On the night of June 27, 1986, Bolton kidnapped the 2 1/2-year-old victim from a bedroom in her parents' house in Tucson. He took her to an abandoned taxi cab, undressed her, stabbed her in the chest once, and redressed her. Bolton left her to bleed to death, and her body was discovered on July 1, 1986, by some boys who were playing in the area.

Bolton became a prime suspect in the Pickett case in November 1990, when authorities in Illinois, using that state's automated fingerprint-indexing system, matched Bolton's prints to those found on a window at the Pickett home and in the abandoned vehicle.

Tucson police had sent the prints in 1987 to all states that use the fingerprint-matching system, which Arizona does not have.

Bolton's prints were on file in Illinois because of assault convictions in 1984 and 1985 in Champaign.

The match occurred during a training session for Illinois State Police officers, according to court documents.

Bolton by then was serving a prison term in Arizona on unrelated charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse and indecent exposure.

After Bolton was charged with Zosha's murder, detectives linked him to the 1982 sexual assault and slaying of 7-year-old Cathy Fritz of Tucson. He had been charged with Cathy's death, too.

Bolton was in prison in 1990 for sexual abuse and kidnapping when a chance matching of fingerprints linked him to Zosha's murder.

Court documents say Bolton's childhood was a nightmare.

As a boy, he was shunted between his two divorced, unhappy, unstable parents. His mother would make him sit up all night watching television with her, beating him with a strap when drifted off to sleep. Once she nearly killed him with a knife.

Bolton's father referred to the boy as a loser and told him he would amount to nothing. Bolton said his dad communicated best with his fists, and he introduced the boy early to alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.

When young Bolton brought home a report card with two As, one B, a C and a D, his dad praised him for the As and B, then beat him for the C and D, pushing the boy's head through a plaster wall.

By the time Bolton dropped out of school in the 11th grade, he had a string of assault charges.

When Bolton was a teen, a court psychologist wrote that the youth was suicidal.

The psychologist quoted him at the time as saying, "I haven't succeeded in killing myself yet, but will some day."