Debra Lynn Senior was 17 and living in Anaheim, California, when she was killed on October 20, 1979. According to the case history, the attacker used a broken lock on a crank-type window to enter her Maple Street apartment. She was struck multiple times on the head with a blunt object, rendered unconscious, moved to the bedroom and sexually assaulted. Her roommate found her; she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The murder went unsolved for years until DNA comparisons in 1996 linked biological evidence from several Orange County crime scenes to Gerald Parker, who was already in custody for an unrelated offense. Parker reportedly confessed to six murders, including Senior’s. In 1998 he was convicted on six counts of first-degree murder and the jury recommended death; he was formally sentenced in 1999.