Andrew Urdiales was a convicted serial killer who was convicted of the murders of eight women overall, which took place between 1986 and 1996 in Illinois and California. The former Marine was arrested in 1997 after which he confessed to authorities the eight murders and the attack on a ninth woman, the only one he said escaped him, CBS News reported.
A new series on A&E, “I Survived a Serial Killer,” premiered on Wednesday, August 18, and its first episode featured the woman who survived an attack by Urdiales when she was just 19 years old, Jennifer Asbenson. During the episode, Asbenson described being kidnapped and attacked by Urdiales in Palm Desert, California, in September 1992.
Those who watch the show might wonder what happened to Urdiales after he was arrested and tried. Urdiales is now dead after he was found guilty of murder in three separate trials and sentenced to death in 2018 in California. How did Andrew Urdiales die?
Urdiales Was Found Dead of a Suicide During a Security Check at San Quentin a Month After Being Sentenced to Death
Urdiales was found dead in his prison cell in San Quentin late in the evening of November 2, 2018. According to prison officials, the 54-year-old former Marine was housed in a cell on his own and his death was believed to be a suicide. A statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said, “staff found Andrew Urdiales, 54, unresponsive during a security check in the Adjustment Center. Correctional officers performed CPR. Urdiales was pronounced dead at 12:06 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3.”
“His cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy; however, his death is being investigated as a suicide. He was single-celled,” the statement continued. Although the autopsy results were not made public, Urdiales was added to an official CDCR list of death row inmates who died since 1978 with his cause of death listed as suicide.
Urdiales’ death came just a month after he was sentenced to death on October 5, 2018, by a judge in Orange County for the murder of five women in California. On October 12, Urdiales was moved to death row at San Quentin prison, CBS News reported.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas issued a press release following Urdiales’ death, which stated, “Urdiales was a monster who did not deserve to breathe the same air we all enjoy. He remained a callous coward until the end as he robbed the victims’ families of the right to be present when the State put him to death.”
Urdiales’ Kidnapping Survivor Jennifer Asbenson, Who Testified Against Him, Commented on Social Media About His Death
Jennifer Asbenson was 19 years old when she survived a kidnapping and attack by Urdiales and she is the only known survivor of the serial killer. She testified at all three of his trials, the two in Illinois and the one in California after his extradition. At all three trials, Urdiales was sentenced to death but his first two death sentences in Illinois were later commuted to life sentences, CBS News reported.
When news of Urdiales’ death broke, Asbenson wrote on social media, “This brings an absolute feeling of resolve, it is the end, the definite end for him.” In another post, she wrote, “I’m experiencing a bizarre sense of peace, yet a sadness. A sadness for all of the lives that were lost and the families that were destroyed.”
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