Man convicted of killing 2 Reno girls in 1983 dies
A 56-year-old man previously sentenced to death for the 1983 murders of two Reno girls died Thursday afternoon at a Carson City hospital.
Ricky D. Sechrest died at about 12:45 p.m. Thursday at the Carson Tahoe Hospital, the Nevada Corrections Department said. Before being admitted to the hospital, Sechrest was being held in the Northern Nevada Correctional Center’s medical facility. Authorities have not said why he was hospitalized.
Sechrest, who was serving two death sentences, was committed from Washoe County on Oct. 28, 1983. He was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the killings of 9-year-old Carly Villa and 10-year-old Maggie Schindler.
Authorities said the girls were bludgeoned to death, and their bodies were later found in a shallow grave.
Sechrest was taken off death row in 2008 after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found prosecutors had misled jurors.
The Carson City coroner’s office will conduct Sechrest’s autopsy.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
