Gypsy Hill Murders Solved Nearly 40 Years Later

California police say they have arrested the man behind two of the grizzly "Gypsy Hill murders" that shocked the San Francisco, Calif. area four decades ago, Fox News reported on Thursday.

Rodney Halblower, 66, will face murder charges for the 1976 murder of Paula Baxter, 17, and Veronica Anne Cascio, 18. He was already serving time in an Oregon prison for a different attempted murder charge.

New DNA evidence linked Halblower to two of five murders that haunted the San Francisco Bay peninsula 40 years ago. He was charged with two counts of murder and special circumstance of murder while committing rape against Baxter in 1976. Her body was found near Pacifica, her hometown.

The name Gyspy Hill Murders comes from their closeness to Gypsy Hill Road in Pacifica. The killings occurred between January and April of 1976.

While on her way to a bus stop, Cascio was kidnapped. Her body was found on Jan. 7, 1976 near a golf course creek. Baxter disappeared about a month afterwards, on Feb. 4, while she was leaving a school play rehearsal. She was hit in the head with concrete and then stabbed to death. Evidence showed that the same person killed both of them.

Family members say they're relieved to finally have closure and have their loved one's murderer charged.

"I am real happy," said Leonard Cascio, 81, of South San Francisco, Cascio's uncle, NBC Bay Area reported. "The only thing I'm disappointed in is that he can't get the death penalty."

When his niece died, Cascio said many family members, including his brother, were suspected of killing her.

But Halblower wasn't linked to the other three murders, including that of 14-year-old Tanya Blackwell and 26-year-old Carol Lee Booth. The investigation into what happened to them is ongoing.

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