was my best friend. She would help anybody. We were close," Roggasch said.

Larry Roggasch, who drove his truck for 20 hours from Houston, Texas to attend the trial, has taken pains to leave the courtroom when photographs of his sister's body are shown on a large television to the jury.

"I wrote in white shoe polish, 'Naso killed my sister,' and I asked for some money to help pay for my trip and to get a motel room," he said.

Roxene Roggasch's nearly naked body was found off the side of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near Fairfax on Jan. 11, 1977. Four pairs of pantyhose were found on the 18-year-old’s body, one she was wearing inside out, another stuffed in her mouth, a pair wrapped around her mouth and another around her neck.

Naso, a resident of Reno, Nev., is accused of killing Roggasch; Carmen Colon, 22, an East Bay resident; Pamela Parsons, 38, of Linda in Yuba County; and Tracey Tafoya, 31, also of Yuba County.

Prosecutors are trying to convince the jury Naso strangled all four women who worked as prostitutes and dumped their bodies over the sides for rural roads in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties between 1977 and 1994. 

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