Brother of Accused Serial Killer's Victim Shares Memories of His Sister

By Bay City News Service

The brother of Roxene Roggasch, one of accused serial killer Joseph Naso's four alleged victims, has been attending Naso's trial in Marin County Superior Court this week.

As Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote summed up the prosecution's evidence before the jury Wednesday, 56-year-old Larry Roggasch remembered his sister as a tough, 5-foot tall woman "who didn't take any crap from anybody."

"She was my best friend. She would help anybody. We were close," Roggasch said.

Roxene Roggasch's nearly naked body was found off the side of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near Fairfax on Jan. 11, 1977. Four pairs of pantyhose were found on her body, one she was wearing inside out, another stuffed in her mouth, a pair wrapped around her mouth and another around her neck.

Prosecutors are trying to convince the jury Naso strangled four women who worked as prostitutes and dumped their bodies over the sides for rural roads in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties between 1977 and 1994.

Larry Roggasch, who drove his truck for 20 hours from Houston, Texas to attend the trial this week, has taken pains to leave the courtroom when photographs of his sister's body are shown on a large television to the jury.

He has willingly been giving interviews to the media and became a news item himself when Naso's investigator saw something written on the windows of Roggasch's green 1992 Ford truck that was parked across the street from Marin County Superior Court.

"I wrote in white shoe polish, 'Naso killed my sister,' and I asked for some money to help pay for my trip and to get a motel room," he said.

Roggasch said he wrote it after the jury went home on Friday Aug. 9 and removed it before the panel returned on Wednesday.

Jury instructions on Wednesday morning were delayed while Judge Andrew Sweet discussed the issue with the prosecution and defense outside the presence of the jury. It was determined none of the jurors could have seen the writing that arguably could have been prejudicial to the defense.

Roggasch said he and his sister did things to get attention when they were young and growing up on the rowdy east side of San Jose.

Consequently, both of them spent some time in juvenile hall, Roggasch said.

Roggasch had unkind words for his and his sister's mother and step-father.

He said they took his sister's baby son and put her out on the street. Roxene Roggasch was working in Oakland as a prostitute at the time, he said.

"She told them someone was out to kill her. She wanted to move back to them. They said no. The next thing I knew, she was dead," he said.

Roggasch said he believes his sister, like other prostitutes, knew Naso well and befriended him to get away from their pimps when they became violent.

Naso was living in the Oakland area in 1977, according to the prosecution.

In her closing statement Wednesday, Slote told the jury Naso "targeted" prostitutes and at least one transient female because he knew they were willing to get into strangers' cars.

Roggasch, who is a tile-setter by trade and also worked as a commercial fisherman, may return to Houston after the trial.

Right now his thoughts are about his sister "with the bright red hair and giant freckles on her body."

Naso lived in Piedmont with his wife and sons during the 1970s. You can read more about Naso's life in Piedmont here.You can read more about Naso's life in Piedmont here.

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