Richard Farley
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Richard Wade Farley (b. 1948) is an American convicted mass murderer. A former employee of Electromagnetic Systems Labs (ESL) in Sunnyvale, California, he stalked co-worker Laura Black for four years beginning in 1984. Black obtained a temporary restraining order against him in February 2, 1988, with a court date set for February 17, 1988 to make the order permanent. On February 16, 1988, Farley shot and killed seven people at ESL and wounded four others, including Black. He was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder, and is currently sitting on death row at San Quentin.
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[edit] The stalking of Laura Black
Richard Farley first met Laura Black (who was twenty-three at the time) in April 1984 at a company function. When Black did not accept his advances, Farley began leaving gifts, including cards and home-made bread, on Black's desk. Despite her refusals, Farley persisted; he began calling her desk every few hours as well as showing up at Black's aerobics class. By giving false information to ESL HR department through pretexting, Farley was able to obtain Black's home address and home phone number. Farley was also known to have befriended the custodial department in order to copy Black's desk keys so he could rifle through her belongings in order to gain insight into her life. He is also known to have sifted through confidential personnel files of Black through false pretenses.
At this time, Farley was sending one or two letters to Black per week. Although there were periods of times when the letters would cease, in total Farley sent about two hundred letters over a period of four years, with the last letter sent from his prison cell after his rampage at ESL. Black moved four times during those four years, but each time she did, Farley had managed to locate her address again.
In autumn of 1985, Laura Black asked the Human Resources Department at ESL for help. ESL ordered Farley to attend psychological counseling sessions, and although he attended these sessions, his harassment of Black continued. By spring of 1986, Farley was threatening fellow ESL employees, which, combined with his poor work performance, led ESL to terminate his employment in May 1986. He had been working at ESL for ten years. He spent several months stalking Black full time, then found work at a rival company.
Farley delighted in setting up impossible situations for Black, taking her lack of answer as an affirmative, and any communication, even negative, as encouragement. For example, he called and left a message to set up a date, which she ignored. Since she didn't say no, he showed up at her door in anticipation. When she told him to go away, he took it as proof that she was playing games with him. There were also evidence that Farley tried testing code combinations for hours on a garage opener trying to open Black's garage. He also once tried to rent the adjoining unit to Black's in the same complex, forcing Black to move away.
Farley continued to write letters to Black in 1987. He wrote in one such letter, "... The shit has hit the fan... all because you thought I'm a joke and refuse to listen or understand that I am gravely serious." By this time, Farley had lost his house due to foreclosure and was under investigation by IRS for owing taxes. However, his harassment never stopped.
In January 1988, Black found a package on her car windshield. Inside was a note from Farley, with a copy of her house key.
[edit] Shooting at ESL
Black filed for a temporary restraining order against Richard Farley on February 2, 1988 and it was granted by a family court judge. A court date was set for February 17, 1988 to see if the restraining order should be made permanent.
Farley purchased a shotgun and extra ammo on February 9, 1988. He had FBI-clearance from his former job and the restraining order did not prevent him from buying weapons during that time. He also owned a variety of other weapons including two revolvers, another shotgun, and a rifle. The next day, he left a package with Black's attorney, claiming to have evidence that he and Black had a longstanding relationship, such as dinner receipts, phone call recordings, and so on. Farley even claimed that Black kept a secret stash of cocaine that they shared once. Black's attorney dismissed the package as utter fabrications.
One day before the court date, on February 16, 1988, Richard Farley drove his motorhome to the ESL parking lot in Sunnyvale, California. He later claimed he waited for Black to leave work so he could convince her to rescind the restraining order. If she refused, he would kill himself. At about 3 p.m., Richard Farley loaded up his various guns, including a .38 automatic, a .357 Magnum, a .22 rifle, and two shotguns. He put on an ammo vest, inserted earplugs, and put on leather gloves. He then walked into ESL lobby, and began shooting while heading toward Black's office on the second floor. He opened her door, and fired one shot at Black, which missed. The second shot hit her left shoulder and sent her unconscious to the floor. Farley moved on.
Farley then held police SWAT team at bay for five hours by moving from room to room so the SWAT snipers could not target him. Meanwhile, Black woke up and managed to stop her wound from further bleeding while she and other survivors hid from Farley. Eventually Black and other survivors escaped, and Farley surrendered to police. A total of seven people were killed by Farley, and four more wounded, including Black. A total of 98 rounds were fired in ESL by Farley.
[edit] Aftermath
The next day, court commissioner Lois Kittle made the restraining order against Farley permanent. Commissioner Kittle, through tears, offered this comment: "Pieces of paper do not stop bullets."
Laura Black survived, but was hospitalized for nineteen days. She continued to work for the same company. Farley wrote her yet again from his prison cell, claiming that she's finally won.
During trial, Farley admitted to the killings, but pleaded "not guilty", claiming that he never planned to kill but only wished to get Black's attention or commit suicide in front of her for rejecting him. His attorney claimed that Farley never was a violent man and only had his judgment temporarily clouded by his obsession with Laura Black, and that Farley will likely never kill again.
The prosecution documented every step of the stalking, produced all the letters he sent, and documented his shotgun and ammo purchase a week before his rampage at ESL, as well as his other weapons. All this amounted to extensive planning, which was evidence of premeditation.
On October 21, 1991, Farley was convicted of all seven counts of first degree murder. Superior Court Judge Joseph Biafore Jr. sentenced Farley to death. Due to California law, there are several automatic appeals. As of 2004, Farley is still serving his time in San Quentin Prison. Prior to the shooting, Farley had no criminal record.
In the wake of this case, California passed the first anti-stalking laws in the nation.
[edit] Adaptations and influences
A movie, I Can Make You Love Me (also known as Stalking Laura in the United Kingdom) was made in 1993. Brooke Shields played Laura Black and Richard Thomas played Richard Farley.
The shooting incident is also the subject of a chapter of the book Chinese Playground: A Memoir by Bill Lee, as well as a chapter in Obsession (book) by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.
The 5-piece metalcore band, Stalking Laura, got its name from these events.
[edit] References
- The Bulletproof Office. Communication World. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
- I Can Make You Love Me. IMDB. Retrieved on January 13, 2007.
- SAN QUENTIN Battle brewing over Death Row. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- American Notes CALIFORNIA. Time Magazine. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.
- Also referenced in Bill Lee's book, Born To Lose.
