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<\/p>\nA serial killer convicted or linked to the sexual assault murders of three women in three states was charged in a 1992 cold case murder and rape in San Francisco, the District Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Ricky Dawson, 65, was charged with murder, with special circumstances including a prior murder conviction, a rape allegation and a sodomy allegation. Dawson was arraigned on Monday in San Francisco and pleaded not guilty to the charges.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
On May 2, 1992, a woman was found dead on the ground in an alley the city’s Chinatown neighborhood. She was identified as 45-year-old Nancy Hernandez, who police said had been using a utility corridor in the alley as a shelter. An autopsy showed she had multiple traumatic injuries and the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. Later tests showed Dawson’s DNA was found on the victim, police said.<\/p>\n
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Ricky Dawson<\/p>\n
Denver District Attorney’s Office<\/p>\n
Dawson was identified as the suspect in January 2025<\/a>, when he was awaiting trial in the sexual assault and strangulation murder of a Colorado woman, Terri Turachek, in 1996. He was convicted in March and was serving a life sentence before he was extradited to face charges in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dawson had been identified as a suspect in the Colorado case after pleading guilty in 2001 to the second-degree murder and sexual assault of a woman in Panama Beach, Florida. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in that case before being extradited to Colorado.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Investigators said Dawson’s DNA profile obtained in Florida also matches the DNA obtained in a 2000 cold case murder in Seattle<\/a>. The autopsy of the victim, Debbie Cashio, found she had multiple blunt force trauma injuries and died strangulation. Dawson has not been charged in the case.<\/p>\n