POMONA—A convicted sex offender pleaded no contest Feb. 22 to two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of two young boys—including one from Anaheim Hills—within a five-year span.
Kenneth Kasten Rasmuson is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The 59-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27 at the Pomona courthouse.
The plea deal happened as Orange County prosecutors were expected to square off with Los Angeles County prosecutors regarding a proposed dismissal of special circumstances allegations that would have kept the defendant eligible for the death penalty and at least a life-without-parole sentence.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer made the highly unusual move earlier in February to charge Rasmuson for one of the murders, even though he was already facing trial for that murder in Los Angeles County.
Spitzer’s prosecutors were poised to take over the Orange County-related murder if Los Angeles County wanted to drop the special circumstances allegations.
Spitzer said he charged Rasmuson with the July 2, 1981, killing of 6-year-old Jeffrey Vargo of Anaheim Hills because he was concerned that without the special circumstances allegations that Rasmuson, if convicted at trial, would someday get a parole hearing and a chance to be free.
Rasmuson was ordered to stand trial in Los Angeles County in August 2016 on charges of killing Jeffrey and 6-year-old Miguel Antero, who was slain five years later.
Rasmuson was arrested in March 2015 in Sandpoint, Idaho, after DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the 1981 killing. Construction workers found Jeffrey’s body in Pomona a day after the youngster left his home to visit a fireworks stand, according to authorities.
While Rasmuson was awaiting trial in that case, he was charged with the April 8, 1986, killing of the other boy, whose body was found amid brush in Agoura Hills the same day he was discovered missing from his home.
Rasmuson was also allegedly linked to that killing by DNA evidence, prosecutors said.
Rasmuson was facing special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and that the killings were done during the commission of a lewd or lascivious act on a child.
Rasmuson was previously convicted in 1981 of sexually assaulting another boy, prosecutors said.
Orange County prosecutors intended to let Los Angeles prosecutors handle the case, but stepped in on Feb. 11 by filing a criminal complaint of their own because Spitzer believes the defendant should at least face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. Spitzer has also been a vocal critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s move to suspend the death penalty in the state.
In a court filing, Spitzer’s office argued that his office “has an interest in this case because the victim ... was a resident of Orange County at the time of his murder. His parents and next-of-kin have remained residents of Orange County to the present.”
Spitzer’s prosecutors also noted the boy was kidnapped in Orange County and argued that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who took office in December, is not moving to dismiss the special circumstance allegations “because there are proof problems or because it would be fair and just to do so, but because of a series of special directives through which he endeavors to fundamentally change criminal procedure by way of executive fiat.”
“His attempt to do so in this case is manifestly contrary to the furtherance of justice.”
Rasmuson is accused of “horrific” crimes, according to the motion filed by Spitzer’s office.
“He kidnapped two young, vulnerable 6-year-old boys, sexually assaulted them, and murdered them,” the motion reads. “Defendant’s background, character, and prospects show he is a dangerous serial predator with no likelihood to ever change. He has served two prison terms for molesting an 11-year-old boy he lured into seclusion before sodomizing him and he abducted a 3-year-old boy from the boy’s front yard before later sodomizing him and leaving him wandering naked on a street the next day.”
Authorities found child pornography in the defendant’s possession when he was arrested in 2015, “and his internet history revealed multiple searches for child pornography,” according to the motion.
Two months after the Orange County victim was killed, Rasmuson “lured an 11-year-old boy into seclusion by asking him to help find his handicapped dog” in Santa Barbara, according to Orange County prosecutors.
Rasmuson sexually assaulted the boy, who lied to his attacker that he liked it so he could get away, which worked, prosecutors said.
Rasmuson was sentenced to prison for the 1981 sexual assault, and when he completed that prison term, he was deemed a “mentally disordered offender,” Orange County prosecutors said. He was released from prison in 1985 and ordered to undergo sexual disorder treatment, and during this time he killed Miguel, prosecutors alleged.
A year later, Rasmuson abducted a 3-year-old boy from the front yard of his Los Angeles home and drove away. The boy was found naked the next day, wandering on the side of a road, and Rasmuson was eventually convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
After Rasmuson served his time, he was designated a sexually violent predator and was committed to the Atascadero State Hospital. He was released in 2007.
Rasmuson “admitted” to doctors that he had “committed at least 10 child molestations since age 18, a period of time in defendant’s life comprising only four-and-a-half years of freedom from incarceration.”
“Defendant grabs unsuspecting children off the streets of their neighborhoods, or even from the front yards of their houses. He is brazen, impulsive, and unconcerned with the suffering of others, all of which make him highly dangerous.”
