San Geronimo Will Never Forget
Note: This was my final newspaper article at the paper – written late after a trip to San Geronimo, in the hills of Marin County.
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 6, 2004
SAN GERONIMO -- In this tiny hamlet buried deep in the woods of Marin County, residents Friday reacted with raw emotion to the news that Glenn Taylor Helzer pleaded guilty to a grisly killing spree in 2000.
Three of the victims, Selina Bishop, her mother, Jennifer Villarin, and Villarin's friend, James Gamble, all had connections to the area.
Helzer's startling admission reopened fresh emotional wounds here, bringing shivers of disbelief, rage and heartache.
Helzer, a lanky former stock broker, was known here only as the mysteriously private man who had dated Bishop. But his name has been inextricably linked to grief in the San Geronimo Valley.
"I just wish he'd say that he is ready for execution now," said Dave Wilson, 59. "But he won't because he's a selfish pig. He's not a man."
Wilson and his younger brother, Woody, spent part of the afternoon Friday pulling weeds out of the grounds of a memorial set up for the victims in Forest Knolls.
The site, which includes a giant carved bear and a plaque embedded in a rock ringed by flowers, is across the street from the Paper Mill Creek Saloon, where Villarin worked.
"I am relieved that he pleaded guilty," said Woody Wilson, 35, whose mother, Thomasina, has owned the saloon since 1969. "It'll eliminate some of the stress people have about Jenny."
This town and others nearby have been reeling in grief since the killings, waiting for a trial, verdicts, justice closure.
Tony Miceli, the chef and owner of the Two Bird Cafe, where Bishop had worked as a waitress before she disappeared, said Helzer's plea may "spare everyone the heartache from having to relive it all."
Miceli, 53, said he thought that perhaps the anguish behind bars had wore down on Helzer's mind, forcing him to confess.
"Maybe this was the final product of what happens when someone's will breaks down," he said, while sorting mail at the post office across the street from his cafe. "How much time does it take? One thousand days? Two thousand?"
Gamble's mother, Frances Nelson, was surprised to get a call telling her of Helzer's plea Friday. "No kidding. My gosh," she said.
But she still does not trust the man who shot her son. She wondered if the plea was a tactic to delay the trial for Helzer's still-charged brother, which she and other family members do not want. "Having it over and done will help us get over it," Olga Land, Villarin's sister and Bishop's aunt, said after watching the court hearing in Martinez.
The Helzers' mother, at home in Pacheco, declined to comment on her elder son's guilty plea.
Tony, a bartender at the Paper Mill Creek Saloon who declined to provide his last name, sat on a stool in an empty bar. He stared at the floor.
"He is very ill, and I won't give him any credit one way or another," he said.
Outside, the Wilson brothers started yanking weeds out of the memorial lot with their bare hands, where mourners still gather in large numbers once a year to pay their respects. Someone pointed up at the carved bear, which has a pair of glittering, glass eyes.
"Woody," his older brother said, "get every last weed."
Staff writers Claire Booth and Meera Pal contributed to this report.
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 6, 2004
SAN GERONIMO -- In this tiny hamlet buried deep in the woods of Marin County, residents Friday reacted with raw emotion to the news that Glenn Taylor Helzer pleaded guilty to a grisly killing spree in 2000.
Three of the victims, Selina Bishop, her mother, Jennifer Villarin, and Villarin's friend, James Gamble, all had connections to the area.
Helzer's startling admission reopened fresh emotional wounds here, bringing shivers of disbelief, rage and heartache.
Helzer, a lanky former stock broker, was known here only as the mysteriously private man who had dated Bishop. But his name has been inextricably linked to grief in the San Geronimo Valley.
"I just wish he'd say that he is ready for execution now," said Dave Wilson, 59. "But he won't because he's a selfish pig. He's not a man."
Wilson and his younger brother, Woody, spent part of the afternoon Friday pulling weeds out of the grounds of a memorial set up for the victims in Forest Knolls.
The site, which includes a giant carved bear and a plaque embedded in a rock ringed by flowers, is across the street from the Paper Mill Creek Saloon, where Villarin worked.
"I am relieved that he pleaded guilty," said Woody Wilson, 35, whose mother, Thomasina, has owned the saloon since 1969. "It'll eliminate some of the stress people have about Jenny."
This town and others nearby have been reeling in grief since the killings, waiting for a trial, verdicts, justice closure.
Tony Miceli, the chef and owner of the Two Bird Cafe, where Bishop had worked as a waitress before she disappeared, said Helzer's plea may "spare everyone the heartache from having to relive it all."
Miceli, 53, said he thought that perhaps the anguish behind bars had wore down on Helzer's mind, forcing him to confess.
"Maybe this was the final product of what happens when someone's will breaks down," he said, while sorting mail at the post office across the street from his cafe. "How much time does it take? One thousand days? Two thousand?"
Gamble's mother, Frances Nelson, was surprised to get a call telling her of Helzer's plea Friday. "No kidding. My gosh," she said.
But she still does not trust the man who shot her son. She wondered if the plea was a tactic to delay the trial for Helzer's still-charged brother, which she and other family members do not want. "Having it over and done will help us get over it," Olga Land, Villarin's sister and Bishop's aunt, said after watching the court hearing in Martinez.
The Helzers' mother, at home in Pacheco, declined to comment on her elder son's guilty plea.
Tony, a bartender at the Paper Mill Creek Saloon who declined to provide his last name, sat on a stool in an empty bar. He stared at the floor.
"He is very ill, and I won't give him any credit one way or another," he said.
Outside, the Wilson brothers started yanking weeds out of the memorial lot with their bare hands, where mourners still gather in large numbers once a year to pay their respects. Someone pointed up at the carved bear, which has a pair of glittering, glass eyes.
"Woody," his older brother said, "get every last weed."
Staff writers Claire Booth and Meera Pal contributed to this report.
posted by Corey at 3:31 PM
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