5 Responses to Paul Coates, Jan. 17, 1961

1. Ronald Emmis says:

   January 18, 2011 at 12:04 am

   Here’s the Find-a-Grave memorial for little Rose Marie Riddle:
   http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Riddle&GSfn=Rose&GSmn=Marie&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=1961&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=41769482&df=all&
   What a tragedy, one which seems to still go on, unabated, half a century later. Any word on what became of the POS who killed her?

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2. Ronald Emmis says:

   January 18, 2011 at 12:19 am

   Actually, let me answer my own question, with a quote from a work on capital punishment in California:
   “The case of Richard Arlen Lindsey — the last Kern defendant to be
   executed by the state — was extraordinary in the speed at which
   the case moved from arrest to execution. Lindsey was convicted of
   kidnapping, raping and murdering a 6-year-old girl near Lost Hills in
   1961. He was sentenced to death just 18 days after the murder — an
   unheard of time frame in today’s environment. Lindsey was executed less
   than 10 months after his sentence was handed down.”
   So the POS was put to death in the gas chamber at San Quentin less than a year after the crime. Sounds good to me!

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3. Native Angeleno says:

   January 18, 2011 at 8:58 am

   Capitol punishment and murder per se is a difference of opinion over authority between executioners.

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4. Denise Givens says:

   October 14, 2011 at 9:21 pm

   In January, 1961, I had just turned 9, living in Bakersfield. My mother spoke much about this case, and compared little Rose Marie to me… although she was 3 years younger. I have never forgotten the horror those two abominations caused, not just among the Riddle family, but throughout Kern County. Yes, he got the only judgment/sentence that could be given. Maybe in death he found the peace he was obviously lacking in life. For me, I know that Heaven got a new little angel. I have never really trusted men since this case, and never married. It is amazing the damage that can ripple through, even years later.

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5. Tim says:

   March 30, 2014 at 2:27 pm

   Is the photo of Rose Marie the only one that was ever released in the public? Is there any way to get a bigger, clearer scan of it?

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