Is this the Alphabet Murderer?

Joseph Naso stands accused of a string of particularly vicious murders spanning half a century, many with a bizarre twist … Chris McGreal reports

OFFICER Wesley Jackson’s last stop for the day was a modest white bungalow on a dead-end street cracked dry by the Nevada desert sun. At the front door, the policeman confronted a metal security gate and a black and red sign: Keep Out. But even without a warrant, Jackson was free to rifle through the house on the outer reaches of Reno at any time he chose. An elderly man, Joseph Naso — Joe to everyone but the justice system — knew as much as he unlocked the gate and let the officer in.

Jackson went through the routine of saying he was there to do a search under the terms of Naso’s probation for theft from a grocery store in neighbouring California. He’d be looking for weapons, drugs, alcohol – anything forbidden by probation conditions. He asked Naso, in his late 70s, if he agreed to the search. The old man knew that if he didn’t he’d be off to prison.