Alfredo Rolando Prieto (November 18, 1965 – October 1, 2015) was a Salvadoran-American

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

. After being initially convicted for a single murder, he was later connected to eight other murders committed in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

between May 1988 and September 1990 via

DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is cal ...

Sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

in both states, Prieto was executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

in Virginia in 2015.

Biography

Alfredo Prieto was born on November 18, 1965, in San Martín, San Salvador, El Salvador. He was one of six children born to parents Arnoldo and Teodora Prieto. He spent his childhood and adolescence in poverty since his parents experienced heavy financial difficulties during the

Football War The Football War (), also known as the Soccer War or the 100 Hour War, was a brief military conflict fought between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Existing tensions between the two countries coincided with rioting during a 1970 FIFA World ...

. Prieto's mother left El Salvador in 1975 due to her husband's abuse and emigrated to the United States. During the outbreak of the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guer ...

, Alfredo reportedly witnessed many civilians being killed, including his grandfather. Prieto would subsequently be diagnosed with

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

. In 1981, his mother retrieved her children from El Salvador, settling in

Pomona, California Pomona ( ) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was ...

, where Alfredo and his siblings attended Pomona High School. During high school, Prieto became addicted to drugs and alcohol. Around this time, he and his brother Guillermo met Sandra Figueroa, whose brothers were members of a local street gang named "456 Island Piru." Prieto joined the gang, dropped out of school, and married Figueroa. The couple had a child in 1984. In August 1984, Prieto shot three people in Ontario, claiming his wife had cheated on him with one of the wounded men. His wife later said that Prieto subjected her to sexual abuse and aggression, which he denied. In late 1984, he was found guilty of the shootings, but since the victims were rival gang members, the court showed leniency to him. He received a short prison sentence and was released in 1987, after which he left California and moved to Virginia. He settled in

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

, where his father had emigrated after serving a murder conviction in El Salvador. Once in Arlington, Prieto found a job and met another girl, who later bore him a son. At the end of 1989, his father was arrested and jailed for raping a woman. In February 1990, Prieto left the state and moved back to California.

Murder of Yvette Woodruff

Early in the morning of September 2, 1990, Prieto, along with 29-year-old Vincent Lopez and 33-year-old Danny Sorian, robbed Anthony Rangela in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. They then took him hostage and drove to his house, where Rangela lived with his 33-year-old aunt Emily D., her 17-year-old daughter Lisa H. and Lisa's friend, 15-year-old Yvette Woodruff. They kidnapped the women and drove to the outskirts of the city, but along the way, Lopez refused to participate any further and left the car. He was replaced by another friend of Prieto's, Ricardo Estrada, whom they came across while buying gasoline at a gas station. They raped the women in an abandoned building in an industrial zone on the eastern outskirts of the city. Prieto shot and killed Woodruff, while Sorian and Estrada stabbed Emily D. and Lisa H. before leaving the scene. Despite severe injuries and extensive blood loss, Emily D. and Lisa H. survived and managed to call the police. They were taken to the hospital, where they testified about the attack. On that same day, the police found Woodruff's body, and a few days later, the car which the criminals had used. Prieto and his accomplices were discovered after street informants learned about the crime and contacted the authorities. Police swiftly arrested Prieto and the others involved between September 6–22, 1990. A pistol belonging to one of the victims was found at Prieto's apartment and determined to be the murder weapon.

Trials and exposure

Prieto was later charged with first degree murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery. By jury verdict, he was found guilty on January 21, 1992, on all charges, receiving the death sentence. Twelve days later, he was transferred to

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated area, unincorporated place ...

, where he would spend the next 14 years awaiting execution on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...

. In 2005, a law was passed obligating all convicts in the state to submit their DNA, resulting in Prieto's DNA being entered into the national database. In early 2006, Prieto's DNA was matched to eight more murders committed between 1988 and 1990: the 1988 rape and murder of 24-year-old Veronica "Tina" Lynn Jefferson in Arlington, the murder of 22-year-old Rachael Raver and her 22-year-old fiancé, Warren Fulton III, in

Reston Reston may refer to: Places *Reston, Florida, an unincorporated community in Florida, United States *Reston, Lincolnshire, a parish in England *Reston, Manitoba, a small community in southwestern Manitoba, Canada *Reston Scar, a fell in Cumbria, En ...

; and the 1989 murder of 27-year-old Manuel Sermeno in

Prince William County Prince William County lies beside the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 482,204, making it Virginia's second most populous county. The county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part ...

near

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

. On May 5, 1990, Prieto was shown to have killed 19-year-old Stacey Siegrist and her 21-year-old fiancé, Anthony Gianuzzi, in

Rubidoux, California Rubidoux ( ) was a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Riverside County, California, until July 1, 2011, when it became a neighborhood of the newly formed city of Jurupa Valley. The city is located within Southern California's ...

. Siegrist was sexually assaulted before being shot. On June 2, 1990, Prieto killed Lula Mae Farley in an alley behind an Ontario supermarket where she and her husband were collecting recyclables, according to 1990 news coverage. After witnessing the murder of his wife, Herbert Farley was then abducted and later found shot to death in Rubidoux. Another individual, 19-year-old Steven Valdez, was arrested as a suspect in these killings, but later released after a key witness was inconsistent in identifying him as the shooter. Following these revelations, the Fairfax County Attorney's Office brought a number of charges against Alfredo Prieto, resulting in his extradition from San Quentin on April 28, 2006, to Virginia, where he was due to stand trial. Since Virginia death row inmates exhausted their appeals far more quickly than they did in California, officials there believed that Prieto could be executed in Virginia long before exhausting his appeals in California. The first trial for the Raver-Fulton murders began in 2007, with Prieto initially being found guilty by a jury. However, the trial judge was forced to declare a

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

during the penalty phase, after one juror claimed he had been

peer pressure Peer pressure is a direct or indirect influence on peers, i.e., members of social groups with similar interests and experiences, or social statuses. Members of a peer group are more likely to influence a person's beliefs, values, religion and beh ...

d into going along with the guilty verdict. A second trial for the murders took place in 2008, with Prieto being convicted again and receiving two death sentences. Prieto's lawyers filed an appeal, and the

Virginia Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...

overturned the sentence based on an error in the jury verdict form. Prieto was subsequently resentenced, and again received death sentences. A year later, his lawyers filed another appeal to overturn his sentence and asking for a new trial, based on the results from a psychiatric exam which determined that their client was intellectually disabled, with an IQ threshold between 67 and 73. Their petition was accepted, but at the third trial, the prosecutor's office proved to the court that Prieto had been a successful student at school in both El Salvador and the United States, and that he had adapted socially, had perfectly learned the English language, was popular and obtained a driver's license in both Virginia and California, which contradicted the notions of an intellectual disability. He was sentenced to death for a third and final time in 2010.

Execution

On October 1, 2015, Prieto was executed by lethal injection at the

Greensville Correctional Center Greensville Correctional Center is a prison facility located in unincorporated Greensville County, Virginia, near Jarratt. The prison, on a plot of land, is operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections. "901 Corrections Way Jarratt, VA ...

at 9:17 p.m., in the presence of state witnesses and some of the victims' family members. Shortly before his execution, his lawyers filed a lawsuit to delay the execution date on the grounds that drugs used for the process were unsafe. They demanded information about the shelf life of

pentobarbital Pentobarbital (US) or pentobarbitone (British and Australian) is a short-acting barbiturate typically used as a sedative, a preanesthetic, and to control convulsions in emergencies. It can also be used for short-term treatment of insomnia but ...

, which the state had received from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in exchange for another

sedative A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or Psychomotor agitation, excitement. They are central nervous system (CNS) Depressant, depressants and interact with brain activity, causing its decelera ...

midazolam Midazolam, sold under the brand name Versed among others, is a benzodiazepine medication used for anesthesia, premedication before surgical anesthesia, and procedural sedation, and to treat psychomotor agitation, severe agitation. It induces ...

, which had expired. Among other things, his lawyers sought to force the state to disclose the name of the pharmaceutical company producing the drug in order to determine its quality so they could prevent the physical torture of their client during the execution, but this suit was dismissed.

References

External links