The California "trash bag" case officially began on April 13, 1975, when the mutilated remains of Albert Rivera, age 21, were discovered near San Juan Capistrano. By November, six bodies had been found in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego Counties. The discovery of two more victims in March 1977 raised the bodycount to eight, and by that time police had their pattern. All the identified victims had homosexual backgrounds; each was found nude, shot in the head with a similar weapon; several were dismembered or otherwise mutilated, their remains tied up in identical plastic garbage bags.

The final victim was 17-year-old John LaMay, last seen by his parents on March 13, when he left home to visit "Dave." Police entered the case five days later, after LaMay's dismembered remains were found beside a highway, south of Corona. Friends of the victim identified "Dave" as David Hill, supplying homicide detectives with an address. Warrants were issued for Hill and his roommate, but the lovers remained at large until July 1, when they entered the Riverside County sheriff's office, pointed to their posters on the wall, and smilingly announced, "That's us."

A high school dropout from Lubbock, Texas, David Hill joined the army in 1960 but was soon discharged on diagnosis of an unspecified personality disorder. Back in Lubbock, he married his high school sweetheart, but the romance was short-lived. In 1962, he met Patrick Kearney, stationed with the air force in Texas, and their attraction was mutual. Hill divorced his wife in 1966 and moved to California with Kearney a year later. They were living together in Culver City, a Los Angeles suburb, when the long string of murders began. (The first victim, known only as "George," was buried behind Kearney's Culver City duplex in September 1968; detectives, following the killer's directions, unearthed his skeleton in July 1977.)

On July 14, Patrick Kearney was formally indicted on two counts of murder, including that of John LaMay. David Hill was released the same day, his charges dismissed as Kearney shouldered full responsibility in the slayings, telling police that he killed because "it excited him and gave him a feeling of dominance." By July 15, Kearney had signed confessions to twenty-eight murders, with twelve of the cases confirmed by police. On December 21, he pled guilty on three counts of first-degree murder, receiving a sentence of life imprisonment .

Prosecutors launched the new year by charging Kearney with another eighteen counts of murder in February 1978. Nine of those charges disposed of the first dozen victims in Kearney's confessions; the others included two children, ages five and eight, along with four victims whose bodies were never recovered. On February 21, Kearney pled guilty on all counts, receiving another life sentence. If his original confessions were truthful, at least seven victims remain unidentified.