BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A 66-year-old convicted murderer and rapist was denied parole last month after the California Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) found he continues to pose a current and unreasonable risk to public safety, said the Kern County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
The board denied parole on March 20, 2026, to Rocky Curtis after his ninth overall hearing, issuing a three-year denial. <\/p>\n
Curtis\u2019 case dates back to July 19, 1981, when prosecutors said he raped, sodomized, and brutally murdered Mary Ann McFaddin, described as his girlfriend\u2019s friend and roommate. Prosecutors said Curtis had been living in Bakersfield with his girlfriend, her young son and McFaddin during July 1981.<\/p>\n
During the week leading up to the killing, prosecutors said Curtis\u2019 girlfriend kicked him out of the apartment because of ongoing jealousy issues, including him spying on her at work. A female roommate called law enforcement at the girlfriend\u2019s request the day Curtis was asked to leave, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
That same day, friends of McFaddin went to the apartment to check on her because she was not answering the phone. When they entered, they found her body on the floor in Curtis\u2019 girlfriend\u2019s bedroom, prosecutors said. McFaddin was found disrobed with a cord wrapped around her ankles, wrist and neck. The district attorney\u2019s office said she died of manual and ligature strangulation and blunt force injuries to her head.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Curtis was seen earlier that morning in the area of the apartment, and when he was later arrested, he admitted to the murder. An analysis of his clothes showed a match of the apartment carpet fibers and the \u201cdebris\u201d on the shirt McFaddin was wearing at the time of the murder, prosecutors said. DNA analysis also linked Curtis to the sexual assault, the district attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
On May 2, 1983, Curtis pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, rape and sodomy. On May 27, 1983, a Kern County judge sentenced him to 25 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n
During the parole hearing, commissioners focused on Curtis\u2019 insight into the murder and rape, his mental health management, institutional behavior, rehabilitative programming and substance abuse history. The district attorney\u2019s office asked the board to deny parole, and the board found that Curtis was not suitable for parole because he continued to pose a current, unreasonable risk of danger to society.<\/p>\n
The BPH has the option of denying an inmate parole for 15, 10, 7, 5, or 3 years.<\/p>\n
Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kinzel stated, \u201cBehavior fueled by jealousy and a need for control led Curtis to commit unspeakable acts against someone closely connected to his romantic partner. Curtis remains a clear danger to public safety, and our office is relieved that the Board of Parole has recognized that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A 66-year-old convicted murderer and rapist was denied parole last month after the California Board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-253147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}