JLWOP Inmate Norman Willover
Norman Willover attempted to rob two female students and then shot them, killing one and severely injuring the other. He then participated that same evening in another drive by shooting in which a fellow gang member fatally shot another woman.
Priya Mathews and Jennifer Aninger were friends and language students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies on January 31, 1998 when they went for a relaxing walk to Monterrey’s wharf. . Norman Willover, had recently escaped from a juvenile rehabilitation center in Utah. At trial, evidence was presented that Willover had recently purchased a handgun at a party and told a friend that he was going to return to Monterey, California, and “cap some people…get some money and live the good life.”
As the two young women were walking, a car approached them. Inside the vehicle were members of the Oriental Boyz gang, including Norman Willover. A car drove toward them. Inside it were Willover and fellow members of the Oriental Boyz gang. Although the women heard yelling, they did not realize the car’s occupants were yelling at them and demanding money. Willover pointed his gun at Mathews and Aninger and began firing. Mathews was shot in the back, Aninger in the head and arm. Willover exchanged “props” or congratulations with his fellow gang members in the car to celebrate his shooting of the two helpless women.
Willover and his group then changed cars at a friend’s house because a fellow gang member, Joseph Manibusan, wanted his chance to kill a person. They all drove to nearby Seaside, where Manibusan shot and killed Frances Anne Olivo, a mother of six.
Although Jennifer survived the shooting with permanent impairment, Priza Mathews and Frances Olivio died.
Willover was tried, convicted, and sentenced to two consecutive sentences of life without the possibility of parole plus additional years for the enhancements and attempted murder. Manibusan, who was tried in a separate trial for murder, was convicted and sentenced to death.
