On January 26, 1989, three people were found shot to death inside a Fair Oaks, California home. Ten-year-old Donald Hobbs, who lived there with his mother Jeanine Copeland and her companion Thomas Probst, discovered the bodies after finding Copeland unresponsive and calling 911. Forensic examiners determined Copeland had been shot at close range through the head and died within minutes; her blood tested positive for methamphetamine. Patrick Mungavin was located seated on the living room couch with multiple gunshot wounds, including a fatal wound to the back of his head; a loaded .22-caliber handgun was found under his left armpit but showed no evidence of having been fired.

Thomas Probst’s death was also attributed to gunshot wounds, and his blood contained Valium and methamphetamine. The murders were later linked to a broader robbery spree in California and Arizona that left additional victims dead. James David Majors was arrested, convicted of first-degree murder and robbery for the Fair Oaks killings, found to have personally used a firearm, and sentenced to death after special circumstance findings that the killings occurred during a robbery and involved multiple murders.

Does anyone have further information about Probst’s life or about the Fair Oaks household in the weeks before January 26, 1989?