Horace Van Vaultz Jr. was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the killings of 22-year-old Mary Duggan in 1986 and 20-year-old Selena Keough in 1981
August 20, 2022
A Bakersfield, California, man has been convicted of two decades-old murders in the first case in Los Angeles County that used investigative genetic technology.
On Thursday, Horace Van Vaultz Jr. was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and that the crimes were committed during a rape and sodomy for each victim, states a news release from Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
Vaultz, 67, was convicted of murdering Mary Duggan, 22, on June 9, 1986; her body was found in the trunk of her car in an empty Burbank, California, parking lot, according to the news release. He was also convicted of killing 20-year-old Selena Keough in Montclair, California, on July 16, 1981.
“Using the latest in technology and forensics, we were able to secure a conviction against someone who targeted young women,” said District Attorney Gascón. “I hope that today’s guilty verdict provides some comfort to the victims’ families who have waited more than three decades to see this result.”
The investigative technology used in Vaultz’s case involved detectives accessing commercial DNA databases, loading DNA material from the crime and finding a relative’s match that can point toward a suspect, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey previously told NBC Los Angeles around the time of Vaultz’s November 2019 arrest.
Vaultz’s case went to trial this summer. During closing arguments on Wednesday, Vaultz’s attorney, Damon L. Hobdy, told jurors that despite DNA evidence, prosecutors failed to prove that his client – who alleged that he was a swinger, per Daily Breeze – raped and strangled the women.
A recent re-examination of evidence also showed a DNA link between Vaultz and a third connected 1986 murder in Ventura County; however, he was acquitted for the woman’s murder. All three women were found “strangled and tied up in similar ways,” per NBC Los Angeles.
“Yeah, the DNA is pretty strong,” argued Hobdy, according to the outlet. “But DNA doesn’t cry out to you and say, ‘Oh, this by the way is the person who committed this crime.’ “
Added Hobdy: “It is reasonable to conclude that sex happened, and sometime later, these women were killed.”
“To believe the defendant’s story, you’d have to throw out all your common sense,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told jurors at the end of her closing argument. “You’d have to believe this defendant is the most unlucky person on the planet, to have three women all turn up dead with the defendant’s semen inside them.”
“My heart goes out to the families of the victims as well as to the Vaultz family,” Hobdy tells PEOPLE in a statement. “I’ve defended Mr. Vaultz for approximately three years now and I’ve got to know him as a person beyond him simply being my client. It was a hard fought month-long trial but I believe the court gave my client a fair trial. As a criminal defense attorney, a fair trial is what you hope for. Despite the verdicts, I thank the jurors for their service and attentiveness to this case.”
Vaultz is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 19.
