Two plead guilty to Marin trailside killing, second killing in Golden Gate Park

Morrison Lampley, 24, and Lila Alligood, 19, admitted to the murders of Middletown resident Steve Carter and Canadian Audrey Carey.|

Two young transients pleaded guilty Monday in a Marin County courtroom to the 2015 murders of a Lake County yoga teacher and a young Canadian who had been visiting San Francisco.

Morrison Lampley, 24, and Lila Alligood, 19, admitted to the murders of Middletown resident Steve Carter and Quebec province resident Audrey Carey.

Lampley admitted using the gun that killed both victims. He will receive a prison sentence of 100 years to life, according to a press release from the Marin County District Attorney’s Office.

Alligood will be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

A third defendant, Sean Angold, earlier agreed to be a witness for prosecutors and testified under a grant of immunity at the preliminary hearing. He will receive a sentence of 15 years to life.

Marin County District Attorney Edward Berberian said in a statement that a primary consideration in reaching the plea agreements was to ensure the defendants won’t be able to appeal their convictions. For relatives of Carter and Carey, Berberian said, “a specter of what could be an endless appeals process is abated and the families will be relieved from having to revisit these events.”

Carey, 23, who left home to backpack around the United States and Europe, was found dead Oct. 3, 2015, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with a bullet wound to the head.

Two days later, Carter, 67, was found slain along a popular hiking trail in Marin County, still clutching the leash of his dog, which also had been shot. The dog recovered.

Surveillance video in Point Reyes Station showed the three suspects in possession of Carter’s stolen car. The three were arrested in Portland, Oregon, with the murder weapon, Carter’s stolen car and Carey’s passport and other possessions.

The defendants will be sentenced April 18.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 707-521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.