The husband of slain prostitute Tracy Tafoya identified her this afternoon as the woman in several photos that were taken from Joseph Naso's safe deposit box at a Reno, Nev. bank.
Richard Tafoya, 61, recognized the undergarments worn by the woman in several of the photo as those he bought for his wife.
"All of the pictures are of my wife," Tafoya said. The photos presented from Naso's safe deposit box in Marin County Superior Court this afternoon depicted women from the waist down -- Tafoya identified his wife based on the undergarments and body shape.
Earlier today, a Nevada Department of Public Safety detective testified that another woman in a photo taken from Naso's U.S. Bank safe deposit box was Pamela Parsons, who was slain in 1993.
Tracy Tafoya was murdered in August 1994. Both women lived in Yuba County, where Naso was living at the time.
Richard Tafoya was quickly overcome with emotion and wept at the start of his testimony. "It's all coming back now. It was 17 years ago and feels like it was yesterday and I never had to deal with it before," Tafoya said.
Tafoya said he knew his wife was a prostitute and she mentioned one of her Johns was a photographer but she never identified him. The couple was separated at the time of her death but talked every night, he said.
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Naso is charged with the murders of Tafoya and Parsons as well as two Bay Area women -- Roxene Roggasch and Carmen Colon -- who were slain in 1977 and 1978.
The Marin County District Attorney's Office has presented evidence so far about the Yuba County murders during a preliminary hearing that began Tuesday.
The hearing will allow a judge to determine whether there is enough evidence to hold Naso for trial. A woman who survived a sexual assault allegedly by Naso is scheduled to testify this morning.
