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In 1997, almost a decade after Robbin Brandley's murder, authorities arrested a person of interest. In January 1986, the 23-year-old Saddleback Community College college student was reportedly stalked on her way home from a piano concert one evening. She was stabbed 41 times with a hunting knife in the hands, neck, and chest.
After numerous efforts by California and Illinois law enforcement, Robbin Brandley's case was solved with technological advancements, such as ballistics and lab tests. The killer was revealed to be Andrew Urdiales, an ex-marine corp and radio operator responsible for several other killings between 1986 and 1996.
Upon his arrest in 1997, Urdiales pleaded guilty to all the killings and was handed the death penalty. However, the penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. In the years following, Urdiales repeatedly escaped the death penalty but, in the end, as some more horrific crimes of the killer came to light, Urdiales was finally handed the death sentence.
Oxygen's The Real Murders of Orange County will revisit the murder of Robbin Brandley in its upcoming episode titled Campus Killer. The synopsis of the episode, as per Rotten Tomatoes, reads:
"When an ambitious college student is stabbed to death after a campus concert, the brutality of the attack leads police to believe it must have been personal; the resolution nine years later, however, proves darker than anyone could have imagined."
The upcoming episode airs on the platform on Friday, July 7, 2023, at 9 pm ET/PT.
Robbin Brandley's murder was the first of many killings by Andrew Urdiales
The murder of Robbin Brandley terrorized the state of California in the 80s. She was a straight-A journalism student at Saddleback Community College and had gone out to a piano concert to provide a review for the same as a part of her job at the KSPR radio station. However, little did she know she was about to encounter one of America's deadliest serial killers.
Urdiales stalked Robbin Brandley on her way home and stabbed her 41 times in her hands, neck, back, and chest, leaving her dead in a ditch. The seemingly random death of Robbin Brandley made headlines and left those close to her devastated. The police, at the time, were unable to find any concrete evidence or motive behind Robbin Brandley's murder and labeled the murder as a cold case.
At the time, no one could have guessed that this seemingly random murder would be the start of a streak of killings across California. Urdiales would strike again almost two years later, as he murdered 29-year-old Julie McGhee by shooting her with a .45 ACP caliber pistol.
This was the same pistol that would later lead to him getting caught. The killer claimed his third and fourth victims, 31-year-old Mary Ann Wells and 18-year-old Tammie Erwin, in a similar fashion.
During this time, Urdiales was finally discharged from the Marine Corps. The killings completely stopped as he moved back to his parent's house in Chicago. Urdialses returned to California yet again in September 1992 for a vacation. During this time, he kidnapped a 19-year-old nurse, Jennifer Asbenson, who he beat and tried to r*pe. However, Asbenson managed to escape Urdiales.
The event left the serial killer fearful of being caught, leading the killings to stop for three years. Since the incident, Urdiales was under the belief that committing murders would be much easier in Illinois rather than in California. The killer went on to kill three more women, 32-year-old Denise Maney, 25-year-old Laura Ulyaki, and 22-year-old Lynn Huber, in a year.
More about Andrew Urdiales' arrest and legal proceedings
Urdialses was finally arrested in 1997 when the police went to check his gun as a part of an ongoing investigation into the killings. Despite the tests still being run on his gun, he confessed to all the murders, which led to his immediate indictment and integration. During this interrogation, he provided no rational motive for committing the murders and claimed he got "agitated" when the women begged for their lives.
Despite being indicted for the crimes, the legal proceedings for the case did not take place until 2001. This was due to the ongoing political debate in Illinois on whether the death penalty should be abolished since the lead prosecutor on the case had requested the death penalty for Urdiales. While the Judge approved the punishment, the Governor of Illinois, Gorge Ryan, overturned the decision, leading to the punishment becoming a life sentence.
The serial killer was indicted for two more killings in 2004. However, this time the defense for Urdiales claimed mental illness. As per observers and lead investigators, the jury for the case did not buy into the claim, leading the Judge to sentence Andrew Urdiales to the death penalty.
However, shockingly, the decision was yet again overturned by the new Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, who was in favor of abolishing the punishment. This led to Urdiales being sentenced to one more life sentence.
It wasn't until 2018 that Urdiales was yet again indicted for the murder of all women. However, since the legal proceeding took place in California, the death penalty was finally granted to the serial killer.
Just a few months after the sentencing, Urdiales was found unresponsive in his cell. While there isn't any clarity as to how he died, the official reason released to the public was that he committed suicide by hanging.
Watch The Real Murders of Orange County on Friday, July 7, 2023, at 9 pm ET/PT, exclusively on Oxygen.
