TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

A convicted killer, who was linked to two murders in Kern County 29 years ago, will be prosecuted in Fresno County for the 1979 murder of an 8-year-old girl, officials said Tuesday.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said DNA evidence links Fernando Caro to the bludgeoning death and rape of Victoria Ann DeSantiago in Fresno.

Dyer also said the Kern County killings are expected to be introduced as evidence in the Fresno case. The purpose of the evidence will be to try to obtain a death penalty for him, Fresno police spokeswoman Cynthia Valdez reported.

Caro, 59, was sentenced to death in 1981 after he was convicted of murdering two teen cousins in Fowler. But that death sentence was overturned in 2002 by the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeal.

The appellate court criticized Caro's lawyer for failing to investigate the possibility that Caro suffered brain damage from exposure to pesticides and child abuse. Evidence on appeal showed Caro was beaten by his parents and suffered two severe head injuries as a 3-year-old, the Fresno Bee reported.

A retrial on that penalty remains pending, Kern County Chief Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green said. She said she's had recent conversations about Caro with Fresno County prosecutors.

Green noted that there are no plans to try Caro on murder charges in Kern County, but that could change if circumstances warrant.

The Kern County killings were presented as evidence against Caro in the penalty phase of the Fowler murders trial, but the jury was not convinced Caro killed the Kern County victims.

However, there is new DNA evidence processed by the Kern County Crime Lab which links Caro to the Kern victims, Green said. Gunshot and blood-type evidence was presented in the Fowler murders case.

The Fresno police chief said at his news conference "we know he has killed at least five children."

That would include the April 1980 murders of 16-year-old Robin Snead and 15-year-old Charlena Simon of Pomona who were shot to death in an almond orchard north of Bakersfield. The younger girl was also raped, Kern County sheriff's deputies reported.

Former Kern County sheriff's homicide Sgt. Garry Davis and former Californian reporter Gordon Anderson, who wrote a self-published book on Caro, have repeatedly said they were convinced Caro killed two girls in Kern County.

Caro was convicted in 1981 of killing Fowler cousins Mark Hatcher and Mary Booher, both 15 and both shot in the head.

He was sent to San Quentin prison where he remains, awaiting a retrial on the death penalty issue. Green said she discussed with Fresno prosecutors about why it was taking so long for that retrial to occur and she was told Caro has had attorney issues.

The latest case Caro was linked to was the Feb. 3, 1979, abduction of Victoria DeSantiago and her 3-year-old sister Eva Marie as they were walking a dog to the store, the Fresno Bee reported.

Eva was found safe hours later. But Victoria's nude, bludgeoned body was found two nights later at the bottom of a dry creek east of Clovis.