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Local Cases That Have Inspired True Crime Movies and TV shows · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: The true crime genre, which draws upon real life atrocities
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  for the purpose of entertainment, has frequently turned its attention
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  to Sonoma and Napa Counties throughout the years, from startling
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  homicides to an individual linked to JFK. This overview highlights
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  several cases and residents with local ties that have served
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  as inspiration for true crime films, documentaries, and television series.
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  The Salcedo Murders Ramon Bejorcez Salcedo committed the heinous act
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  of murdering seven individuals, primarily women and children, who were
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  his family members, thirty five years ago, an event that
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  the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office describes as the worst mass
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  murder in the history of Sonoma County. On the morning
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  of April fourteenth, nineteen eighty nine, Salcedo, a resident of
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  boys Hot Springs and a winery employee, embarked on a
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  violent spree fuel by alcohol and drugs. Within a span
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  of three hours, he took the lives of his wife,
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  two children, mother in law, two sisters in law, and
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  his supervisor. A nearly week long manhunt concluded with his
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  arrest in Mexico. The case was dramatized in a twoenty
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  twelve episode of the investigation Discovery series Evil Eye titled
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  Killer in the Sun. Carmena Salcedo's only surviving daughter also
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  featured in the two thy ten E Network documentary Kids
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  of Killers. This hour long film included the stories of
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  the daughters of Diane Downes, who murdered one of her
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  children and attempted to kill her other two in nineteen
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  eighty three, as well as the happy Face killer Keith
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  Hunter Jesperson, who was responsible for the deaths of at
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  least eight women in the early nineteen nineties and infamously
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  included smiley faces in his correspondance with the media and
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  law enforcement. Killing of Deputy Frank Treasure. Frank Treasure, aged
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  fifty eight, was the senior member of the Sonoma County
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  Sheriff's Office and was just one year away from retirement
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  when he was tragically killed on March twenty ninth, nineteen
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  ninety five. On that fateful night, the deputy was on
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  patrol and had stopped near a saddle shop along Highway
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  twelve to investigate a suspicious pickup truck. Newly paroled convict
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  Robert Scully emerged from the vehicle and shot trehoe at
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  close range. Following the shooting, Scully stole the deputy's gun
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  belt and, along with an accomplice, took a family from
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  Santa Rosa hostage, leading to an extended standoff with law enforcement.
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  The twenty fourteen film Supremacy, featuring Academy Award winner Mahashala Ali,
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  who portrayed the fallen deputy alongside Joe Anderson and Danny Glover,
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  is loosely inspired by these events. The Dark Side of
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  Jim Mordecai. Jim Mordecai was raised in Santa Rosa. A
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  prominent football player at Montgomery High School, he later pursued
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  a career in education, teaching in Half Moon Bay for
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  twenty five years until his career came to an unexpected
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  and unexplained halt. The twenty twenty four HBO Max docuseries
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  The Truth About Jim reveals that Mordecai, who passed away
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  from cancer in two thousand and eight, was characterized as
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  a manipulative and abusive figure who targeted and sexually assaulted
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  vulnerable young women. Sierra Barter, Mordecai's step granddaughter and an
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  associate producer of the series, narrates the documentary. Although she
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  was quite young at the time of his death, she
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  recounts growing up with chilling stories about him. Many of
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  the women in my family lived in fear of Jim,
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  concerned about his potential actions towards them and what they
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  believed he may have done to others, she states in
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  the opening moments of the series. In their investigation into
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  other possible crimes committed by Mordecai Barter and true crime
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  director sky Borgmann endeavored, albeit unsuccessfully, to establish that he
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  was the serial killer responsible for the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders,
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  Jenna Beach murders, the tragic murders of Lindsay Cutshaw and
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  Jason Allen, two young Christian camp councilors discovered fatally shot
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  on a beach in Jenna in August two thousand and four,
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  sent shock waves through Sonoma County and across the nation,
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  remaining unresolved for over ten years. The incident was featured
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  in a twenty twenty one episode of the investigation Discovery
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  series People Magazine Investigates, entitled Jenna Beach Murders. Additionally, a
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  twenty twenty three episode of the Oxygen Network series Final
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  Moments titled California Nightmare examined the couple's final days, the
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  investigation conducted by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, and ultimately
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  the confession made by a man from Forestville in twenty seventeen.
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  Polyclass Richard Allen Davis was sentenced to death in nineteen
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  ninety six after a jury convicted him of abducting twelve
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  year old Polyclass from her home in Petaluma during a
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  slumber party and subsequently murdering her in nineteen ninety three.
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  This case garnered international attention for Petaluma and inspired numerous
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  true crime documentaries. A nineteen ninety eight episode of the
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  Discovery Channel series The FBI Files entitled poly Class Kidnapped
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  delves into the advanced techniques employed by the agency to
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  gather evidence that ultimately led to davis apprehension. In nineteen
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  ninety nine, an episode of A and E's American Justice
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  titled Free to Kill the Polyclass Murder explored davis background
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  as an habitual offender.