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Dan Walters: A 50-Year-Old California Mass Murder Case Forever Etched in My Consciousness

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Fifty years ago, two drifters murdered nine people in the bedroom of a home near Lodi. Dan Walters' memory of it has never faded.
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Occasionally I’m asked which event – which story – has been the most memorable of a journalistic career that’s spanned more than 60 years, three-quarters of them writing about California politics.

Dan Walters with a serious expression

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

No political story, however, occupies a bigger place in my consciousness than the execution-style murders of nine people, two entire families, in the bedroom of a rural home near Lodi 50 years ago today, which I covered for the Sacramento Union.

It was the home of Walter Parkin, owner of a small food store in Victor, his wife, Joanne, and their two children, 11-year-old Lisa and Robert, 9.

The two Parkin children were lying in the master bedroom’s bed, both shot to death. Their parents and five other bodies were found in a walk-in closet, all bound and methodically murdered. They were the Parkins’ neighbors, Richard and Wanda Earl, their daughter, Debbie, who had been the Parkins’ babysitter, Debbie’s 15-year-old brother, Ricky, and her boyfriend, Mark Lang.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

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Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He has written more than 9,000 columns about the state and its politics and is the founding editor of the “California Political Almanac.” Dan has also been a frequent guest on national television news shows, commenting on California issues and policies.

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