Trial begins for man charged in ‘Gyspy Hill’ serial killings

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) — A career criminal who authorities believe is the Gypsy Hill Killer faces trial in Northern California for the murders of two young women four decades ago.

Law enforcement officials believe 69-year-old Rodney Halbower is the one who raped and killed six young women during a five-month period in 1976. The murders in Northern California and Reno, Nevada, remained cold until 2014.

That’s when DNA taken from cigarette butts saved from the scene of one of the killings in Reno led investigators to Halbower’s prison cell in Oregon where he was doing time for rape and attempted murder.

Opening statements start Friday in Redwood City, which is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of San Francisco.