Duo Accused In Deaths Of 4 Women To Get Separate Trials

A pair of convicted sex offenders who now stand accused of killing four women in Southern California will face separate trials for those deaths, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Steve Gordon and Franc Cano were indicted together in October for allegedly kidnapping, raping and murdering four women, even while the men were wearing GPS devices for prior sex crimes. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Orange County Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin told the judge that a joint trial would make a defense for Cano impossible because Gordon reportedly confessed the details of the crimes to an Anaheim police detective, The Orange County Register reports.

Prosecutors claim that Gordon and Cano killed Kianna Jackson, 20, Josephine Vargas, 34, Martha Anaya, 28, and Jarrae Estepp, 21. Investigators have suggested the women had ties to prostitution in Anaheim and Santa Ana. Authorities found Estepp's body at a trash sorting facility, which led them to conclude Gordon and Cano put the women's remains in trash receptacles. The bodies of the other women have not yet been found.

The district attorney presented evidence to the grand jury that the two men exchanged text messages allegedly debating who would kill their victims in the hours after they picked her up. Police used information from the GPS monitors to link the men to the crimes, but observers say it's troubling that ex-cons could go on violent crime spree while being monitored by law enforcement.

Also in court Tuesday, Superior Court Judge James Stotler denied Gordon's request to represent himself against the rape charges while a court-appointed attorney handled his indictment for murder.

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