A man already accused of murdering four Northern California women may have been involved in two other killings, as well as the disappearance of a woman last seen on her way to a Bob Dylan concert in San Francisco, the lead investigator in the case testified Thursday.
Detective Richard Brown of the Nevada Department of Public Safety said at a preliminary hearing in San Rafael that investigators searching 78-year-old Joseph Naso's safe deposit box had found photographs of two unidentified women who appeared to be dead.
Brown said the photos, depicting the women from the waist down, showed that their skin was discolored in a manner characteristic of dead bodies. The women were dressed in underwear and high heels, Brown said.
Naso, a Reno resident who is acting as his own attorney, sat expressionless as prosecutors presented large poster boards in Marin County Superior Court lined with photographs of the women.
Naso has pleaded not guilty to the murders of four women in Northern California: Roxene Roggasch in 1977, Carmen Colon in 1978, Pamela Parsons in 1993 and Tracy Tafoya in 1994. The body of Roggasch was found near Lagunitas, and Colon was found near Port Costa, while Parsons and Tafoya were both found in Yuba County.
Brown said investigators had also found photographs in Naso's safe deposit box of Parsons and Tafoya, similar to those of the other women. The two appeared to be unconscious or dead, he said.
Later Thursday, Tafoya's husband, Richard Tafoya, broke down in tears as he testified about the day his wife vanished.
"It's been 17 years," he said, before succumbing to what prosecutors called an anxiety attack. "I never had to deal with this before."
After the hearing resumed, a composed Tafoya said his wife had been a drug addict and prostitute. He identified her body in Naso's photos and recognized lingerie he said they had purchased together.
Investigators also found items in Naso's safe deposit box belonging to a missing woman named Renee Shapiro, who had changed her name to Sara Dylan as an homage to her musical hero, Brown said. Bob Dylan's former wife is named Sara.
Brown said Shapiro had followed Dylan across the country and overseas and had been known to the singer's manager and security team.
"This was her passion in life," the detective said. "That was all she did."
Shapiro was last seen on her way to a Dylan concert at the Warfield theater in San Francisco in May 1992, Brown said. Authorities believe she is dead.
Investigators found Shapiro's identification, business cards and other personal items in Naso's deposit box, along with Naso's writing on a piece of paper that read, "May 4 1992 Monday p.m.," Brown said. That was the date of one of Dylan's two concerts at the Warfield.
"I believe Mr. Naso may have come into contact with Ms. Shapiro," Brown said.
During his cross-examination, Naso criticized Brown for what he called the detective's "obsession" with his photographs and lifestyle. During a testy exchange, Naso demanded to know why Brown referred to one of his diaries as a "rape journal."
Brown replied, "I call it a rape journal because in it, you write things such as, 'I had to rape her. I raped her in an alley. I raped her in the front seat of my car.' "
Naso responded, "In my culture, and where I come from, it's a term for making out, scoring, getting to first base. I use that term loosely."
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