Death Penalty Sought Against Serial Killer Suspected in Mission Viejo Student's Death

Orange County prosecutors announced Tuesday they will seek the death penalty against a former Marine suspected of killing a Mission Viejo college student and four additional women from San Diego and Riverside counties between 1986 and 1995.

Andrew Urdiales, 47, was convicted of killing three women in Illinois and was on death row in Illinois until capital punishment was outlawed there this year. Then-Gov. George H. Ryan had commuted the death sentences for Urdiales' first two murders to life in prison without the possibility of parole before the state outlawed capital punishment.

Urdiales was then extradited to California to face charges in Orange County.

Urdiales is charged with five counts of murder, along with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and personal use of a handgun. Police say Urdiales killed 23-year-old Robbin Brandley on Jan. 18, 1986, in Mission Viejo by stabbed her  41 times in the back, neck, chest and hands while she was walking to her car at Saddleback College, where she had just finished her shift as an usher at a jazz piano concert.

WATCH: Andrew Urdiales talks about Robbin Brandley's death.

Brandley was "randomly'' picked to be a victim, authorities said.

Urdiales is next due in court for arraignment Dec. 1 in Santa Ana.

It is likely jurors will hear testimony from Jennifer Asbenson, a woman Urdiales allegedly terrorized for hours in 1992 in Palm Springs when she was 19 years old, Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy said. Asbenson managed to get away from Urdiales, who had given her a ride to work and then picked her up when she got off, Gundy said.

Her testimony would come during the penalty phase of the trial because Urdiales was not charged with those crimes, Gundy added.

'I Was in the Presence of Evil,' says Robbin's Brandley's Father Upon Seeing Urdiales.

Urdiales was not caught until November 1996 when police in Hammond, Ind., saw him in his truck, parked in an area known for prostitution. Inside his vehicle, officers found a gun, which he was not permitted to carry, and he was convicted of misdemeanor unauthorized possession of a handgun, Gundy said.

Urdiales, who worked as a security guard at the time, did not arouse suspicion then, and authorities were about to destroy the weapon until Chicago detectives sought it for ballistics tests, Gundy said.

Chicago investigators suspected Urdiales had been killing prostitutes, because one of the prostitutes they interviewed in Chicago told them that Urdiales was a weird customer who had asked to tie her up, a request she declined, Gundy said.

When the detectives ran Urdiales' name through a national data base they came across the misdemeanor gun conviction and then conducted tests on the weapon that linked him to the murders in Illinois, Gundy said.

Prosecutors contend that Urdiales committed four of the murders while serving as a U.S. Marine at various facilities in Southern California.

Urdiales was discharged in 1991, when he moved back to his home state of Illinois. The fifth murder, which occurred in Palm Springs, allegedly was committed by Urdiales while he was on vacation, prosecutors said.

In Southern California, Urdiales is accused of killing:

-- 23-year-old Robbin Brandley on Jan. 18, 1986, in Mission Viejo;

-- 29-year-old Julie McGhee on July 17, 1988, in Cathedral City;

-- 31-year-old Maryann Wells on Sept. 25, 1988, in San Diego;

-- 20-year-old Tammie Erwin on April 16, 1989, in Palm Springs; and

-- 32-year-old Denise Maney on March 11, 1995, in Palm Springs.

McGhee, Wells, Erwin and Maney were all prostitutes, according to Gundy.

Urdiales allegedly picked up McGhee in Indian Wells then drove her to a remote area of Cathedral City, had sex with her then and shot her in the head.

Urdiales allegedly paid Wells $40, then drove her to a deserted San Diego industrial complex where he had sex with her, shot her in the head and took back the $40 he had paid her. Prosecutors contend he left a condom at the scene, and DNA evidence was recovered.

Urdiales picked up Erwin, drove her to a remote area of Palm Springs, had sex with her then shot her three times, Gundy alleged.

Prosecutors claim he used the same gun to kill McGhee, Wells and Erwin, then dismantled the weapon and disposed of the parts.

While vacationing in Palm Springs in 1995, he allegedly picked up Maney, drove her to a remote area, tied her hands behind her back, had sex with her and stabbed her to death.

Urdiales initially was linked to the Southern California slayings by statements he made to authorities in Illinois, Gundy said.

—City News Service