FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – It was 20 years ago today, on March 12, 2014, that Fresno made international headlines because of the Wesson family massacre.
It was considered the worst mass murder in Fresno’s history, which left nine people dead- mostly children. The victims ranged in age from one years old to 25.
The family patriarch, 57-year-old Marcus Wesson, was ultimately sentenced to prison for his crime.
It began as a domestic disturbance call to Fresno Police, and ended with the horrific scene of nine bodies stacked on top of one another at the Wesson home on 761 W. Hammond Ave in central Fresno.
“There is some type of David Koresh type of guy inside the house and he’s holding his family hostage and he’s armed to the T.” – Fresno Police broadcast in 2014.
Fresno Police found all the victims had been shot to death.
They were the children and grandchildren of Marcus Wesson, who was later given the nickname “Vampire King.”
Current Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, was Chief of Police at the time, and during an interview on Tuesday on KMJ’s Ray Appleton Show, he described the case.
“This was an incestuous relationship that we had never seen. This was a cult,” said Dyer, “He had such incredible influence over his children and his wives, that this was the outcome.”
His victims were his children, born from the incest and sexual abuse of his daughters and nieces, as well as his wife’s children.
Marcus’s ex-wife Elizabeth Wesson spoke to KMJ’s news partner ABC 30, a few years after the sinister case came to light.
“Seeing the pain on my children’s faces… it’s, it’s really painful.” said Elizabeth Wesson.
The home on Hammond Ave. was eventually torn down and sold to make way for the High Speed Rail Project.
Wesson was convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder and 14 sex crimes, including the rape and molestation of his underage daughters
Wesson, who is now approaching 80-years-old, remains on the dormant death row at San Quentin.
Listen to the story by KMJ’s Blake Taylor
