Lawrence Singleton

Since his parole from prison, where he served about eight years of a 14-year sentence for raping a 15-year-old girl and hacking off her forearms with an ax, Lawrence Singleton has been shuttled from one Northern California community to another. The state Department of Corrections has attempted to keep Singleton's movements secret, but here is what is known of his journey. 1) April 2-21: Antioch mayor protests Department of Corrections plans to parole Singleton there.

Lawrence Singleton, who chopped off a teenage hitchhiker's forearms in California and was later sent to death row in Florida for killing a prostitute, has died of cancer behind bars. He was 74. Singleton died Friday at the North Florida Reception Center in Starke. He had been on death row since 1998, but no execution date had been set. In 1978, Singleton raped 15-year-old Mary Vincent, cut off her forearms and left her naked in a ditch near Modesto to die.

A man who served eight years in prison in California for raping a teen-ager and chopping off her forearms has been arrested for the second time this year on a shoplifting charge, accused of trying to steal a $4 hat. A security guard at a suburban Wal-Mart called police Friday and said that the man, Lawrence Singleton, paid for some diapers but not a white hat. He was stopped by employees after leaving the store and gave a phony name, according to an arrest report.

Because Mary Vincent doesn't have hands, she can't wear a wedding ring. So her new husband bought a big diamond on a thick silver chain she can wear around her neck. When they go for romantic walks in the park, he holds one of the metal hooks attached to each of her 5-pound prosthetic arms. It was 21 years ago when Vincent, then a 15-year-old hitchhiker, was picked up by the now-notorious Lawrence Singleton.

Lawrence Singleton, who chopped off a teenage hitchhiker's forearms in California and was later sent to death row in Florida for killing a prostitute, has died of cancer behind bars. He was 74. Singleton died Friday at the North Florida Reception Center in Starke. He had been on death row since 1998, but no execution date had been set. In 1978, Singleton raped 15-year-old Mary Vincent, cut off her forearms and left her naked in a ditch near Modesto to die.

Lawrence Singleton, say his Florida prosecutors, killed a prostitute with a dozen enraged stabs of a boning knife. Mary Vincent is not surprised. He took her life 19 years ago. "He really did," she says with a slight shudder, with awful pain in her words. "He destroyed everything about me. My way of thinking. My way of life. Holding on to innocence . . . and I'm still doing everything I can to hold on." Singleton also devastated a young dream.

Looking across a spellbound courtroom--and into a nightmare she cannot forget--Mary Bell Vincent raised one of her two prosthetic arms Tuesday and pointed at the man who raped and mutilated her nearly 20 years ago in California. "Do you see your attacker in the courtroom?" Judge Bob Anderson Mitcham asked Vincent. "Yes," she said, pointing with a gleaming metal hook that now serves as a hand. Lawrence Singleton, 70, seemed not to blink.

Lawrence Singleton, whose parole eight years after he raped a teenager and chopped off her forearms sparked protests throughout California, was arrested Wednesday night in the slaying of a woman in his home. Singleton, 69, was taken into custody and charged with murder after police responded to a call about a domestic dispute and discovered the woman's body.

Here is the perfect solution to two problems. Let's kill two birds with one stone and send Lawrence Singleton to live with Jim and Tammy Bakker. He will have a home. They will have a ministry. CATHERINE EVANS Burbank

The people of Antioch deserve a standing ovation for what they've accomplished: Their successful opposition to rapist Lawrence Singleton being paroled to their city deserves praise of the highest order. If citizens would rise up like this whenever a violent criminal is scheduled to be paroled to their city, it would send out a strong message: People don't want violent criminals for neighbors. JOHN NEELY Vallejo

Twenty years after he raped a California teenager, chopped off her forearms and left her naked in a ditch, Lawrence Singleton was sentenced Tuesday to die in Florida's electric chair for the fatal stabbing of a Tampa prostitute in his own living room. Singleton, 70, showed no emotion as he listened to Judge Bob Anderson Mitcham seal his fate in words laden with undisguised disgust.

Lawrence Singleton, who raped a California teenager and chopped off her hands 20 years ago, should be executed for stabbing a prostitute to death last year, a jury recommended Wednesday. Singleton, 70, showed no emotion as the verdict was read after an hour of deliberations. He was convicted last week of murdering Roxanne Hayes, a 31-year-old prostitute and mother of three.

Looking across a spellbound courtroom--and into a nightmare she cannot forget--Mary Bell Vincent raised one of her two prosthetic arms Tuesday and pointed at the man who raped and mutilated her nearly 20 years ago in California. "Do you see your attacker in the courtroom?" Judge Bob Anderson Mitcham asked Vincent. "Yes," she said, pointing with a gleaming metal hook that now serves as a hand. Lawrence Singleton, 70, seemed not to blink.

Notorious California rapist Lawrence Singleton was found guilty Friday of the first-degree murder of a Tampa prostitute, setting the stage for a dramatic courtroom appearance by the woman whose forearms he chopped off 20 years ago. Mary Bell Vincent, who was 15 when she was abducted near Berkeley, raped and left for dead, is expected to testify in Tampa next week when prosecutors ask jurors to recommend that Singleton, 70, be sentenced to death in Florida's electric chair.

Lawrence Singleton's lawyer acknowledged in court that her client--who chopped a California girl's arms off in 1978--took a prostitute home and stabbed her to death. In an opening statement aimed at keeping Singleton off death row, lawyer Jill Menadier said the crime was an act of a depressed and over-medicated man who got into a drunken struggle with Roxanne Hayes, 31.

Lawrence Singleton, who gained national notoriety for raping and mutilating a 15-year-old California girl in 1978, will be retried in the homicide of a Tampa woman beginning Feb. 9, a judge ruled. Jury selection was in progress when Hillsborough Circuit Judge Bob Anderson Mitcham declared a mistrial. He acted after a prospective juror said his face had been shown on television news programs against the judge's order.

A relative of freed California ax-wielding rapist Lawrence Singleton said the 60-year-old Tampa native came home to Florida for a short visit with relatives earlier this week and has left, authorities said today. While his present whereabouts are not known, the authorities noted that Singleton, one of eight siblings reared in the Tampa area, has other relatives in Florida.

Convicted rapist Lawrence Singleton may be housed temporarily in Marin County while a permanent home is sought for him, state corrections officials have informed the Marin County Sheriff's Department. Singleton, 59, was paroled April 25 after more than eight years in prison for raping and hacking off the forearms of a 15-year-old girl. Half a dozen counties already have said they do not want him.

Americans have again opened their hearts to Mary Vincent. A final total has yet to be counted, but more than 1,500 personal contributions have been received to date for the 34-year-old Washington woman, who 19 years ago lost her hands when raped and mutilated by Lawrence Singleton. Singleton, who served eight years of his 14-year sentence for the California attack, was arrested in Florida last month and charged in the stabbing murder of a prostitute.

Prosecutors said Monday they will seek the death penalty in the case against convicted rapist Lawrence Singleton, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Hillsborough County prosecutors notified defense lawyers that this would be a death penalty case during a hearing at which they dropped their request to view some of Singleton's psychiatric records. Singleton was convicted of raping a teenage hitchhiker and hacking off her forearms with an ax 19 years ago in Northern California.