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Mark Goudeau
A jury on Monday found a former construction worker guilty of killing nine people in the so-called Baseline Killer case that terrorized the Phoenix area during the summer of 2006.
Mark Goudeau was accused of attacking his victims as they went about daily activities, such as leaving work or washing their car. He left most of them with their pants unzipped and partially pulled down. The victims - eight of them women - ranged from 19 to 39 years old.
Police named the series of killings and other crimes after Baseline Road in south Phoenix where many of the earliest attacks happened. Goudeau lived only a few miles from many of the attack sites.
Prosecutors had called the 47-year-old Goudeau a "ravenous wolf" driven by a hunger to rape women and kill those who didn't co-operate with his demands. Defence attorneys insisted that there are likelier suspects than Goudeau and questioned DNA tests linking Goudeau to the crimes.
In all, Goudeau faced 72 counts, including the nine murders and various counts of kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery. He was found guilty of all but four counts, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge.
"Hopefully there's going to be some closure in my mind now," said Alvin Hogue, 53, whose wife was killed with another woman as they cooked food inside a lunch truck in Phoenix. His wife left behind Hogue and six children, including their then 4-month-old twin boys.
