The Riverside Prostitute Killer

Back at Riverside�police headquarters, homicide Detective Christina Keers and John Davis began questioning the suspect.� The interrogation lasted for hours and Lane says that Suff repeatedly denied any involvement in the prostitution murders.� Investigators were going to need evidence to gain a conviction and without a confession their job became even harder.� Police collected blood and hair samples from the suspect and arrested him for suspicion of multiple murders.�

Bill Suff with his daughter

As investigators scrambled to find evidence, members of the media began digging into Suffs past.� �While his family remained tight-lipped and details of his early life remain vague, they were able to obtain several bits of information from public records.� According to Keers and Lane, William Lester Suff was born on August 20, 1950, in Torrance, California.� Unfortunately, when it comes to early childhood events - invariably, the most interesting pieces of the puzzle�- very little is known.� In regard to his siblings, Suffs brothers were also troubled, one by drugs, the other by a nagging predilection for pedophilia.�

Bill Suff mugshot, 1974

According to school classmates, Suff was a friendly person and skillful musician, who graduated 87th in a class of 144.� �The image of the friendly personality disintegrated with the 1974 report that Suff, then 24, and his former wife were arrested and later convicted of beating their two-year-old daughter to death.� Suff was sentenced to 70 years in prison, but earned his parole in March 1984, after serving only 10 years.� His wife served a mere 20 months before having her conviction overturned.�

In 1986, Suff began working as a stock clerk for the county and, ironically enough, had delivered furniture to the Riverside task force headquarters midway through the killing spree.� �Friends of Suff described him as a mild-mannered man, who kept to himself and spent his free time writing stories and cookbooks.� On at least one occasion his chili recipes won him first prize at a local cook-off. ��

Bill Suff when he won chili cook-off contest

On February 28, 1992, Suff was arraigned before Judge Becky Dugan in Division 22 of the Riverside Municipal Courthouse.� Suffs attorney, Floyd Zagorsky, entered a plea of innocent on two of the 19 deaths to which his client was charged.� After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Dugan ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to trial.