The article discusses the recent identification of Richard Sommerhalder as a suspect in the 1976 murder of Karen Percifield in Aptos, California. Percifield, visiting from Ohio, was last seen at the Bayview Hotel before her body was discovered. Richard Sommerhalder, who has a criminal history including violent crimes and double homicide, was previously a person of interest in her case. The article highlights the lack of evidence that prevented prosecutions at the time and the broader context of violence in the Santa Cruz area during the 1970s.
At the time, investigators named Richard Sommerhalder, a 29-year-old Sonoma County man, as a person of interest in the case. Sommerhalder was the brother of infamous killer Johnny Lee Sommerhalder, who went on a deadly spree of violence in the late 1960s.
Sommerhalder, a karate expert who carved and sold pipes, was convicted in the killings of Bezore and Gorman and faced a litany of charges for crimes dating back to the early '60s.
Without enough evidence in the Percifield case, charges were never brought, and Sommerhalder was paroled after only eight years in prison for the double homicide of Bezore and Gorman, a decision that caused uproar in Santa Cruz.
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