Healdsburg police detectives have revived a decades-old unsolved homicide case after a serial murder suspect mentioned the North Coast town in a note. Investigators found it at his home among lurid photos of women who appeared to be dead or unconscious.
Joseph Naso, 78, is on trial in Marin County for the killings of four women in Northern California between 1977 and 1994. The women have first and last names that start with the same letter.
The Healdsburg connection emerged in a hand-scrawled list with descriptions of 10 women, including the four he's accused of killing, according to court testimony.
Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke said DNA evidence collected from the unsolved killing is being compared with that from Naso.
"We can't say he's a suspect, but we're definitely investigating his connection," Burke said.
The Sonoma County investigation involves a woman killed in the early 1980s. Burke declined to give more details because he said he didn't want to give false hope to the woman's family.
The department retained experts to analyze evidence in the case after they learned about a year ago that Naso had written about Healdsburg in the note, Burke said. He added that DNA is just "part of the type of analysis that we're doing."
"It's just as important to exclude him as a suspect as it is to identify him as one," Burke said.
Naso, a retired professional photographer, is accused in the deaths of four women:
* Roxene Roggasch, 18, found in 1977 near Lagunitas in Marin County.
* Carmen Colon, 22, found in 1978 by a CHP officer near Port Costa in Contra Costa County.
* Pamela Parsons, 38, found strangled in 1993 in Yuba County.
* Tracy Tafoya, 31, found in 1994 off Highway 70 near the Marysville Cemetery in Yuba City.
Naso, a petty thief, wasn't on investigators' radar as a suspect until April 2009, when an officer turned up the graphic photographs during a routine probation search of his Reno, Nev., home. The images were described in court testimony as depicting women in unnatural positions.
An accompanying hand-scrawled note listed 10 women, including "Girl from Loganitas," "Girl near Port Costa" and "Girl from MRV Cemetery" that investigators claim refer to Roggasch, Colon and Tafoya. The list mentions Healdsburg.
Investigators found DNA of Naso's former wife on panty hose used to strangle Roggasch, court files show.
Naso was arrested last April in South Lake Tahoe and later extradited to California.
He is representing himself in court, having pleaded not guilty in May to four charges of murder with special circumstances, which could lead to the death penalty.
Prosecutors began presenting evidence against Naso last week in a preliminary hearing in San Rafael. It is expected to resume this week.
During the hearing, Naso claimed the photos were part of his professional photography practice.
Healdsburg police cold case files include two unsolved killings, the case currently under scrutiny as well as a case from the 1990s, Burke said.
"It is rare when an opportunity presents itself to take another look," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com.
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