Condemned inmate Michael Dee Mattson, 55, who was on California’s death row for the kidnappings, rapes and murders of two Los Angeles County girls, ages 9 and 16, was pronounced dead of natural causes at an outside hospital facility July 17, 2009.
Mattson was received by San Quentin State Prison on April 14, 1980 for the July 14, 1978 murder of 9-year-old Cheryl Kristy Gutierrez, and the September 6, 1978 murder of 16-year-old Adele Jean Corradini.
Mattson confessed to both murders to Los Angeles County investigators. Mattson kidnapped Gutierrez as she sat on a curb outside of the Santa Fe Springs High School Community Swimming Pool. He drove Gutierrez to Legg Lake, a portion of the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, were he raped and strangled the victim. The next day, Gutierrez’s nude body was discovered in the area. Two months later Mattson kidnapped Corradini, who was hitchhiking in the Laguna Beach Area. Mattson drove to a secluded area in Duarte, where he forcibly raped the victim on three different occasions and subsequently strangled her with his hands. Mattson thought he had killed the victim but when she recovered, he strangled the victim with his belt to ensure that she was dead. Mattson led investigators to the victim’s partially buried body at the north end of Vinedale Street in the Duarte Area.
Mattson was sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on April 10, 1980.
Since 1978 when California reinstated capital punishment, 45 condemned inmates have died from natural causes, 17 committed suicide, 13 were executed in California, one was executed in Missouri and five died from other causes.
