On March 11, 1995, 32-year-old Denise Maney was tragically murdered in the Palm Springs area of Riverside County, California. Andrew Urdiales, a former U.S. Marine, encountered Maney while on vacation from Illinois. He picked her up and drove to a secluded desert location. There, he forced her to disrobe, tied her hands behind her back, and sexually assaulted her.
After the assault, Urdiales stabbed Maney multiple times in the chest and shot her once in the head, leaving her body in the desert.
Urdiales had a history of violent crimes against women in Southern California. Between 1986 and 1995, he murdered five women across Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties. His first known victim was 23-year-old Robbin Brandley, whom he stabbed 41 times in a Saddleback College parking lot in 1986. Subsequent victims included Julie McGhee in 1988, Mary Ann Wells in 1988, and Tammie Erwin in 1989. Each crime involved sexual assault and fatal gunshot wounds, with Urdiales often targeting women he solicited for sex.
In November 1996, Urdiales was arrested in Hammond, Indiana, after police observed him loitering in an area known for prostitution. A search of his vehicle revealed a firearm he was not authorized to carry. Ballistics testing later matched this weapon to bullets recovered from the bodies of Illinois murder victims Laura Uylaki, Cassandra Corum, and Lynn Huber, leading to his arrest in April 1997. Following his arrest, Urdiales confessed to the California murders, including that of Denise Maney.
In 2018, Urdiales was convicted of the murders of the five Southern California women and was sentenced to death. However, in November 2018, he was found dead in his cell at San Quentin State Prison, an apparent suicide. Denise Maney's tragic death was part of a series of heinous crimes committed by Urdiales, whose actions left a lasting impact on the victims' families and communities.
