Rodney Halbower

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Rodney Lynn Halbower (born June 27, 1948) is an American serial killer and the prime suspect in the Gypsy Hill killings, a string of murders of young women in San Mateo County, California, and Reno, Nevada. The killer was nicknamed “The San Mateo Slasher.” In 2014, DNA evidence linked Halbower to the killings, making him a person of interest. At that time Cathy Woods, a mental patient who had been convicted of one of the murders, was exonerated after 35 years in prison.

Halbower’s crimes and arrests span several states. His early crimes in Michigan included burglary and robbery, for which he served prison terms and escaped multiple times. In 1975 he moved to Reno, Nevada, where he raped a girl; he was sentenced to life in Nevada for rape. He escaped from custody several times, including a 1977 escape near Carson City and an attempted escape after kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter. He was recaptured and later extradited to Nevada to serve his sentence. In 1978 he escaped again, cut through bars, and nearly reached freedom before guards intervened. He was later returned to prison after another attempted escape.

Halbower later committed crimes in Oregon, where he raped and stabbed a victim in Medford; the victim survived and identified him. He was arrested in 1987, convicted of rape and assault, and sentenced to 15 years, then extradited back to Nevada to continue serving his life term. He was released on parole in November 2013 but was immediately extradited to Oregon to serve a 15-year term for rape and attempted murder.

In California, the bodies of Veronica Cascio (18) and Paula Baxter (17) were found in 1976, with other linked cases in the area. For decades the cases remained unsolved. DNA testing in 2014 connected Halbower to Baxter and Cascio, and to saliva found near another victim, Michelle Mitchell, who was killed in Reno in 1976. Cathy Woods had been convicted for Mitchell’s murder in 1980, but her 2014 exoneration led to renewed attention on Halbower.

In January 2015 Halbower was extradited to California and charged with three murders, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was also linked to the Denise Lampe case, though another man, Leon Seymour, was later convicted of Lampe’s murder in 2023. After ongoing delays, Halbower was convicted in 2018 of the California murders of Paula Baxter and Veronica Cascio and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.