TREE SURGEON IS SERIAL KILLER
A MAN working as a tree surgeon is a serial killer who slashed the throats of five people, killing three of them in the past year, prosecutors say.
Ryan Blinston, 37, is charged with murder for the alleged slayings last summer.
Blinston, who was arrested in June for attempted murder for allegedly slashing a man’s throat, was working for a tree- trimming service on May 18 and returned days later to the clients’ home and killed Loreen Severs, 88, it’s claimed.
Evidence shows Blinston forced his way into Severs’ home and also tried to kill her 91- year- old husband, Homer.
A statement read in court said “both had their throats cut,” adding that Homer Severs survived but died in December of an unrelated illness.
Prosecutors say Blinston, of Oroville, California then killed again while working as a tree- trimmer on June 4 while at the Oroville home of 82- year- old Sandra George. Prosecutors said: “After the work was completed and the crew left, Blinston went back to George’s home and killed her. As with the Severs, her throat was slashed inside her home.” Two days later, Blinston allegedly killed an acquaintance, Vicky Cline, who was last seen alive with him in downtown Oroville. The 57- year- old woman’s car was destroyed in a fire that prosecutors say Blinston set, citing DNA evidence found inside the torched vehicle.
Cline’s body was later found by fishermen in a nearby river.
A SWAT team seeking to serve an arrest warrant on Blinston found him in a motorhome in which he had slashed the throat of its owner, a man aged 50 who somehow survived the attack.
Blinston has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in that case.
He is being held without bail and faces life in prison if he’s convicted of the murders.