Scott Erskine

Scott Thomas Erskine (December 22, 1962 – July 3, 2020) was an American serial killer on California's death row, convicted in 2003 for the 1993 murder of two California boys. He was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.

In 2020, Erskine became one of a dozen California death row inmates to die in the span of less than two months as the result of a COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison. He died on the same day as fellow death row inmate Manuel Machado Alvarez, who also died from COVID-19.

Erskine soon began raping his friends, threatening to kill them if they told anybody. Erskine attended Southwest Junior High School in San Diego, California and was placed in "special classes" for the emotionally disturbed. At 15, Erskine escaped from a juvenile detention facility, pulled a knife on a 13-year-old girl and raped her. The next morning, he assaulted a 27-year-old female jogger with a knife.

Florida murder While awaiting the start of his trial, Florida investigators matched Erskine's DNA in the unsolved case of 26-year-old Renee Baker, who was murdered on June 23, 1989. He was formally charged in 2003, and was sentenced in August 2004. Erskine, who lived in Palm Beach County, Florida, at the time, admitted to raping and killing Baker and pleaded guilty to second degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole.

Baker drowned when Erskine broke her neck and left her near the bank of the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach. Florida authorities suspect Erskine may be linked to other unsolved homicides.

Death Erskine died on July 3, 2020, after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in California. He was 57. Erskine died on the same day as fellow death row inmate Manuel Machado Alvarez, who also died from COVID-19. Both of them had been hospitalized before their deaths.