Herbert Coddington

Herbert James Coddington (born October 13, 1959) is an American murderer and suspected serial killer who murdered two elderly women following the kidnapping of two teenage models in South Lake Tahoe, California in 1987. He was convicted of these crimes and sentenced to death. He remains the prime suspect in the 1981 murder of a girl in Nevada.

Early life Little is known about Coddington's early life. Born October 13, 1959, in Morristown, New Jersey, he attended school in New York and was described as a "math whiz" by his friends. An avid gambler as an adult, Coddington supported himself by writing books on gambling and making investments.

At some point during his life, Coddington lived in Florida before moving on to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1980s. Starting in early May 1987, Coddington would go around various modeling agencies looking for teenage girls, claiming that he wanted to shoot a video about drug rehabilitation. After being turned down by multiple venues, his offer was taken up by 69-year-old Maybelle "Mabs" Martin, the owner of the Showcase Finishing & Modeling School based in Reno, Nevada.

Coddington agreed to the terms and guided them to his mobile home in South Lake Tahoe. When Thomas and Berge arrived at the residence on May 16, he tied both of them up and forced them into a cubicle - this area, dubbed "the curious room", was padded and soundproofed. Later on, when Martin and Walsh arrived, Coddington proceeded to physically assault both of them within earshot of his teenage captives. Despite pleas for their lives to be spared, he proceeded to strangle both women with a piece of plastic and then stuffed their bodies in green trash bags. Over the next two days, Coddington blindfolded and sexually abused the two girls, all while wearing a mask and changing his voice in an attempt to fool them into believing that there was another man in the mobile home.

Arrest and charges Shortly after the disappearances of the four victims, their respective families reported them missing. A search was organized around the Lake Tahoe area, with officers receiving reports that a strange man had been going around inquiring about teenage models from various local agencies.

Soon after his arrest, Coddington was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of kidnapping and several counts of first-degree rape. Due to the similarities in the California crimes, he was immediately designated as the prime suspect and charged with her murder.

Murder trial After a long jury selection process, which included a detailed questionnaire about the prospective jurors' views on various topics and their personal habits, Coddington's trial began in Placerville in June 1988. From the very beginning, he and his lawyers entered an insanity plea.

Throughout the proceedings, the prosecutor placed heavy emphasis on the fact that Coddington showed no mercy to any of his victims. At one point during the trial, jurors were given a tour of the mobile home in which the crime was committed, but Coddington himself refused to attend the visit. This stemmed from his claims that God supposedly sent him messages through traffic lights - Kaldor explained that this idea came from Coddington's personal belief in so-called "magic numbers" such as 44 and 26, which he took as signs to either continue or stop with his plans. The following day, the jury returned a verdict of legally sane - upon hearing this, several people in the courtroom burst into tears, including Coddington, his mother, and several of the members of the jury. Coddington's parents apologized to the victims' family members for their son's actions, but continued to reiterate their belief that he was mentally ill and needed help. The final phase of the trial, the penalty phase, continued for several more days as jurors considered whether he should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

In the end, the jury returned a verdict of death for Coddington, citing the severity of his crimes. As a result, on January 21, 1989, Coddington was officially sentenced to death by Justice Terrence Finney.

Current status Since his conviction, Coddington has remained on California's death row and continues to appeal his sentence. His appeals were rejected by the Supreme Court of California in 2000, with the decision being upheld the following year.

Despite being charged with Keister's murder, Coddington was never put on trial for it and it officially remains unsolved.