Naman Shrestha
Between 2005 and 2006, a series of gruesome crimes, including rapes, murders, and armed robberies, engulfed Phoenix, Arizona, and the surrounding areas, instilling a sense of fear in the citizens. During the investigation of multiple homicides and sexual crimes, the detectives were led to a former felon named Mark Goudeau, whose DNA was found on a survivor. In the sixth episode of Oxygen’s ‘Unknown Serial Killers of America: The Cross-Country Killer’ season 2, we get a detailed account of the horrific crimes committed by Mark in the span of 10 months.
Mark Goudeau Was Linked to Multiple Sexual Assaults, Robberies, and Murders
Mark Goudeau was born on September 6, 1964, in Phoenix, Arizona, to a car dealer lot attendant named Willie and a maid named Alberta. He grew up alongside several siblings in a seemingly unstable household and was only 12 years old when his mother, Alberta, passed away. While attending Corona del Sol High School, he was reportedly involved in sports, such as football. After failing to graduate due to insufficient credits, Mark was linked to a rape on November 7, 1982. He got into more trouble with the law enforcement in 1987 and 1988, as he was charged with trespassing and driving under the influence, respectively. The following year, in August 1989, Mark was accused of abducting, raping, and beating a woman. He got out on bond while awaiting trial and robbed a supermarket, allegedly to buy cocaine, in 1990.
After he pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. As for the armed robbery conviction, he received a 21-year imprisonment sentence. Due to his good behavior in prison, he was released on parole in 2004, after serving 13 years of his sentence. He then moved in with his wife, Wendy Carr, and landed a job at SelectBuild as a construction worker. Between August 2005 and June 2006, Mark committed a series of crimes in the Phoenix metropolitan area, including sexual assaults, armed robberies, kidnappings, and murders of nine individuals — Georgia Thompson, Tina Washington, Romelia Vargas, Mirna Palma-Roman, Liliana Sanchez-Cabrera, Chao Chou, Kristin Nicole Gibbons, Sophia Nunez, and Carmen Miranda. By the spring of 2006, the investigators had begun to suspect Mark’s involvement in the crimes in Phoenix and the surrounding areas.
During the investigation, the police learned that the perpetrator, who was nicknamed the Baseline Killer, allegedly committed his crimes wearing disguises or pretending to be a drug addict or homeless person. They connected the murders to a single perpetrator as the shell casings collected from the crime scenes came from the same gun. Based on descriptions provided by the survivors of the killer, the detectives created a composite sketch of the Baseline Killer and offered a $100,000 reward for any information that led to an arrest. After suspicions about Mark were raised, they searched his home and found a ski mask, a realistic toy gun, and other items that linked him to the crimes. Finally, on September 4, 2006, he was arrested for sexually assaulting two sisters in a Phoenix park on September 20, 2005, as his DNA matched the DNA evidence collected from the survivors.
Mark Goudeau is Currently on Death Row, Awaiting Execution
About four months after his arrest, on January 16, 2007, Mark Goudeau was officially indicted for a total of 74 felony offenses, including nine counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted sexual assault, 10 counts of kidnapping, 13 counts of aggravated assault, five counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual abuse, nine counts of sexual conduct with a minor, 11 counts of armed robbery, four counts of attempted armed robbery, and three counts of indecent exposure. Out of them, two charges were later dropped. Meanwhile, his wife, Wendy Carr, believed in Mark’s innocence and claimed that the law enforcement had made a huge mistake. In 2007, Mark stood trial for the 19 charges against him in connection with the attack on two sisters.
During the trial, the prosecution highlighted how his DNA was found on one of the sisters, with the help of a forensic specialist. Meanwhile, the defense argued that the analysis showed only a partial match. The two survivors also took the stand and testified against Mark, talking in detail about how he ambushed them before sexually assaulting them at gunpoint. In the end, on September 7, 2007, he was found guilty of all the charges related to the attack, and on December 14, he was sentenced to 438 years in prison for his crimes. His second trial, related to the other charges against him, commenced in 2011. After seven days of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict on October 31, 2011. He was convicted of a total of 67 felony charges, including nine counts of first-degree murder.
However, he was found not guilty on one count of armed robbery, two counts of attempted armed robbery, and one count of kidnapping. About a month later, on November 30, Mark was sentenced to death a total of nine times (one for each murder conviction) and an additional 1,324 years for the other 58 convictions. His appeal, filed in October 2015, regarding his nine death sentences was rejected by the Arizona Supreme Court in June 2016. Mark filed a fresh appeal in Maricopa County Superior Court in February 2016, arguing that the prosecutors committed misconduct and his defense attorneys were incompetent. As of today, the 61-year-old serial killer is on death row at Rincon Unit of Arizona State Prison Complex Tucson in Pima County, Arizona.
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