WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON JR.

            On this date, December 23, 2011, William Gary Simpson Jr. was arrested for stabbing to death 18 year old Saskia Burke on December 20, 2011. I will post information about him from several links.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against William Gary Simpson Jr., arrested Hesperia on suspicion of murder in the stabbing of an 18-year-old Saskia Burke, of Murrieta.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.pe.com/articles/simpson-642826-burke-police.html]

INTERNET SOURCE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/ninja-stabbings-arrest.html

Suspect arrested in fatal stabbing in which attacker wore ninja mask

December 24, 2011 | 1:01 pm

 Authorities say they have arrested a 19-year-old man wanted in connection with the stabbings of three people inside a Murrieta home this week.The suspect entered the house wearing a ninja mask, police said.

William Gary Simpson Jr. was taken into custody around 9 p.m. Friday without incident at the home of his mother, Bernadette Simpson, in Hesperia, according to the Murrieta Police Department and inmate booking record.

Simpson was booked on suspicion of murder and two counts of suspicion of attempted murder. He is currently being held at Southwest Detention Center without bail.

The stabbings occurred Tuesday. Shortly before 4 a.m. police officers arrived at the house in the 40000 block of Milkwood Lane, where the suspect had entered the home wearing what family members described as a ninja mask. Upon arriving, officers found a young woman critically wounded. Her boyfriend and father also had suffered stab wounds. Witnesses told police that the suspect had fled from the scene.

The woman, who has been identified as 18-year-old Saskia Burke, died at the scene, according to Riverside County coroner officials.

The two men were rushed to local area hospitals and were listed in stable condition.

Homicide detectives learned that Simpson knew the family and had lived at the home as a foster child as recently as 2010.

Simpson allegedly had been on the run for several days before his arrest Friday.

In an interview with KTLA following the stabbings, Saskia's mother, Catherine Burke,  described the stabbings and said her daughter had died in pain.

"I came downstairs and saw my child dead, and I had to take the knife from the guy that killed her," Burke said, holding her tears back. "I'm sorry that when I took the knife away last night that I didn't kill him with it."

Police have not determined a motive for the stabbings.

 

Saskia Burke (left) and Gary William Simpson Jr. (right)

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.pe.com/articles/simpson-642826-burke-police.html

MURRIETA: Prosecutors pursuing death penalty against William Gary Simpson

The 19-year-old Hesperia man is accused in the December stabbing death of 18-year-old Saskia Burke

BY SARAH BURGE / STAFF WRITER

Published: April 13, 2012 11:30 a.m.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a 19-year-old man accused in a knife attack at a Murrieta family’s home that left a young woman dead and her father and boyfriend seriously injured.

William Gary Simpson Jr. has pleaded not guilty to murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the Dec. 20 triple stabbing. An allegation that the killing happened during the commission of a burglary makes Simpson eligible, if convicted, for the death penalty.

Saskia Burke, 18, was fatally stabbed in the Dec. 20 early-morning attack. Her father, Paul Burke, and her boyfriend, 17-year-old Connor McCormack, were critically injured in a violent struggle, police said. They have since recovered.

Prosecutors filed a notice of their intention to seek the death penalty on Thursday, court records show.

Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach made the decision last week, spokesman John Hall said. Hall said the office does not comment on its decision-making process in individual death penalty cases.

simpson.poll

Defense attorney David Macher, of the Riverside County Capital Defender’s office, declined to comment.

Members of the Burke family could not be reached for comment Friday.

Saskia’s mother, Catherine Burke, has said that Simpson, a childhood friend of her son’s, had lived with the family for several months in 2010 after his family kicked him out. But the Burkes hadn’t seen him since late 2010, she said. They had asked him to move out because he wasn’t paying rent or helping with food bills, court records show. She has said she believes Simpson intended to kill her entire family.

Violent struggle

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive in the stabbings and a judge has sealed portions of several search warrants that describe the investigation. The court records that are available, however, suggest that Simpson crept into the house in a mask and carrying a duffel bag filled with knives.

According to a Murrieta police detective’s statement in support of an arrest warrant, Catherine Burke told police she awoke to a commotion early Dec. 20 and Saskia yelling, “Daddy help me€ and “Oh my god, daddy.” Running downstairs, she saw items flying out of the computer room and her husband on top of a table holding someone by the neck, Detective Danny Martin wrote. Connor was standing at the end of the table and Saskia was lying motionless on the floor.

During the struggle, Catherine Burke said she picked up one knife that fell to the floor and pried a second knife out of the attacker’s hand, the document says. She threw the knives outside. Eventually, she got a look at the attacker, whom she recognized as Simpson, Catherine Burke said. As her husband continued to fight with him, the document states, she picked up a candle holder and struck Simpson with it.

Simpson ran away, but authorities tracked him to his mother’s home in the Hesperia area in San Bernardino County, where he was arrested Dec. 23, police said. Prosecutors have said he was arrested with a bag that had a substantial amount of blood in it and knives.

‘Ninja’ garb

Police recovered two knives outside the Burkes

 Milkwood Lane home, as well as a sheer mask and a beanie near a pool of blood in the house, according to the detective’s statement. Paul Burke later told police Simpson had worn the mask and beanie on Halloween in 2010, Martin wrote.

In an interview the day after the attack, Catherine Burke said Simpson had been dressed “like a ninja.€



Police obtained several search warrants in the investigation, including one to examine a computer thumb drive found in Simpson’s duffle bag. On it, they discovered a document from a knife order placed by Simpson as well as a report on a jiu jitsu class in which he had apparently participated, according to a search warrant document filed in court.

Simpson is being held without bail at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley. He appeared in court Friday for a brief hearing, court records show. A preliminary hearing is set for June 15.

There are more than 700 inmates on the state’s death row, yet only 13 have been put to death since 1978, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Due to legal challenges over lethal injection protocols, the last California execution was in 2006.

Also contributing to this report: Staff writer John F. Hill, johnhill@pe.com

William Gary Simpson Jr.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://patch.com/california/murrieta/man-to-stand-trial-in-murrieta-triple-stabbing

Evidence in Murrieta Triple Stabbing Warrants Trial

William Gary Simpson, 19, must stand trial on murder and all other charges in the alleged fatal knife attack that killed 18-year-old Saskia Burke of Murrieta, a judge ruled Friday.

By Maggie Avants (Patch Staff) September 15, 2012 at 2:03am

The events of Dec. 20, 2011 that left an 18-year-old Murrieta Valley High School student dead were rehashed Friday in a Southwest Justice Center courtroom.

The charges against William Gary Simpson Jr., 19, the alleged killer of Saskia Burke, were upheld by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Kelly Hansen following a day-long preliminary hearing.

Simpson is charged with first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a burglary in the Dec. 20, 2011 fatal attack at the Burke home, 40025 Milkwood Lane in Murrieta.

He is also charged with a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, as well as two counts of attempted murder and multiple great bodily injury and weapons allegations.

The hearing was to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial on those charges.

Motions by the defense to close the hearing to the public and the media were denied.

Photos of Saskia's body, as well as the wounds suffered by her father, Paul Burke, and her boyfriend, 17-year-old Connor McCormack, were displayed in court.

The men were allegedly slashed and stabbed by Simpson during the attack. Both survived.

Photos of knives allegedly used as well as a bloodied living area were also shown.

Witnesses that included Murrieta police officers were interviewed and cross-examined.

During an afternoon portion of the hearing, Paul Burke took the stand.

The defendant had known the Burkes for years, before they relocated from the High Desert to Murrieta. According to police, he lived at the Murrieta residence for several months in 2010 but left after a falling-out.

"The look on his face, the expression he wore was nothing I've ever seen before," said Burke, when asked to describe his alleged encounter with Simpson as he came down the stairs to find his daughter's lifeless body bleeding and covered in stab wounds.

"When I first saw him it wasn't the Gary I knew; it was a demon. During the event it smiled when we attacked it," Burke said.

Simpson remains held without bail at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta.

Accompanied Friday by his public defense team, Simpson sat wearing a light-blue dress shirt, tie and slacks.

The 6-foot-3, 140-pound defendant allegedly broke into the two-story Burke home shortly before 4 a.m. Dec. 20, 2011 and went on a rampage.

Witnesses alleged the defendant sneaked inside the residence and attacked Saskia, stabbing her multiple times in the computer room of the house.

Burke, 48, tangled with Simpson, who allegedly stabbed the man in the neck and chest.

"I first checked Saskia...then I felt dampness on my shoulder, the left side toward the center," Burke said.

He spent four to five days in the hospital recovering, and said he has two scars—one is an inch and the other an inch and a half.

Connor, who was visiting the house, also tried to subdue the defendant and was reportedly slashed across the neck.

Police said neighbors rushed to the residence in response to Catherine Burke's screams for help, and Simpson fled.

Murrieta police Detective Spencer Parker, who was sent to the hospital to interview Connor, was called as a witness.

Connor, who had ridden his bike to the Burke home from his job at the Movie Experience earlier that night, told police he heard Saskia's screams and went downstairs.

Connor was injured as he tried to help Paul subdue Simpson, Parker said.

"Connor staggers back then goes to the ground—remembers saying he was bleeding," Parker said, of what Connor recanted. "He is asking for help and is laying on ground. From that point he is in and out of consciousness. He can’t remember too much."

Paul Burke also said it was difficult to recall the exact timeline of events, but had no doubt it was Simpson who was in his house committing the attack.

"The exact chronological order of those events are blurry," Burke said.

A table in the computer room broke during the scuffle, during which Burke said he "gouged" Simpson's eyes and then struck him in the "groin area."

With Simpson identified as the suspect, he was tracked to and arrested at his mother's Hesperia home three days later.

No motive for the alleged attack has been disclosed.

The Riverside County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty in the case.

—City News Service contributed to this report.