Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: Royal Kenneth Hayes - California

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Royal Kenneth Hayes - California




    Summary of Offense:

    Royal Kenneth Hayes was convicted and sentenced to death by a California state court for the 1981 murders of Lauren de Laet and Donald MacVicar.

    In December of 1981, Donald MacVicar and Lauren de Laet sought to buy cocaine from Hayes. In the presence of de Laet and Diane Weller, one of Hayes’s accomplices who later testified against him, MacVicar gave Hayes $160,000 in cash towards a $250,000 payment for cocaine. Hayes was to deliver the cocaine in a secluded location in Santa Cruz, California.

    Weller testified that Hayes told her separately that she was to accompany him to Santa Cruz to kill MacVicar and de Laet.

    Two days later, on December 29, 1981, Hayes, Weller, MacVicar, and de Laet drove to Santa Cruz, where they met Debbie Garcia at a doughnut shop. The group got into Garcia’s car and drove to an isolated area in the woods, near two shallow holes that Garcia had dug earlier at Hayes’s request.

    Garcia, who disavowed any advance knowledge of Hayes’s plan to kill MacVicar and de Laet, claimed that Hayes told her the holes would be used to hide packages, as they had used similar holes in the past.

    According to testimony by Weller and Garcia, Hayes then instructed Weller to wait in the car with MacVicar and de Laet. He walked into the woods with Garcia, purportedly to “check out” the exact location where the cocaine would be exchanged. Garcia returned about ten minutes later to retrieve MacVicar, whom she led to where Hayes was waiting. Hayes told Garcia to frisk MacVicar. As MacVicar leaned against a tree to be searched, Hayes killed him with a single shot to the back of his head. Garcia then retrieved de Laet from the car, and Hayes shot her twice in the head, killing her.

    Nearly two months later, a mushroom hunter discovered fragments of what later turned out to be de Laet’s skull, and law enforcement began to investigate. On March 18, 1982, Garcia, fearing for her life and for the safety of her family, informed police about the murders, including the involvement of Hayes, Weller, and herself. Hayes was arrested and charged with murder.

    Hayes was sentenced to death in Stanislaus County on August 8, 1986.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    In today's opinions, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s denial of Hayes' habeas corpus petition.

    Opinion here

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Death Row Inmate Convicted Of Santa Cruz Slayings Dies In Hospital

    Associated Press

    SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) — California officials say an 81-year-old condemned inmate has died while awaiting execution for two murders he committed 36 years ago.

    They said Thursday that Royal Hayes died Tuesday at an outside hospital. His cause of death is awaiting the results of an autopsy.

    He was sentenced to death in 1986 for the December 1981 slayings of Lauren de Laet and Donald MacVicar.

    Investigators say that he separately lured each victim to a remote location on the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California on the pretext of giving them cocaine to repay a debt.

    He told the victims they needed to be searched then shot each in the back of the head. He buried the dismembered bodies in previously dug shallow graves.

    California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006.

    http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...s-in-hospital/

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •