Jury Says East Bay Rapist Should Die Twice

A Contra Costa County jury says a serial rapist should get a second death sentence, this time for the 1978 slaying of a Lafayette woman.

Darryl Kemp was convicted earlier this month of raping and murdering 40-year-old Armida Wiltsey, who never returned from a jog at the Lafayette Reservoir.

The case went cold for decades, until DNA linked Kemp to the murder in 2005. At the time, he was serving a life sentence for three Texas rapes.

The 72-year-old Kemp previously was sentenced to death for the 1959 murder of a Los Angeles woman, but that sentence was commuted to life in prison when California suspended the death penalty in 1972.

Jurors recommended Tuesday that Kemp again should be up for execution.

A judge is scheduled to formally sentence Kemp on March 20.

Contact Us