The Environmentalist

In the bucolic hills near Santa Cruz, Calif., a year ago this fall, five bodies were found in the swimming pool of a wealthy eye specialist, Dr. Victor Ohta. Murdered in what seemed a sinister replay of the Manson killings were Ohta, his wife, two of their four children and his secretary. A few days later, the police arrested a long-haired former auto mechanic named John L. Frazier, who had been living in a cabin near the Ohta house.

Early last week a jury in the Bay Area's Redwood City found Frazier guilty of murder. But Frazier's court-appointed attorney had raised the question of the defendant's sanity, and in accordance with California law, the jury returned later in the week to hear testimony on that issue; if Frazier is judged sane, a third phase of the trial will be held to determine the penalty. Frazier appeared for the hearing with the left side of his head completely shaved, the right side still bearing his beard and long hair. The first suspicion was that Frazier was trying to prove that he was crazy. Not so, said Dr. David Marlowe, a University of California psychologist who has interviewed the defendant for a total of 75 hours over the past year, and who testified with Frazier's consent. Marlowe claimed that Frazier really wants to die in the gas chamber; in an exercise in double reverse psychology, he hoped that the court would assume he was deliberately trying to appear unbalanced, would see through the act and refuse to put him in a mental institution.

Nothing to Fear. More significant, Marlowe's testimony suggested a bizarre version of how and why Frazier committed the murders. Marlowe says Frazier told him that he broke into the Ohta house and was "incredibly upset" to find what he thought was an animal-skin bedspread there (actually, it was a fake fur). Frazier was also highly infuriated that the ostentation of the Ohtas' $250,000 hilltop house was despoiling nature. "It blew my mind," he told Marlowe.

Frazier waited for the householders to arrive. First came Mrs. Ohta, whom he captured at gunpoint and tied with scarves. Frazier first assured her that he would not rape her, then berated her for ruining the environment in order to maintain her materialistic lifestyle. Soon the doctor's secretary arrived with one of the Ohta children. They were taken prisoner. Then Ohta appeared with his other son, and they too were quickly captured.

According to Marlowe's testimony, Frazier remonstrated with Ohta, accusing him of callous materialism. He suggested that the two of them burn down the house and thus restore the land to its natural state. Panicky, Ohta misunderstood and offered Frazier anything if he would leave the family in peace. That only enraged Frazier further; Ohta was offering the very material things he despised. Frazier pushed Ohta into the pool. When the doctor tried to get out, Frazier shot him. Then Frazier asked Mrs. Ohta if she believed in God. She said yes, whereupon Frazier replied, "Then you have nothing to be afraid of," shot her and threw her into the pool. He asked the same question of the secretary, got the same answer, shot her and put her into the pool. He performed no such ritual with the children but killed them straightaway.

Such is the story that Marlowe has pieced together from three different accounts of the event that Frazier has given him. The hearings will continue this week. Eventually, says Marlowe, Frazier hopes to be executed "rather than having any fascist pigs working on my head."

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