Crime & Safety
Former Piedmont Couple Squabbles at Husband's Serial Murder Trial
Accused killer Joseph Naso, who is acting as his own attorney, cross-examined his former wife Judith. The couple and their two sons lived in Piedmont during the 1970s and 1980s.
Accused serial killer Joseph Naso and his former wife, Judith, faced off during cross-examination last week in Naso's trial in Marin County Superior Court, according to an article published Wednesday by Marinscope Community Newspapers.
Naso, 79, is charged with the murders of four women whose bodies were found along rural roads in Yuba, Marin and Contra Costa counties between 1977 and 1994.
Naso is acting as his own attorney in the trial, so he questioned his ex-wife directly. The couple and their two sons lived in Piedmont during the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to local residents who attended Piedmont schools with his sons. You may read more about his years in Piedmont here.
Judith Naso is appearing at the trial as a witness for the prosecution.
During earlier testimony, she said that after his 2010 arrest, Naso asked her to send their son Charlie to remove a ledger from his Nevada home, the Marinscope article said. She did not comply.
The ledger was later found to be Naso's "rape journal," containing graphic descriptions of sexual assaults, Marinscope reported.
During cross-examination, Naso attempted to depict a happy marriage and showed a series of photographs, ranging from family portraits to photos of scantily clad women, the Marinscope article said.
Naso is charged with the murders of Roxene Roggasch, 18, of Oakland, whose body was found in Marin County on Jan. 11, 1977; Carmen Colon, 22, an East Bay resident, whose body was found in Contra Costa County on Aug. 15, 1978; Pamela Parsons, 38, of Yuba County whose body was found on Sept, 19, 1993 in Yuba County; and Tracy Tafoya, 31, whose body was found on Aug. 14, 1994 in Yuba County.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
The trial is currently on a two-week hiatus and will resume July 29. It is expected to last until November.
You may read the complete Marinscope article here.
For more about the trial, see "Opening Statements Scheduled at Joseph Naso Murder Trial."
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