Name Mark Goudeau
Alias The Baseline Killer
The Baseline Rapist
Gender Male
Birth Date September 6, 1964
Place of Birth Phoenix, Arizona
Job Construction worker
Pathology Serial Killer
Serial Rapist
Modus Operandi Shooting
Type Disorganized
No. of Victims 9 killed
9 raped
4 additional robbed
Status Incarcerated
Mark Goudeau, a.k.a. "The Baseline Killer", is a serial killer/rapist and robber who was active in Arizona from 2005-2006, coinciding with another case of serial killings in the area.
History
Goudeau was born in 1964 in Phoenix, Arizona the second-youngest of 13 children. His parents were Willie, a car dealer lot attendant, and Alberta, a maid, and later divorced. Though Willie was strict, the household was, according to one of Mark's siblings, peaceful. Other siblings say that Willie was verbally abusive and that alcoholism ran in the family. Alberta died in 1976, when Mark was 12. He went to high school at Corona del Sol High in Tempe, Arizona. He was good at sports and played football for the school team, but didn't graduate due to not having enough credits. In 1982, he and a brother were arrested for raping a young woman, but no charges were pursued. He was charged with trespassing in 1987 and with driving under the influence the following year. In August 1989, he was charged with abducting a woman, brutally raping and bludgeoning her. He claimed that she willingly had oral sex with him and that the rape and assault was the work of two other men. He was sentenced to 15 years for the abduction and 21 years for a 1990 robbery. After serving 13 years in prison as a model prisoner, he was paroled in 2004 and moved into a house not far from the Baseline Killer crime area with his wife, Wendy Carr. Though his neighbors all knew that he had served time in jail, he was so well-liked that they could look past it. He got a job as a construction worker for a company called SelectBuild. The year after his parole, the Baseline Killer crimes began.
The first crime attributed to the Baseline Killer took place on August 6, 2005. The perpetrator forced three teenage girls behind a church and molested two of them. He is believed to have committed his first murder a month later. Over the course of the following 11 months, he committed several robberies, sexual assaults and a total of eight additional murders. One murder, that of Sophia Nunez on April 10, 2006, wasn't attributed to the Baseline Killer until the ballistic evidence was compared to that of the other Baseline Killer victims, all of whom were shot with the same gun. On September 4, 2006, Phoenix police announced that they had arrested a suspect, Mark Goudeau, for a double rape committed on September 20, 2005, attributed to the Baseline Killer. He was proven guilty of the crime through DNA evidence, tried for all 19 counts related to the attack and sentenced to 438 years. He has, according to Phoenix police, been proven guilty of the other Baseline Killer crimes through DNA, ballistic and circumstantial evidence. On October 31, 2011, Goudeau was found guilty of all the Baseline Killer murders and all other related charges except for three counts of robbery and one of kidnapping. In November, he was sentenced to death and is currently held at the death row at Arizona State Prison Complex Eyman. His friends and family have strongly defended him, insisting that the Phoenix police have arrested the wrong man; some have even gone so far as to accuse them of framing Goudeau for the crimes. His wife has since been running a website maintaining his innocence, starting in 2007.
Modus Operandi
Goudeau's targets, when he wasn't financially motivated, were women (except for Chao Chou, whose death appears to have been incidental). When he killed, the victims were typically snatched from a public corner, taken to some secluded nearby place (with the exception of Sophia Nunez, who was killed in her home) and shot in the head with a medium or large caliber weapon. The killer apparently used some kind of disguise and/or ruse while committing some crimes, such as wearing a Halloween mask to conceal his identity, approaching his victims asking for a ride or even pretending to be a homeless man or a drug addict. He appears to have been able to change his appearance simply by changing hairstyle or wearing different hats.
Known Victims
Several of The Baseline Killer's fatal victims.
A map marking The Baseline Killer's crimes.
Murders
- 2005:
- September 8: Georgia Thompson, 19
- December 12: Tina Washington, 39
- 2006:
- February 20:
- Romelia Vargas, 38
- Mirna Palma-Roman, 34
- March 15: Liliana Sanchez-Cabrera and Chao Chou
- Liliana Sanchez-Cabrera, 20
- Chao Chou, 23 (apparently incidental)
- March 29: Kristin Nicole Gibbons, 26
- April 10: Sophia Nunez (killed in her home)
- June 29: Carmen Miranda, 37
- February 20:
- ?, 1989: Unnamed woman (raped and non-fatally bludgeoned)
- 2005:
- August 6: Two unnamed teenage girls
- August 14: Unnamed victim (also robbed)
- September 15: Unnamed victim
- September 20: Two unnamed sisters
- September 28: Unnamed victim (also robbed)
- November 3: Unnamed woman (abducted and sexually assaulted in her car)
- May 1, 2006: Unnamed woman (sexually assaulted at gunpoint)
- ?, 1990: An unspecified robbery
- 2005:
- September 28: 1425 West Baseline Road, Tempe
- November 3: Cupid's Toy Box, a lingerie shop
- November 7: Three separate robberies:
- Las Brasas, a Mexican restaurant
- Little Caesar's Pizza restaurant
- Four unnamed people robbed in the street
- December 13: Unnamed woman
Goudeau was mentioned, though not by name, in the episode "The Last Word" as an example of when two independent serial killers have been active in the same area at the same time, the other being a set of murders attributed to Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman, collectively known as the "Serial Shooter".
Sources
- Wikipedia's article about the Baseline Killer
- TruTV's articles about the Baseline Killer
- azcentral.com article about Goudeau's personal life
- AZ Central online article from July 2006
- Cupid's Toy Box's address
- Online article on policeone.com
- The Daily Beast online article
- Mark GOUDEAU
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew P. Thomas, left, listens to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, right, talk about the announced 74 felony count indictment on Mark Goudeau, the alleged Baseline Killer, at the Maricopa County Attorney's office, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
This undated photo provided by the Phoenix Police Department shows a gold ring that is among the evidence Phoenix police are using to link Mark Goudeau to the city's Baseline Killer investigation, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press. Police seized the ring and other items during a search of Goudeau's central Phoenix home in October last year. The items either contained DNA evidence that matched murder victims' blood or were items the victims owned. Goudeau's lawyers deny that he's the notorious Baseline Killer, a serial predator that police say terrorized Phoenix from 2005 to 2006 with a string of random attacks. He has pleaded not guilty to 74 criminal counts, including nine counts of first-degree murder, 15 counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of kidnapping.
AP Photo by Phoenix Police Department
This undated photo provided by the Phoenix Police Department shows a tennis shoe with markings on it made by the Phoenix police that is among the evidence police are using to link Mark Goudeau to the city's Baseline Killer investigation, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press. Police seized the shoe and other items during a search of Goudeau's central Phoenix home in October last year. The items either contained DNA evidence that matched murder victims' blood or were items the victims owned. Goudeau's lawyers deny that he's the notorious Baseline Killer, a serial predator that police say terrorized Phoenix from 2005 to 2006 with a string of random attacks. He has pleaded not guilty to 74 criminal counts, including nine counts of first-degree murder, 15 counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of kidnapping.
AP Photo by Phoenix Police Department
In this undated photo provided by the Phoenix Police Department shows an evidence photo of a ski mask with markings made by the police indicating stains. A shoe, a ski mask and two gold rings are among the evidence Phoenix police are using to link Mark Goudeau to the city's Baseline Killer investigation, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press.
AP Photo by Phoenix Police Department
Mark Goudeau, listens to opening arguments in his rape trial, Monday, July 23, 2007, in Phoenix. Goudeau, on trial in a pair of sexual assaults linked to the so-called Baseline Killer is 360 trillion times more likely to match DNA collected from the crime scene than any other man, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.
AP Photo by Tom Tingle
Mark Goudeau looks at one of his attorneys, Corwin A. Townsend, who bows his head after Goudeau was convicted Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, in Phoenix in a pair of 2005 sexual attacks. Goudeau is a former construction worker suspected of being a serial predator known as the "Baseline Killer."
AP Photo by Rob Schumacher
Defense attorney Corwin Townsend, right, and Mark Goudeau listen to the state's rebuttal during closing arguments at Goudeau's murder trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007, in Phoenix. The case later went to the jury. Goudeau is charged with 19 criminal charges stemming from the Sept. 20, 2005, sexual assault of two sisters at a park.
AP Photo by John Severson
Attorney Cary Lackey looks at his client Mark Goudeau, left, who was found guilty Thursday, Sept. 7, 2007, in Phoenix in a pair of 2005 sexual attacks. Goudeau is a former construction worker suspected of being a serial predator known as the "Baseline Killer."
AP Photo by Rob Schumacher
Mark Goudeau listens as the prosecution makes its closing arguments during his trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, in Phoenix. Goudeau faces 20 criminal charges stemming from a Sept. 20, 2005, sexual assault.
AP Photo by John Severson
Defense attorney Corwin Townsend, left, and Mark Goudeau listen to the state's rebuttal during closing arguments at Goudeau's murder trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007, in Phoenix. The case later went to the jury. Goudeau is charged with 19 criminal charges stemming from the Sept. 20, 2005, sexual assault of two sisters at a park. He's also facing scores of charges from a crime spree police blame on a suspect called the Baseline Killer.
AP Photo by John Severson
Deputy County Attorney Suzanne Cohen makes closing arguments for the prosecution in Mark Goudeau's trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, in Phoenix. Goudeau faces 20 criminal charges stemming from a Sept. 20, 2005, sexual assault.
AP Photo by John Severson
Prosecutor William Clayton makes rebuttal closing arguments for the prosecution in Mark Goudeau's trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007, in Phoenix. The case later went to the jury. Goudeau is charged with 19 criminal charges stemming from the Sept. 20, 2005, sexual assault of two sisters at a park. He also faces scores of charges from a crime spree police blame on a suspect called the Baseline Killer.
