Notorious Ex-Cop Who Killed 6 Dies On San Quentin Death Row

SAN QUENTIN, CA — Anthony J. Sully, an inmate at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center who was sentenced to death in the 1980s for killing six people, died last week of natural causes, according to authorities. He was 79.

Sully was pronounced dead shortly after 2 a.m. Friday at an outside medical facility, authorities said, adding the Marin County coroner’s office will determine the cause.

A former Millbrae police officer, Sully killed his victims at a Burlingame warehouse, dumping some of the bodies at Golden Gate Park and putting others in drums with poured concrete, according to KTVU, which noted Sully maintained his innocence when the verdict was read.

He was sentenced to death in 1986 for the killings of 24-year-old Kathryn Barrett, 22-year-old Barbara Searcy, 24-year-old Gloria Jean Fravel, 19-year-old Brendan Oakden, 24-year-old Michael Thomas and 20-year-old Phyllis Melendez, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The state has not carried out an execution since 2006 and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in 2019 instituting a moratorium on the death penality, authorities said.