Darrell Keith Rich

On March 15, 2000, at 12:06 a.m., Rich was executed via lethal injection in the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison. He was pronounced dead at 12:13 a.m. He was one of three people executed in the United States on that specific day. The others were Patrick Poland in Arizona and Timothy Gribble in Texas.

Rich was convicted of three counts of first degree murder with special circumstances and one count of second degree murder, as well as numerous other non-capital charges. He was sentenced to death for two of the four murders on January 23, 1981.

Rich was briefly married to a woman named Loretta Summers. The two married in January 1981. After Rich was found guilty of the murders, Summers cried out. Their marriage was annulled in August of that year.

On June 13, 1978, Rich abducted a 25-year-old woman as she walked across a bridge in Redding, California. He took her down a hill and tried to force oral sex on her. When she refused, he hit her repeatedly in the head and fractured her skull. He left her for dead, but she was found alive twelve hours later. On June 19, Rich abducted a 21-year-old woman, forced her into his car, and drove her to an isolated area where he raped her. The woman convinced Rich to spare her life when she told him she had an infant child. He let her go and later bragged to friends about how easy it was to attack women. He proceeded to kidnap and rape a 14-year-old girl on June 25, letting her go afterward.

Darrell Keith Rich (February 14, 1955 – March 15, 2000), known as The Hilltop Rapist, was an American serial killer who murdered three women and an 11-year-old girl in Redding, California between June and August 1978. He was sentenced to death in California in 1981 for two of the murders and was executed in 2000 at San Quentin State Prison by lethal injection.

Rich was born on February 14, 1955, in California. He was adopted into a family where his mother was domineering. She looked after other children as a job, which caused Rich to resent her. He performed poorly in grammar school and was held back a grade. As such, he was referred to the school psychologist, who was concerned that Rich could become violent in the future; however, he received no treatment. At age 15, he showed suicidal behavior after his parents divorced. Rich then began living with his mother in Southern California but later returned to Northern California to live with his father. He was suspended from school for fighting.