Marin Prosecutors Bring Up Serial Killer's Possible Sixth Victim

By Bay City News 

Marin County prosecutors today are trying to convince a jury that the man they convicted last month of killing four prostitutes between 1977 and 1994 likely also killed a San Francisco woman in 1981.

During the penalty phase of Joseph Naso's trial this morning, Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote showed autopsy photos of Sharieea Patton, whose body was found in two plastic bags on the rocky shore of San Francisco Bay in Tiburon in January 1981.

Dr. Ervin Jindrich, who performed the autopsy, testified today that Patton was strangled.

Former Marin County Coroner Ken Holmes also testified two pairs of pantyhose were used to bind Patton in a fetal position and ligature marks were found on her neck.

Testimony during Naso's murder trial indicated at least three of the four female victims he was charged with killing also died of asphyxia from strangulation.

Four pairs of pantyhose were found on the body of one of the victims, 18-year-old Roxene Roggasch, of Oakland, whose body was found off of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Fairfax in January 1977.

Naso was not charged with Patton's murder because the investigation into her death was not completed and the possible link to Naso was not established before his trial started.

During the trial, which ended when the jury convicted Naso on Aug. 20 of the four murders in Marin, Yuba and Contra Costa counties, the prosecution produced evidence it claimed also linked Naso to the death of Sara Dylan, a Bob Dylan groupie who was killed in Nevada County in 1992.

Naso also was not charged with Dylan's murder, but the prosecution alleges Naso referred to Dylan and Patton on a "list of 10" women that included the four murder victims in the three counties.

Prosecutors hope presenting evidence of Dylan's and Patton's deaths will convince the jury to vote to impose the death penalty on the 79-year-old former commercial photographer from Reno, Nev., who was arrested in April 2011.

After this afternoon's testimony, the death penalty phase of the trial will resume Tuesday morning. Closing arguments are scheduled for the following week.