In the 48 Hours episode “Portrait of a Killer,” Erin Moriarty investigates the murders of Oliver “Chip” Northrop, 87, and his wife Claudia Maupin, 76. The elderly couple were tortured and murdered in their Davis, California home on April 14, 2013. They were stabbed dozens of times (more than 60 times each) and their bodies were mutilated. After an anonymous tip to 911, 15-year-old Daniel William Marsh eventually confessed to the brutal and bizarre double homicide. Marsh revealed that killing the couple “felt amazing”, that he has had the urge to kill since he was 10, and had the intent to become a serial killer.
Marsh was prosecuted as an adult. He received the maximum sentence of 52 years to life in state prison: his age made him ineligible for either the death penalty or a life in prison without parole sentence. Due to his age, Marsh will receive a mandatory parole hearing after serving 25 years in prison. Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Cabral, the case’s lead prosecutor, said if he’s able, he plans to be there to oppose his release.
On October 1, 2018, the day after California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill (SB 1391) that would prevent 14- and 15-year-olds from being sentenced for serious crimes as adults, Marsh appeared in court to see if his sentence would stand. If Marsh was re-tried in juvenile court, it would allow him to be released from custody at age 25: he is now 21. Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam noted the bill wasn’t effective until January 1, 2019 and rejected the bid for juvenile court re-sentencing.
In Judge McAdam’s ruling (October 2018), he noted the testimony of Dr. Matthew F. Soulier, M.D., an expert in adolescent psychiatry and juvenile delinquency who the defense hired during the adult criminal court proceedings for advice regarding Marsh’s plea of insanity. When Soulier first interviewed Marsh, Marsh “threatened to kill the doctor” with the pen the doctor was using to take notes. Soulier, who “took the threat seriously and terminated the initial interview” after seven hours, did not support Marsh’s insanity defense. (However, Soulier did interview Marsh again in 2018 and tells 48 Hours: “I don’t think he’s worth throwing away, in my opinion.”) The judge’s ruling also points out that in 2015, Marsh tested on the PCL-R scale at the high end of criminal psychopathy: he scored a 35.8 out of 40. 48 Hours airs Saturdays at 9 pm and 10 pm on CBS.
