California jury recommends death for convicted serial killer

SAN RAFAEL, California (Reuters) - A jury recommended the death penalty on Tuesday for an elderly former photographer convicted in the murders of four Northern California prostitutes dating to the 1970s, all with matching first and last initials.

Joseph Naso, 79, who was found guilty of four counts of first degree murder in August over the so-called "Alphabet murders," showed no emotion as the verdict was read in Marin Superior Court.

Jurors could have recommended the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole for Naso. A Marin County Superior Court judge is expected to decide within a month whether to impose the sentence or set it aside.

Naso, who was ordered back to court on September 20 for further proceedings, remains a suspect in the killing of at least two other California women whose cases could have a bearing on his sentencing, and authorities believe he may have slain four more.

According to prosecutors, Naso drugged his victims, sexually assaulted and strangled them, and dumped their bodies in remote places.

The balding, stooped-shouldered Naso insisted on defending himself at his two-month trial, during which he admitted taking pictures of women in nylons and high heels and boastfully displayed some of those photos in court while maintaining he never killed anyone.

During the trial, Naso insisted that prosecutors lacked any physical proof that he killed the four women he was charged with murdering. However, he conceded that DNA found in the pantyhose worn by one of the women, Roxene Roggasch, might justify the conclusion that he had sex with her.

Roggasch, 18, and Carmen Colon, 22, were slain in the 1970s. Two other victims, Pamela Parsons, 38, and Tracy Tafoya, 31, were killed in the 1990s.

Investigators found pictures of two of the four women in his safe-deposit box and notes about all four on a list prosecutors described as a roster of dumping grounds.

(Reporting by Ronnie Cohen; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Mohammad Zargham)

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