Sylvanus Caswell

In the summer of 1973, Sylvanus Caswell, a 22-year-old man, was living in his apartment in Los Angeles, California. His life was abruptly and brutally cut short in a triple homicide that stemmed from a criminal enterprise gone wrong. The violent end to his life, along with the lives of his two friends, was the culmination of a desperate plan hatched by a prison escapee from the other side of the country.

The series of events began in June 1973, when William Henry Sewell, an escapee from Maryland State Prison, traveled from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Los Angeles. He was not alone; he was accompanied by three other men, Reggie Gladden, Benny Stokes, and Orieton "Ordy" Houston. The group's purpose in coming to California was to sell a large quantity of stolen musical instruments. Their plan was to use the proceeds from the sale to purchase narcotics, which they intended to transport back to the East Coast for resale at a profit.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, the men went to Sylvanus Caswell's home. It was understood that Sylvanus would help them by arranging the sale of the stolen goods through a local fence. However, this crucial part of their plan quickly unraveled. The connection fell through, leaving Sewell and his accomplices with no easy way to offload their cargo. They were forced to try and sell the instruments in smaller, less profitable transactions, and their earnings were far below what they had anticipated.

After about a week of little success and failing to make any significant connections with narcotics dealers, frustration and financial strain mounted within the group. The plan had been a failure, and most of the men decided it was time to cut their losses and return home. Benny Stokes, Ordy Houston, and Reggie Gladden made plans to head back East. Sewell, however, made a different calculation. As a fugitive, he feared that returning to Maryland would inevitably lead to his recapture. He decided to stay behind in Los Angeles.

In the early morning hours of July 8, 1973, the situation inside Sylvanus Caswell's apartment turned deadly. While Sylvanus, Benny Stokes, and Ordy Houston lay asleep, William Sewell used a firearm to shoot and kill all three of them. The motive appeared to be rooted in the failure of their criminal scheme and Sewell's own desperate circumstances. After committing the murders, Sewell fled the scene and, despite his initial fears, made his way back to Maryland that same night.

The Los Angeles Police Department launched a homicide investigation into the brutal slayings. Their search for the killer eventually led them to Maryland, where Sewell's flight from justice came to an end. He was apprehended there during the commission of another, separate crime. Following his arrest, he was extradited to California to face charges for the murders of Sylvanus Caswell, Benny Stokes, and Orieton Houston.

William Henry Sewell was brought to trial and ultimately convicted by a jury on three counts of first-degree murder. The jury also found true the allegation that he had personally used a firearm during the commission of the killings. For his crimes, Sewell was sentenced to life in prison. The court ordered his California sentences to run concurrently with each other but consecutively with a life sentence he had already received in Maryland. Sewell appealed his conviction, raising several legal challenges, but the judgment was affirmed by the appellate court, ensuring he would remain imprisoned for the lives he took in that Los Angeles apartment in the summer of 1973.