Lawrence Bittaker was serving time for assault with a deadly weapon, in 1978, when he met Roy Norris at the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo. A convicted rapist, Norris recognized a soul-mate in Bittaker, and they soon became inseparable. While still confined, they hatched a grisly plot to kidnap, rape and murder teenage girls "for fun," as soon as they were freed. If all went well, they planned to kill at least one girl of each "teen" age -- from 13 through 19 -- recording the events on tape and film. Paroled on November 15, 1978, Bittaker began making preparations for the crime spree, obtaining a van that he dubbed "Murder Mack." Norris was released on June 15, 1979, after a period of observation at Atascadero State Hospital, and he hurried to Bittaker's side, anxious to implement their plans. On June 24, 1979, 16-year-old Linda Schaeffer vanished following a church function, never to be seen again. Joy Hall, 18, disappeared without a trace in Redondo Beach on July 8. Two months later, on September 2, Jacqueline Lamp, 13, and Jackie Gilliam, 15, were lost while thumbing rides in Redondo Beach. Shirley Ledford, 16, of Sunland, was the only victim recovered by authorities; abducted on October 31, she was found the next morning in a Tijunga residential district. Strangled with a coat hanger, she had first been subjected to "sadistic and barbaric abuse," her breasts and face mutilated , arms slashed, her body covered with bruises. Detectives got their break on November 20, when Bittaker and Norris were arrested on charges stemming from a September 30 assault in Hermosa Beach. According to reports, their female victim had been sprayed with Mace, abducted in a silver van, and raped before she managed to escape. The woman ultimately failed to make a positive I.D. on Bittaker and Norris, but arresting officers discovered drugs in their possession, holding both in jail for violation of parole. Roy Norris started showing signs of strain in custody. At a preliminary hearing, in Hermosa Beach, he offered an apology "for my insanity ," and he was soon regaling officers with tales of murder. According to his statements, girls had been approached at random, photographed by Bittaker, and offered rides, free marijuana, jobs in modeling. Most turned the offers down, but others were abducted forcibly, the van's radio drowning their screams as they were driven to a remote mountain fire road for sessions of rape and torture. Tape recordings of Jacqueline Lamp's final moments were recovered from the "Murder Mack," and detectives counted 500 photographs of smiling young women among the suspects' effects. On February 9, 1980, Norris led deputies to shallow graves in San Dimas Canyon and the San Gabriel Mountains, where skeletal remains of Lamp and Jackie Gilliam were recovered. An ice pick still protruded from Gilliam's skull, and the remains bore other marks of cruel mistreatment. Charging the prisoners with five counts of murder, Los Angeles County Sheriff Peter Pitchess announced that Bittaker and Norris might be linked to the disappearance of 30 or 40 other victims. By February 20, the stack of candid photographs had yielded nineteen missing girls, but none were ever traced, and Norris had apparently exhausted his desire to talk. On March 18, Norris pled guilty on five counts of murder, turning state's evidence against his confederate. In return for his cooperation, he received a sentence of 45 years to life, with parole possible after thirty years. Bittaker, meanwhile, denied everything. At his trial, on February 5, 1981, he testified that Norris first informed him of the murders after their arrest in 1979. A jury chose to disbelieve him, returning a guilty verdict on February 17. On March 24, in accordance with the jury's recommendation, Bittaker was sentenced to die. The judge imposed an alternate sentence of 199 years and four months, to take effect in the event that Bittaker's death sentence is ever commuted to life imprisonment.