Coachella Valley serial killer found dead in prison
Convicted serial killer Andrew Urdiales, 54, was found dead by correctional officers during a security check Friday evening at San Quentin State Prison, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officers announced Monday afternoon.
His death comes less than a month after the former U.S. Marine was sentenced to death for the murders of five women in Southern California, including three women in the Coachella Valley.
A news release Monday said that staff found Urdiales “unresponsive” in the Adjustment Center. “Correctional officers performed CPR. Urdiales was pronounced dead at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3.”
Urdiales was previously sentenced to death of the murders of three women in Illinois.
In October of this year, an Orange County jury found Urdiales guilty of the first-degree murders of Robbin Brandley, 23, in 1986, at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo; Maryann Wells, 31, on Sept. 25, 1988, in San Diego; Julie McGhee, 29, on July 17, 1988, in Cathedral City; Tammie Erwin, 20, on April 16, 1989, in Palm Springs; and Denise Maney, 32, on March 11, 1995, in Palm Springs.
Authorities said Urdiales was in the cell by himself and although his cause of death is pending, his death is being investigated as a suicide.
On Sunday, Virendra Govin, 51, was also found dead in his cell. CDCR officials do not believe the deaths were related.
Govin was sentenced to death in 2004, for the first-degree murders of four people in Los Angeles County.
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