The Murder of Donna Gentile: San Diego Policing and Prostitution 1980
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THE MURDER OF DONNA GENTILE: SAN DIEGO POLICING AND PROSTITUTION 1980-1993 Jerry Kathleen Limberg Department of History California State University San Marcos © 2012 DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my husband, Andrew Limberg. Thank you for your love, encouragement, patience, support, and sacrifice through this endeavor. You have always supported me in my academic and professional goals, despite family and financial challenges. Your countless hours of reading drafts, reviewing film rough cuts, and listening to ideas are appreciated much more than you could possibly know. I also dedicate this thesis to my son Drew. Thank you for your love, hugs, and sacrifice. You are bright, creative, imaginative, caring, generous, inquisitive, and the best son any mother could ever hope for. Never stop asking, “Why?” Finally, I dedicate this thesis to my mom, Marlene Andrey. Thank you for years of love, support and encouragement. Without complaint, you allowed your teenage daughter to travel half away across the country to pursue her dreams out West. Whether you realize it or not, you provided me with the tools and skills to succeed. THESIS ABSTRACT Donna Gentile, a young San Diego prostitute who had been a police corruption informant was murdered in June, 1985. Her murder occurred approximately a month after she testified in a civil service hearing involving two San Diego police officers, Officer Larry Avrech and Lieutenant Carl Black. The hearing occurred approximately four months after Avrech was fired from the police department and Black was demoted for their involvement with Gentile. Looming over the San Diego community was public speculation that Gentile’s killer was a police officer. Her murder was initially investigated by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department and was later transferred to the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force. The task force was charged with the investigation of not only Gentile’s murder but also others that were believed to be a series of prostitute murders. Law enforcement generally considered prostitutes to blame for their own mistreatment and, therefore, they were often disregarded as legitimate victims of crimes. The establishment of the task force to investigate prostitute murders appeared to mark a change in those attitudes. However, this thesis argues that it was not a change because the task force’s function was to salvage the public image of the San Diego Police Department. This thesis consists of two components: a thirty-seven minute documentary film and three written chapters. Keywords: Donna Gentile, Metropolitan Homicide Task Force, police, prostitution, public image, murder, San Diego, women ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was the result of a collaborative effort of a number of individuals. Without their assistance, dedication, and contributions, the thesis would not have been possible. It has been an honor to be a part of the history graduate program at California State University and to have learned from such an elite caliber of scholars. I have learned much throughout the thesis process, due in part, to the advice, knowledge, and time commitments from not only the University’s faculty but from the those who shared their stories and gave up their time to assist me. Dr. Jill Watts, thesis and department chair and graduate advisor, I owe my undying gratitude because of her unwavering commitment to and support of my thesis, a thesis that some might consider non-traditional history. I am appreciative of her guidance, advice, and constructive criticism. It has been a privilege to have been afforded the opportunity to work with such a dedicated, distinguished, and committed scholar, professor, and mentor. Dr. Anne Lombard, thesis committee member, it has been honor to work with such a professional and respected historian, whom I hold in the highest regard. Her knowledge of women’s history and legal scholarship was a valuable and tremendous contribution to my thesis. I am thankful for her careful attention to detail and insight. Dr. Kristen Bates, thesis committee member, it has been a pleasure to work with such an esteemed criminologist, who provided a much needed and appreciated sociological input to my thesis. I am grateful to her for her support and willingness to take time away from her departmental commitments to assist me in this endeavor. I would like to thank the following individuals who took time out of their busy schedules to graciously participate in my thesis: Priscilla Alexander, Kathy Hardy, Douglas Holbrook, Monya Mitchell Davis, and Dr. Thomas Streed. I am indebted to them for their willingness and candor during my interviews with them. They helped to provide a voice for not only Donna Gentile, but for other women who have long been disregarded as legitimate members of our society. Additionally, I extend my gratitude to my friend, Jason Rosenberg, who sacrificed time away from his family and business to provide technical support for my thesis film. He helped to alleviate often stressful and frustrating technological problems. Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................... 1-26 Chapter One: Connections .......................................................................................... 27-54 Chapter Two: Image Matters ...................................................................................... 55-89 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 90-102 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 103-105 INTRODUCTION While researching topics for my thesis project, I came across a book simply titled NHI, authored by a group of San Diego artists in 1992. The book was a compilation of information gathered by San Diego artists regarding the murders of approximately forty-three so called “fringe women” (prostitutes, drug users, and transients) in San Diego County between 1985 and 1992 and law enforcement’s efforts to solve them. The murders were being investigated by a multi-agency task force call the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force (MHTF). The task force included members of the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and the San Diego Police Department.1 This book piqued my curiosity about the murders and San Diego law enforcement’s attitudes toward solving them, as well as, the artists’ efforts to shed light on both. I had never heard of these murders and wondered why the artists had taken time to meticulously document them and raise issues regarding what they saw as the questionable approach to solving these women’s murders. This prompted me to contact one of the contributors to the book, Deborah Small, a faculty member in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at California State University, San Marcos. Small graciously loaned me another book, a compilation of newspaper articles concerning the San Diego murders and the efforts of the artists. It was from 1 Deborah Small et al., NHI (San Diego: NHI Project, 1992). 1 this book that I not only learned additional information about the murders and subsequent investigations, but why the artists chronicled the murder victims’ information. The artists were concerned that local law enforcement lacked interest in solving these cases because they regarded the victims as dwelling on the fringe of society, or simply as “throw away” women. The artists were particularly concerned with law enforcement’s use of the term “NHI,” an acronym for “No Humans Involved”-- a term allegedly commonly used by law enforcement officers to describe victims who they regarded as unworthy of legal protection or justice. In October of 1990, the Sacramento Bee reported a story about the murders of forty-three San Diego women. The article cited a San Diego police source who used the term “NHI “ to refer to the San Diego murders. According to the newspaper report, the source referred to those as “misdemeanor murders;” and called the victims of the murders “biker women and hookers.” The source remarked, “Sometimes we’d call them NHIs.”2 In 1992, the artists organized a number of projects to bring public awareness to law enforcement’s apparent disregard of the women’s murders and the lack of justice extended to them because of the victims’ purported marginalized social status. Those projects included a public art exhibit with performances and photographs of the murder victims, forums, a billboard consisting of a photograph of Donna Gentile (one 2 Steve Wiegand, “43 Women Slain San Diego Cops Linked,” Sacramento Bee, October 7, 1990, http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us (accessed March 31, 2012). “Misdemeanor” is a legal term that means less serious, Black’s Law Dictionary, 1996 pocket ed., s.v. “Misdemeanor.” 2 of the forty-three female victims) with “NHI” written beside her portrait, and the compilation book.3 In response to the artists’ project, Deputy District Attorney Dick Lewis, who was at that time the supervisor of the MHTF, stated in a local newspaper article that NHI was a term used in police circles on the East Coast in the distant past, calling it a part of “murder history.” He claimed that he first heard the term as a child while reading detective magazines. Lewis asserted that he was unaware of San Diego police officers using the term in reference to the task force investigations of the forty- three women.4 The artists’ concern regarding