Corcoran death-row inmate dies, decades after killing teen and a Bay Area cop
A Corcoran death-row inmate, convicted of killing a teen and a Bay Area police officer in 1980, died Friday afternoon of natural causes, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
James Odle, 71, on death row since 1983, died at an outside hospital, according to the state prisons agency.
Odle was sentenced to death in Contra Costa County for the first-degree murders of 19-year-old Rena Aguilar and Pinole police officer Floyd “Bernie” Swartz, 33.
In May 1980, according to an archived account on the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation website, Pinole police officers were conducting a manhunt for Odle, who stabbed Aguilar two days earlier.
As officers were looking for Odle, officer Swartz was shot in the throat with a sawed-off rifle as he and his partner tried to persuade Odle to come out of a hiding spot.
Later that day, Odle surrendered to police.
Odle was also convicted of vehicle theft, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and manufacture/sale/possession of a weapon. Odle also received enhancements for use of a deadly weapon, being armed with a firearm, and use of a firearm.
The CDCR said Odle was admitted onto California’s death row on Aug. 15, 1983. At least one of the delays in carrying out the death sentence was to reaffirm Odle’s mental competency, after an appeal on the grounds he suffered from brain damage.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order instituting a moratorium on the death penalty in March 2019.
Officer left behind wife, three children
Swartz was a 10-year veteran of the police department and a father of two at the time of his death. His wife was four months pregnant.
A daughter, Amber, was born in August 1980 but disappeared eight years later as she jumped rope in her front yard in an apparent kidnapping and is presumed dead.
Convicted child molester and murderer Curtis Dean Anderson confessed to killing the girl, but a petition drive helped convince police to reopen the investigation in that case in 2013.
The Pinole City Council continues to adjourn its regular meetings in remembrance of Amber Swartz.
This story was originally published December 19, 2020 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Corcoran death-row inmate dies, decades after killing teen and a Bay Area cop."
