Derlyn Ray Threats, a former Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant who tortured and fatally stabbed a young mother who caught him stealing video games from her Vista home was sentenced to death on August 18, 2010.

Derlyn Threats, 29, was convicted last year of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the Sept. 1, 2005, death of 24-year-old Carolyn Neville.

Neville, who had just returned home from dropping her 6-year-old son at school, was stabbed more than 70 times, including final blows from garden shears the defendant got from her garage, said Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza. 

Espinoza called the killing "sadistic -- just a level of horror (with) unspeakable acts," and said Threats was found at a nearby home with the victim's blood splattered on his clothing, providing "damning, compelling evidence of guilt."

Man Gets Death Sentence For Torturing, Killing Woman

Derlyn Threats, 29, Convicted For Sept. 2005 Death Of Carolyn Neville, 24

10News.com

August 19, 2010

A former Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant who tortured and fatally stabbed a young mother who caught him stealing video games from her Vista home was sentenced to death Thursday.

Derlyn Threats, 29, was convicted last year of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the Sept. 1, 2005, death of 24-year-old Carolyn Neville.

Neville, who had just returned home from dropping her 6-year-old son at school, was stabbed more than 70 times, including final blows from garden shears the defendant got from her garage, said Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza.

Espinoza called the killing "sadistic -- just a level of horror (with) unspeakable acts," and said Threats was found at a nearby home with the victim's blood splattered on his clothing, providing "damning, compelling evidence of guilt."

Jurors recommended that Threats be put to death.

During Thursday's sentencing hearing, the victim's husband, Stephen Neville, addressed his wife's killer.

"This is a very vicious ... one of the worst, catastrophic events to take place in my life. I'll not rest comfortably until I see you take your last breath," he said.

He said he regrets not having been able to stop the crime.

"Not being there that day has left a psychological scar I'll never recover from," he said.

The couple had only been married for 13 months, and he said his wife's death was hardest on her son, who was 6 years old at the time, and "who's not going to have a mother by his side while he grows up."

The defendant did not speak during the hearing, and his wife was barred from testifying because she allegedly insulted a sheriff's deputy.

Defense Attorney Wil Rumble unsuccessfully tried to persuade Vista Judge K. Michael Kirkman to grant a new trial because of jury misconduct.

He alleged that jurors considered the fact that Threats didn't testify in his own defense and conducted outside research.

Kirkman disagreed, saying a juror who complained about her fellow jurors "may have misinterpreted many things that were said and done. The jurors did all that we could possibly ask of them."

Outside court, Rumble called the evidence of jury misconduct "overwhelming."

"So not only did Mr. Threats lose today, society and our self-government form of government lost today," he said. "That's why lady justice is crying."

Jury recommends death for Derlyn Threats

North County Times - Nctimes.com

December 4, 2009

A jury on Friday recommended that convicted murderer Derlyn Ray Threats be put to death for the 2005 killing and torture of newlywed and young mother Carolyn Neville in her Vista home.

Threats, 28, a former Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant, was convicted by the same jury of eight men and four women last month.

He did not make a statement following the verdict Friday. He looked toward his wife and family members seated in the Vista courtroom as he was handcuffed and led to jail.

San Diego Superior Court Judge K. Michael Kirkman will decide Jan. 5 whether to accept the jury's recommendation or sentence Threats to life in prison.

The jury deliberated just over six days. One female juror held her hands over her heart and closed her eyes as she answered "yes" to whether she agreed with the verdict.

There were no outbursts after the reading, although several supporters of 24-year-old victim Carolyn Neville nodded with apparent approval.

"I think Mr. Threats got what he deserved," said the victim's husband, Stephen Neville, outside the courtroom. "Our family is extremely happy with the verdict."

The pair had been married only 13 months when she was killed.

Stephen Neville, who has since remarried, said he lives in the same home.

He successfully petitioned to change the name of his west Vista street from Diablo Place to Via Angelica.

Carolyn Neville's body was found Sept. 1, 2005, with as many as 70 stab wounds.

She had just dropped her 6-year-old son off at school on a quiet Thursday morning and returned to her unlocked Vista home, where she was ambushed.

Blood stains and other evidence suggested the struggle with her assailant stretched throughout the two-story home.

Authorities believe the popular Shadowridge Country Club employee had walked in on a would-be burglary.

Her screams for help broke the late morning quiet on a weekday in her upscale Breeze Hill neighborhood and prompted 911 calls from neighbors.

Deputies who responded spotted a man vaulting Neville's backyard fence.

They caught Threats a few houses down.

According to testimony, Threats was shoeless, wearing blood-stained socks and had a stun gun and a bloodied wooden stick similar to a hammer handle stuffed down the legs of his sweatpants.

Threats' family maintains someone else killed the young woman.

They said evidence proving his innocence was not allowed in court by the judge.

Threats' wife, Isabel, said outside court Friday that there will be an automatic appeal should the judge sentence her husband to death.

"Of course we will fight this," Isabel Threats said, holding a box containing a belt and the many ties her husband wore to court during the six weeks of trial and jury deliberations. "Derlyn's innocent. He did not commit this murder."