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Real Name: Unknown (at time of broadcast)
Aliases: None Known
Wanted For: Murder
Missing Since: February 19, 1991

Case[]

Details: An unidentified person, dubbed the “Thrill Killer”, is wanted for murdering six people at two different locations in Sacramento, California. At 11:45pm on Tuesday, February 12, 1991, the police were called to respond to a triple shooting at the Quik Stop Market convenience store at 3700 Auburn Boulevard.
A customer had found a man, forty-two-year-old Thor Johnson Sr., lying in the parking lot next to the store’s front entrance with blood on his stomach. When the customer went inside to get help, he found the two clerks, thirty-five-year-old Stephen Mark Anderson and twenty-two-year-old Zeid Ahmad Obeid, lying in pools of blood behind the front counter.
While examining the scene, Homicide Bureau Commander Lt. Ray Biondi had the feeling that there was little to no conversation between the shooter and his victims. It appeared that he had walked into the store and did not say anything to them before he started shooting. Lt. Biondi felt that the crime was more of an execution than a robbery. To him, it seemed like the primary motive was to kill people.
Stephen and Zeid had been shot twice in the head, once at close range. Thor had been shot once in the back of the head. Stephen was pronounced dead at the scene. Zeid and Thor were mortally wounded. Both survived long enough to reach the hospital, but neither of them ever regained consciousness. Investigators were left without an eyewitness.
Stephen was the father of three young sons, and his fiancée was pregnant with their daughter. That night, he was filling in for a clerk who had been robbed a few days earlier. He had previously told family members he was concerned for his safety while working at the store.
Zeid was originally from Kuwait and had moved to the United States to start a new life. He was a finance major at American River College. He had actually quit his job at the store after he was robbed two weeks earlier, but he came back because he needed the money. The store had been robbed five times in the month before the murders.
Thor lived down the street from the store and had gone there to buy a pack of cigarettes. He had previously been disabled in a motorcycle accident and spent years in poverty. His son convinced him to move to Sacramento three months before he was killed.
Following the Quik Stop murders, investigators faced an almost impossible challenge. The killer’s gender and race were unknown, and the motive was a complete mystery. None of the victims had gang affiliations. An insignificant amount of money (about $50) was taken from the cash registers. The murders seemed brutally gratuitous. At a dead end, investigators attempted to match customers with cash register receipts from the night of the murders. They tracked down every customer – except one.
At 11:39pm, a woman left the store after buying a magazine. Apparently, the next customer was the killer. He picked out two ninety-nine-cent items. The sales were rung up but never totaled. The killer shot Stephen and Zeid and rifled through the cash register. Thor happened to approach the store just seconds before the killer made his getaway. As he turned to flee, he was shot in the back of the head.
Lt. Biondi feels that the murders were very cold-blooded and unnecessary. He and the other investigators were concerned that the killer would strike again. The case became the number one priority for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Investigators followed up on every imaginable lead.
Then, on the night of Tuesday, February 19, exactly one week to the hour after the Quik Stop murders, the killer struck again. This time, his target was the Round Table Pizza restaurant at 3323 Watt Avenue, less than one mile from the Quik Stop. Three employees – eighteen-year-old Sarah Yukari Crook, twenty-year-old Kyle Slade Reynolds, and thirty-year-old Andrea Rose Coladangelo – were closing up the restaurant when they were shot.
At around 11pm, employees of another Round Table Pizza restaurant tried to call the Watt Avenue restaurant but received no answer. They went to the Watt Avenue restaurant at around 11:30pm and found their colleagues’ bodies in the back kitchen area.
All three employees had been placed on the floor and executed with headshots at close range. Sarah had been shot twice, while Kyle and Andrea had been shot three times. Sarah and Kyle were pronounced dead at the scene. Andrea still had vital signs and was life-flighted to the hospital, where she later died without regaining consciousness.
Sarah had recently been promoted to shift manager and was transferred to the Watt Avenue restaurant shortly before her death. She was attending American River College, hoping to become a psychologist. Kyle had taken the job at the restaurant shortly before his death to help pay for school. He was attending Sierra College, hoping to become a veterinarian. Andrea was originally from Ohio and had also attended American River College, hoping to become a graphic artist.
Once again, investigators were left with three victims but not a single eyewitness. The killer stole Andrea’s purse and took money from the cash registers. But investigators believe, like in the previous murders, the theft was an afterthought, designed to throw them off the killer’s track.
The second set of murders confirmed investigators’ worst fears. Lt. Biondi believes the killer has a “psychological” motive instead of a traditional one. He believes the killer committed these murders because he likes to kill and gets a “thrill” out of it. He fears that the killer may strike again.
Ballistics reports confirmed that the same weapon, a small .25-caliber pistol, was used at both murder scenes. Lt. Biondi believes the killer has little sophistication with weapons. He gets the feeling that the killer may be a younger person, borrowing the weapon from “daddy’s nightstand” or something of that nature. He says the gun is smaller than what is normally used during robberies.
Six innocent people have lost their lives because of one person’s pathological need to kill. Sacramento County mourns its dead and searches for the killer who may still be among them. Lt. Biondi believes the killer lives and/or works in the area. Other investigators believe the killer may be a transient. They want to know if other police departments around the country have reports of multiple homicides with a similar pattern.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the May 1, 1991 episode.
  • It was excluded from the FilmRise release of the Robert Stack episodes.
  • Victim Stephen Anderson is not to be confused with former fugitive Stephen Anderson.
  • Lt. Biondi was also interviewed for The Unabomber segment.
  • Some sources state: Sarah’s last name was “Cook”; Zeid was twenty; Andrea was thirty-four; Kyle was nineteen; and the first shooting was reported at 10:40pm.
Eric joyce leonard

Eric Leonard

Results: Captured - On June 6, 1991, twenty-two-year-old Eric Royce Leonard was arrested and charged with the six “Thrill Killer” murders. He was also charged with two counts of robbery. He had been considered a potential suspect for most of the investigation. Two days after the Round Table Pizza murders, police officers surveilling the area at night spotted him walking down a street close to the Quik Stop store. He was wearing a trench coat.
When interviewed, Leonard told investigators that he had been at both the Quik Stop and Round Table Pizza on the nights that those murders took place. However, he denied being responsible for the crimes. Investigators learned that he lived in an apartment half a block from the Quik Stop and a mile from Round Table Pizza. One of the victims also lived in the same building. He attended American River College, where three of the victims also attended. He was known to frequent both crime scenes. He often waited at the Quik Stop for a bus that took him to school.
A man matching Leonard’s description and wearing a black trench coat was seen by witnesses near both crime scenes shortly before the murders took place. Leonard did not have an alibi for those nights. One of his police interviews occurred on Monday, February 25, the day before police believed another set of murders would occur (since the previous two had occurred one week apart on a Tuesday). However, no murders occurred the next day or since then.
The investigators who initially questioned Leonard noted that he was quiet, timid, frightened, and confused and appeared to be mentally disabled due to epilepsy. As a result, they did not think he was a strong suspect.
In May 1991, two witnesses who worked near the Quik Stop told investigators that they had also seen a man in a trench coat nearby on the night of the murders. On June 4, investigators decided to look into Leonard again as a potential suspect. They showed his photograph to the two witnesses. Both said that he looked like the person they had seen that night. A gun store owner also said that Leonard had been in his store, which was close to the two crime scenes. When the two initial witnesses (one near the Quik Stop and one at Round Table Pizza) were shown a photo lineup, they identified Leonard as the man they had seen.
On June 6, investigators interviewed Leonard again. He admitted buying ammunition from the gun store and putting some of it in his father Douglas’ ammunition box (investigators believe he was replacing the ammunition he had used for the murders). He also told them that Douglas’ gun used the same type of bullets as the gun used in the murders. After the interview, investigators took him back to his apartment. While there, he gave them an ammunition box and a bag containing .25-caliber cartridges. Investigators also took a trench coat and shoes matching the ones seen by witnesses.
Investigators then went to Douglas’ home and obtained his .25-caliber Beretta pistol and a box containing cartridges. That afternoon, ballistics tests confirmed that Douglas’ gun was the murder weapon. Leonard was then arrested at Douglas’ home. When investigators told Douglas that his gun was the murder weapon, he reportedly said, “I know, he told me that he did it. I can't believe he did it. I asked him why․ He said ‘stress․’ I can't believe he did it, he killed six people.” While at the police station, Douglas asked Leonard whether anyone else was involved in the murders, and he said no.
A jar of beef jerky and an empty wooden crate with the word “jerky” printed on it were found in Leonard’s apartment. The police believe these items were taken during the Quik Stop murders. In September 1994, during a pretrial hearing, Leonard raised his hand and said, “I am guilty.” During a jail interview, he told a mental health specialist that he had considered committing more murders but decided not to after realizing the police were onto him.
In November 1995, Leonard went on trial for the robberies and murders. Prosecutors theorized that he committed the crimes for money and because he was angry at society. It was noted that he was not making enough money to pay for his living expenses at the time of the murders.
Leonard’s defense attorneys claimed that he was physically incapable of committing the murders because of severe mental and physical impairments due to epilepsy. A neurologist testified that if Leonard had suffered a seizure that night, he would have been unable to rob the store and shoot the victims in the head without missing. Others testified that his IQ was very low and that he most likely suffered from brain damage.
Witnesses who knew Leonard testified that they did not believe he would have been able to commit the murders due to his seizures and brain damage. Douglas claimed that he never told the police that Leonard confessed to him. Leonard’s attorneys also claimed that no fingerprints connected him to the crime scenes and no blood was found on his clothing.
On November 20, 1995, a jury convicted Leonard of the murders and the robberies. In June 1996, he was sentenced to death. His attorneys appealed his sentence, claiming that he should have been found mentally incompetent to stand trial due to his low intelligence, epileptic seizures, and bizarre behavior. They also claimed that it would be “cruel and unusual” to execute a young man who is developmentally disabled and epileptic.
However, in May 2007, the state Supreme Court upheld Leonard’s sentence, stating that he had been properly ruled competent to stand trial based on psychiatric testimony.
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