A 53-year-old man has died after spending 21 years in prison for a spree of murders and rapes in the 1990s, officials said Monday.
Sebastian Alexander Shaw died in Oregon State Penitentiary custody Oct. 3, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.
Shaw entered prison Feb. 22, 2000, after his conviction in Multnomah County with no release date, the agency said.
Shaw was given three life sentences for the aggravated murder of Jay Rickbeil in July 1991 and the killing of a couple, 29-year-old Todd Rudiger and 18-year-old Donna Ferguson in 1992. He was also convicted of the rape of a Southeast Portland woman in 1995.
A Multnomah County jury deliberated in 2006 on the death penalty for Shaw’s killing of Rickbeil but was split, with nine jurors in favor and three opposed. A death penalty sentence required a unanimous decision.
While in prison in 2000, Shaw told prosecutors he killed 10 to 12 other people, but he refused to disclose details unless prosecutors promised he would not face the death penalty in any future prosecution. They never reached an agreement, and Shaw never disclosed the identities of the alleged victims.
In 2006, he was named the primary suspect in the 1994 killing of 14-year-old Jenny Lin from Alameda County in California. Her murder remains unsolved.
The State Medical Examiner’s Office will complete an autopsy to determine the cause of his death, the agency said. It is unlikely Shaw died from COVID-19 because the state released his name and typically does not identify inmates who succumb to the coronavirus.
-- Jaimie Ding
jding@oregonian.com; 503-221-4395; @j_dingdingding