Whatever Happened To Convicted Murderer William Bradford?
William “Bill” Bradford, an amateur photographer, was convicted in 1988 of killing 21-year-old Shari Miller and 15-year-old Tracey Campbell in the summer of 1984 after offering to take photos of them so they could build modeling portfolios. According to case file published on Case Text, investigators believe that Bradford first killed Miller after taking her out to a remote area in the desert for the photo shoot. About a week later, Campbell was murdered in the same area.
Both young women were strangled to death, but according to case files, Miller’s body was moved from where she was killed and dumped in a Los Angeles parking lot, while Campbell was missing for a month before police found her body using clues they found in hundreds of photos of women that Bradford had taken.
Bradford was sentenced to death for the two murders , and according to CNN, he wanted the death penalty. In an effort to entice the jury into recommending the death sentence, Bradford said to them, “Think of how many you don’t even know about.”
Police do think there were more victims. In 2006 the L.A.P.D. released 50 photographs that were taken by Bradford between 1975 and 1984 in hopes the public could help identify the women in the pictures and find out if any were his victims, NBC News reported. Most were identified as alive. Two were thought to be murder victims and one teen had been missing for years.
Bill Bradford wrote poetry while awaiting execution
Even though Bill Bradford said he wanted the death penalty and dropped his appeals, CNN reported that he changed his mind five days before his execution date in 1998. CNN reporter Ann O’Neill met with him that summer at San Quentin State Prison. During the visit Bradford ranted about the legal system and his case. He maintained his innocence. He told her he was ready to die for a long time prior to filing his appeal, saying, “I am tired of it. What gets to me is the not knowing. The waiting.”
Bradford told O’Neill he writes poetry and that the view from the room where they sat during the interview offered him a view of grass, which he said he hadn’t seen in nine years. “I don’t know what grass is anymore,” he told O’Neill. “I don’t know what dirt is. It’s stuff like that.”
Bradford was never put to death by the state of California. He died of cancer on March 10, 2008 at the Vacaville prison facility, according to Find a Grave. One of his poems that he shared with O’Neill — who described Bradford as “charming and at times creepy” — had to do with awaiting death: “Greeting me with welcome comfort, Tempered with a searing seduction…”
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