Police arrest parolee and convicted killer and sex offender John Steven Burgess Monday in Hollywood. (KTLA-TV) |
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KTLA) -- The sex offender convicted in the death of San Diego State University coed Donna Jou is going back to jail on a parole violation.
John Steven Burgess, 40, was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday after pleading no contest to being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Burgess was released from custody last December after serving less than half of a five-year sentence for killing Jou in June 2007.
But, he found himself behind bars again in July after two women sparked an investigation when they answered an ad he posted on Craigslist.com searching for roommates.
Police showed up on the night of July 23 at Burgess' home in the 5500 block of Barton Avenue in Hollywood. A short time later, they walked Burgess out in handcuffs.
Burgess was arrested on suspicion of being a parolee in possession of ammunition -- reportedly a .7mm rifle round.
The women, who identified themselves to KTLA as Alison and Ashley, said they met Burgess earlier in July when they answered a Craigslist ad.
The ad was posted by a man identifying himself as "Johnny," and it promised a free room at an apartment in exchange for cooking and cleaning duties.
Both women answered the ad on the same day. They met for the first time when they arrived at "Johnny's" apartment.
They weren't there long before they saw a nearly unconscious woman in her underwear.
"She was gone," one of the women said. "She was physically shaking and I asked her if she had cerebral palsy because she was shaking so severely."
But Alison and Ashley didn't pay much attention to the shaking woman, and instead began to befriend their new roommate, "Johnny."
The man told the women -- who are both writers -- that he had a bizarre story that he couldn't wait to tell them.
He told them he wanted them to transcribe his story, and said that he had received offers of $50,000 to $100,000 from publishers.
As both women asked Johnny questions, the details began to add up -- and they began to realize who he really was.
"Once I started understanding he wasn't being honest and this was a creepy dude, I got really curious," Alison said.
She later found a card bearing Johnny's full legal name -- John Steven Burgess. She began searching the Internet for information on the man and what she found shocked her.
"So when I Googled it, his face popped up," Alison said. "I had a pure panic attack."
She learned that Burgess admitting to meeting Donna Jou the same way he met Alison and Ashley -- through a Craigslist ad.
She stumbled across a website dedicated to Donna Jou, the woman Burgess admitted to killing when he pleaded guilty to being involved in her death.
When he spoke to police about Jou's death in 2009, Burgess told them he panicked and dumped her in the ocean. Her body was never found.
He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served two years of a five-year prison sentence.
Before Alison and Ashley learned his true identity, Burgess told them he put Jou's body in a trash can, drove it to the ocean and dumped it over the side of his boat.
The women said Burgess was scared of going back to prison.
Donna Jou's mother, Nili, reacted with tears when she heard that Burgess had been arrested for the parole violation.
"I knew it! I told them!" she said in an interview with KTLA. "I told them that he's going to do it again."
Jou said she was afraid for other parents, not wanting them to go through what she and her husband have endured since Donna Jou disappeared.
"They're not going to be like me, like us... Miserable, not knowing what happened," she said. "What did you do to Donna? Are other parents going to go through the same thing?"
John Steven Burgess, 40, was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday after pleading no contest to being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Burgess was released from custody last December after serving less than half of a five-year sentence for killing Jou in June 2007.
But, he found himself behind bars again in July after two women sparked an investigation when they answered an ad he posted on Craigslist.com searching for roommates.
Police showed up on the night of July 23 at Burgess' home in the 5500 block of Barton Avenue in Hollywood. A short time later, they walked Burgess out in handcuffs.
Burgess was arrested on suspicion of being a parolee in possession of ammunition -- reportedly a .7mm rifle round.
The women, who identified themselves to KTLA as Alison and Ashley, said they met Burgess earlier in July when they answered a Craigslist ad.
The ad was posted by a man identifying himself as "Johnny," and it promised a free room at an apartment in exchange for cooking and cleaning duties.
Both women answered the ad on the same day. They met for the first time when they arrived at "Johnny's" apartment.
They weren't there long before they saw a nearly unconscious woman in her underwear.
"She was gone," one of the women said. "She was physically shaking and I asked her if she had cerebral palsy because she was shaking so severely."
But Alison and Ashley didn't pay much attention to the shaking woman, and instead began to befriend their new roommate, "Johnny."
The man told the women -- who are both writers -- that he had a bizarre story that he couldn't wait to tell them.
He told them he wanted them to transcribe his story, and said that he had received offers of $50,000 to $100,000 from publishers.
As both women asked Johnny questions, the details began to add up -- and they began to realize who he really was.
"Once I started understanding he wasn't being honest and this was a creepy dude, I got really curious," Alison said.
She later found a card bearing Johnny's full legal name -- John Steven Burgess. She began searching the Internet for information on the man and what she found shocked her.
"So when I Googled it, his face popped up," Alison said. "I had a pure panic attack."
She learned that Burgess admitting to meeting Donna Jou the same way he met Alison and Ashley -- through a Craigslist ad.
She stumbled across a website dedicated to Donna Jou, the woman Burgess admitted to killing when he pleaded guilty to being involved in her death.
When he spoke to police about Jou's death in 2009, Burgess told them he panicked and dumped her in the ocean. Her body was never found.
He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served two years of a five-year prison sentence.
Before Alison and Ashley learned his true identity, Burgess told them he put Jou's body in a trash can, drove it to the ocean and dumped it over the side of his boat.
The women said Burgess was scared of going back to prison.
Donna Jou's mother, Nili, reacted with tears when she heard that Burgess had been arrested for the parole violation.
"I knew it! I told them!" she said in an interview with KTLA. "I told them that he's going to do it again."
Jou said she was afraid for other parents, not wanting them to go through what she and her husband have endured since Donna Jou disappeared.
"They're not going to be like me, like us... Miserable, not knowing what happened," she said. "What did you do to Donna? Are other parents going to go through the same thing?"
