Victims: Katherine Macaulay, Danae Palermo, Heather Goodwin
Three high school girls were murdered by their peers who shocked the residents of their upscale neighborhood and shattered their families and friends.
“I feel as though I, too, were murdered,” said a tearful Maureen Palermo, mother of Danae Palermo, who was slain with Kathy Macaulay and Heather Goodwin on March 21, 1991.
The murders were carried out during a party of drinking and marijuana smoking in Macaulay’s home in Pasadena’s hillside Annandale neighborhood after an argument between Burt Hebrock and two of the girls, one of whom had kicked him in the groin. Heather Goodwin
According to trial testimony, Hebrock shot Macaulay, 18, with a shotgun belonging to Macaulay’s stepfather, Michael Koss. Then, according to a witness and a statement by the defendant, David Adkins grabbed the weapon and “took” Palermo, 17, and Goodwin, 18. Each girl was shot once in the head, execution-style. EDMUND NEWTON | LA TIMES STAFF WRITER
The following statements by the father of Katherine Macaulay and a friend of Heather Goodwin were posted on Amazon.com in their reviews on a book written about the murders.
My name is Wayne Macaulay, father of Katherine Macaulay, the first victim shot to death. Her mother and I separated and divorced about 10 years before she was murdered. I got to see Katherine on some weekends and holidays but it was not enough time to watch over her. I miss Katherine every day and will do so until the end of my life. Holidays, like Thanksgiving today, are the worst. I remember her climbing in my lap in her footsie pajamas and watching Saturday morning cartoons. I loved her. Her ashes are buried in her maternal family’s cemetery in Nauvoo, IL. A cold and lonely place. When I visit her grave I feel the great pain of losing her all over again. She was a good girl and did not deserve what happened to her. Neither did her friends. This tragedy, however, could have been prevented but for the fuzzy minded liberals in California who let the killers go through a revolving door juvenile justice system until they graduated to felony crime. Their records at trial were three feet high and yet they were out. Thank you, California. Thank you for doing nothing to save these girls.
I miss Heather. She was just a little girl trying to figure out life. In her punk duds and mohawk, forever evaluating the status of her relationship with her boyfriend, Eddie, she’d appear at parties, the e-bar, Rose City Diner, our apartment; you just never knew how this mid-teen-year-old girl could appear anywhere at all hours and on any given day. She was the epitome of a rich punk-rocker; silver spoon and a paper plate. She swore she liked JD, and would attempt to consume a whole bottle just to prove it, at which point someone, or often several people, would become very concerned and intercede. Those who knew her would know to do so gently, as she was easily provoked. And, despite this bravado, she was fun; and an enigma. I am glad her memory, and that of all three girls, is immortalized in something as enduring as a book, however, I agree with another of the reviewers in that the writer had an apparent bias and agenda in writing this novel, so, read it with some discernment. The indisputable fact remains that 3 young girls were betrayed by their long-time peers; and murdered.
Here is to their memory, and to those that knew them. By Derrik J. Avenal
