Condemned Slayer Of Atascadero Lodge Managers Dies On Death Row

SAN QUENTIN (AP) — A man who has been on California's death row for nearly three decades for a double killing has died.

Authorities say 65-year-old Dennis Webb died Tuesday at a hospital. An autopsy will try to determine the cause of death.

Webb has been on San Quentin's death row since 1988.

Prosecutors say the Utah parolee had been out of prison for two months when he broke into an Atascadero lodge in 1987. He spent the night beating and raping lodge managers John and Lori Rainwater then shot them when they tried to escape.

Two infant children were found alive under their mother's body.

At his murder trial, Webb claimed to have been responsible for five other murders and asked to be given the death penalty.

There are currently 749 inmates on California's death row. California has executed 13 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978. Seventy-one have died of natural causes.

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