Carla Burkart & Bill Harrington

Photo Credit:  Dennis Wyatt for Roseville Press Tribune, March 3, 1977

•Placer County Sheriff’s deputies took command of the scene, and were assisted by California Department of Justice, plus members from Rocklin and Roseville PD, and State Park & Beach Dept. officers, for a total force of 40, armed with rifles and shotguns. They were joined by two PG&E helicopters, a CHP patrol airplane and police tracking dogs. They spent 5 hours searching a one mile radius around the crash site, but found no sign of the shooter. Paul Kovacich and his K-9 Adolph assisted in the search.

Photo Credits:  Top - Steve Capps for the Auburn Journal, March 4, 1977

Bottom - Dennis Wyatt for Roseville Press Tribune, March 3, 1977

•Police soon realized that not only had that house been Burkart and Harrington’s last stop, but it appeared that the Bronco had rolled from the top of the circular driveway, down the hillside, across Lone Pine Lane, through a fence, and finally stopped about 200 ft from the house when it ran into a downed tree in the field. 

• The truck was found running, and police theorized that Harrington had stayed in the truck while Burkart approached the house, rang the bell, and getting no answer, left the notice on the door and returned to the truck. They were both sitting in the truck, with the doors closed and windows rolled down when they were shot. There was no indication that either of them saw the shooter approaching, since they were both facing forward when they were shot in the back, right side of the head. They died instantly. 

•Both workers had gunpowder burns, and were shot multiple times, at very close range. Police described it as an assassination. No casings were found, and it was determined that the murder weapon was a .38 caliber revolver with hollow point, jacketed rounds. Although he was working outside 75 yards away, Wesley’s uncle James was running an air compressor, and didn’t see or hear anything next door during the morning. In fact, door to door canvassing failed to find any witnesses. 

• Investigators also interviewed all of the construction, road and telephone workers in the area that day, but came up with nothing, zero, nobody saw or heard anything that could be tied to the murders. 

•There was no evidence that Burkart and Harrington realized that anything was amiss at the Williams home that morning. The radio microphone was found up on the dashboard, not on its mount. The fact that it wasn’t found in either worker’s hand, or hanging down on the floor makes it unlikely that they were trying to make a call for help when they were ambushed. Carla could not have been too panicked, because she took the time to leave the service interruption notice shoved into the door jam. She didn’t drop it and run, or take it back to the truck, she carefully placed it where it would be seen by the returning homeowner—and it was. The front door was firmly shut, and remained shut. 

•It appears that the Bronco turned right off Auburn-Folsom Road, and then immediately right off Lone Pine Lane into the first driveway. That took them up to the front of the Wesley Williams home. Carla likely got out of the passenger side with a notice card, and walked up the path across the front yard, to the front door, which was in a little alcove. 

• The driveway is “U-shaped,” with the house sitting at the bend, and two parallel driveways that connect to Lone Pine Lane. This means that the Bronco was already pointed to go down the other leg of the driveway, with no need to back up, or turn around. 

•After Carla was seated in the car, with her door closed, the shooter approached from the rear, and shot them both through the partially open passenger window, and at least once again as they were down. The Bronco then rolled down the driveway. It is unknown if that was accidental, or planned by the killer. If anyone had heard the shots, and had been on their way to investigate, they would have stopped to check on the Bronco, and then been distracted trying to help its passengers. The truck and victims at the bottom of the hill, away from the house, caused delay, distraction and confusion, and perhaps that was exactly what the shooter intended. 

•If they did interrupt a burglary in progress, why didn’t the burglar just run out the back when he heard the truck pull up, or the doorbell ring? The biggest mystery was why someone would turn a possible minor burglary charge into a death penalty case without even trying to escape first. 

•It wasn’t any ordinary burglar because he brought a loaded gun to the scene. That’s a person who would rather murder an innocent housewife than serve a few months in jail. That’s a violent offender, not a petty thief. Law enforcement were unable to find any prints they identified as the burglar’s so he was probably wearing gloves. It also appears that he parked some distance away, and walked to the Williams home. Finally, despite the fact that he’d already gone through the bedrooms, and moved the gun and TV, nothing was missing from the house. Normally, a burglar who is stealing small items that he can carry away will fill a bag, pillowcase, sock, or his pockets as he searches. There was no sign of items gathered from the ransacking. The homeowner’s .22 caliber handgun, found on the hearth, may have been an item he intended to steal, or he just left it there to be creepy. 

•The investigation seemed to get off to a great start, with both Placer Sheriffs and PG&E’s own investigators committing all of their resources to it. Additionally, the Sacramento Bee’s secret witness program and PG&E each put up $10,000, and Carla’s CB club added another 500, for a total of $20,500 in reward money for tips. The case got extensive press coverage all over Sacramento and Placer counties, so anyone with information would have been aware of the important details of the case. At first, all of the public information was straight forward and factual, when, where and what. However, as time went on, law enforcement theories and guesses seeped into the investigation, and slowly started being stated as fact.

•The first step away from hard evidence was fatal to the investigation. It all had to do with the console TV that was unplugged and moved. That TV led investigators to two conclusions—it was too heavy to be moved by one person, and the burglars were about to take it out of the house when they were surprised by Carla Burkart at the front door. This meant that there were multiple burglars, with a vehicle, and their MO was stealing large electronics. To quote a lead investigator “the house was ransacked so extensively that two to four burglars were involved.”  Those guesses became facts in their minds.

Compare the description of ransacking at the Lone Pine Address to the 

SSD reports on the EAR attack on March 18, 1977

 This was located on Benny Way, in nearby Rancho Cordova. 

The PG&E homicides fit the pattern of DeAngelo's confessed shootings:

•Claude Snelling, September 11, 1975, Visalia. Shot twice in the chest as he exited the back door of his home while yelling at the man who was in the process of kidnapping his daughter. Weapon was .38 Miroku revolver stolen during nearby ransacking burglary on August 31, 1975. Jacketed hollow point ammo.

•Visalia PD Agent Bill McGowen, December 10, 1975, Visalia. Glass shot out of flashlight in his hand, had surgery to remove glass from his eye. Weapon was Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, specific gun never found or identified. 

•Rodney Miller, 18 yrs, February 17, 1977, Ripon Court, Sacramento. Shot once in the abdomen after chasing a prowler from his yard. Second shot missed him. Weapon was a .38 revolver, ammo unknown.

•Katie & Brian Maggiore, February 2, 1978, La Gloria Way, Rancho Cordova. Brian was shot in the front of his chest/neck at point blank range after falling on the ground, and Katie was shot in the top of her head as she hid by a locked gate. DeAngelo had prepared a nearby empty house as a location to attack Katie, but when he directed her to tie up Brian’s hands, the Maggiores ran, and he chased them through two residential yards, firing at them in the dark. The weapon was a .38 Miroku revolver with jacketed hollow point bullets, and a 6 left-handed twist.

•Dr. Alexandria Manning & Dr. Robert Offerman, December 30, 1979, in Goleta. Dr. Offerman was shot three times in the chest and back, and Dr. Manning was shot once in the head. The weapon was a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver, and the ammo was jacketed hollow point.

•Cheri Domingo & Greg Sanchez, July 27, 1981, in Goleta. Greg was shot in the face with a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver loaded with jacketed hollow point rounds.

•DeAngelo was not at work on March 2, 1977.

The PG&E murders also share commonalities with some of the other Placer cases:

•“Nancy,” Martin, Wanner, and Hawkley were also taken to or from Granite Bay--an otherwise violent crime free area;

•All of the crimes occurred off Auburn-Folsom Road, Auburn Blvd, or Auburn Ravine Road;

•DeAngelo lived off Auburn-Folsom Road, Auburn Blvd, and Auburn Ravine Road, and on Granite Lane.