Hide Article Text (OCR)
B8 The Orange County Register Monday, February 19, 1990STATE AND REGIONAL NEWSOfficer’s job includedundercover work asmurderer’s girlfriendBy Cinde ChornessThe San Mateo TimesBELMONT — It seemed to be a typical case of young love.For two months, Lisa Thomas and Jon Scott Dunkle dated. The two, both 24, talked about their lives and made vague plans for a Lake Tahoe wedding.After their dates, Thomas would go home and pull out a picture of 12-year-old Lance Turner, a Belmont boy who was killed in October1984. The photograph of the smiling, freckle-faced child made Thomas, an undercover Belmont police officer, more determined to snare his murderer, Jon Scott Dunkle.The officer was the key figure in the investigation of Dunkle, the Belmont Police Department’s prime suspect in the stabbing death of the Turner boy. In early1985, she worked with Dunkle and dated him to win his confidence.Ultimately, the plan did not work. The case was not solved until 1* years later when Dunkle confessed to killing Turner and another Belmont youth, John Davies, 15, in November 1981. A San Mateo ; County Superior Court judge re- 1 cently sentenced Dunkle, 29, to death.In early 1985, Belmont investigators identified Dunkle as the killer but were unable to find physical evidence linking him to the murder. Thomas didn’t hesitate when 1 Detectives Joe Farmer and Jim Goulart asked her to go undercov- 1 er and become Dunkle’s girlfriend.In some ways, she was an ideal i candidate for the job. After the Turner killing, Dunkle moved to Sacramento. Thomas had lived in Sacramento and was familiar with the area. Coincidentally, she worked for a time at a restaurant next door to the fast-food franchise where Dunkle was a cook.Thomas moved in with a friend in Sacramento. The manager where Dunkle worked arranged for Thomas to get a job. Over the next weeks, Thomas dated Dunkle three to four times a week.Dunkle discussed the Turner killing with Thomas, but he never implicated himself.Toward the end of March 1985, investigators concluded Dunkle was not going to reveal his role in the slaying to Thomas and were planning to end the investigation.But a break came in early April when Thomas and Dunkle were walking in Rancho Cordova. Dunkle suddenly announced he was going to burglarize a home. Thomas refused to go.Goulart, who had been following them, arrested Dunkle when he came out of the house.In July, Thomas received a call at home from a colleague. A boy, 12, Sean Dannehl, had been stabbed to death near Sacramento.Dunkle confessed to the three killings to a convict, who talked him into confessing to authorities.Officer Lisa ThomasDetermined to catch boy’s killer
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Mon, Feb 19, 1990
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Wikimedia F.
California, DZ 10 Feb 2023
Other Publications Near Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana Pacific Weekly Blade
Santa Ana Excelsior
Santa Ana News
Santa Ana Evening Blade
Santa Ana Orange County Register Evening
