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Phillip Jablonski
A man who murdered a Burlingame mother and daughter in 1991 — a year after his parole for murdering his wife — has died on California’s death row.
Phillip Jablonski, 73, was found unresponsive Friday in his San Quentin State Prison cell.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Carol Spadoni, 46, became a pen pal of Jablonski while he was in prison and became a murder victim in 1991 along with her mother Eva Petersen, 72, in Burlingame.
Jablonski was paroled for good behavior in 1990 despite trying to strangle his mother with a shoelace during her 1985 prison visit.
Jablonski was sentenced to death in 1994 for the first-degree murders in San Mateo County.
“He really butchered those two women,” Wagstaffe said.
After the Burlingame murders, Jablonski was on his way to Kentucky for another planned killing when a Kansas state trooper stopped him on a traffic violation, Wagstaffe said.
Police found an audiotape Jablonski had made at a highway rest stop about the murders he committed, Wagstaffe recounted.
His voice — one that Jack Nicholson’s character in The Shining couldn’t imitate — was chilling, Wagstaffe said.
Referring to a woman at the rest stop, Jablonksi on the tape said: “I just need this trucker to get out of here — and she’s mine,” the district attorney recounted.
But the trucker remained and the woman entered her car and got away, Wagstaffe said.
Jablonski killed five victims, including a clerk at a store in Utah. Jablonski wore a belt with a notch for each of the murders, Wagstaffe said.
Former district attorney Jim Fox, along with the prosecutor who convicted Jablonski in the Burlingame killings, said the murderer was the most evil among the many criminals they prosecuted, Wagstaffe recounted.
“I can’t argue with that,” Wagstaffe said.
His cause of death is awaiting an autopsy, but he had been assigned a single cell, said corrections department spokeswoman Terri Hardy.
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Thomas Morgan said:
If you enjoyed the column you should consider a paid subscription to help support local news.
Mike Caggiano said:
Hey Jon, so you have a pretty sharp sense of humor. I really get a kick out of it.
Thanks, and well said.
Mike Caggiano said:
Irv, really great letter explaining the realities in excellent and concise terms. Perfect! Bravo
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