BACKGROUND:
Malibu Grand Prix killer to die
today
Oct. 28, 1997
The Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE -- Even one of the men convicted of
participating in one of Houston's worst single mass murders refers
to the killing scene as grisly.
"I know that people hate me," Kenneth Ray Ransom says. "I
understand that. I've had to deal with that for the past 14 years.
There's nothing I can do about it."
Ransom is set to die tonight for what became known as the Malibu
Grand Prix killings. An accomplice, Richard Wilkerson, was executed
four years ago. A third participant, James Randall, is serving a
life prison sentence.
Ransom, now 34, was a 20-year-old parolee the night of July 1,
1983 when he, Wilkerson and Randall walked into the Malibu Grand
Prix amusement center in southwest Houston just before closing.
They robbed the place of approximately $1,300 and killed four
young men who worked there, stabbing each victim repeatedly.
"Every time I drive by that location, I think about what that
scene looked like," J.C. Mosier, a former Houston homicide
detective who worked the case, said Monday. "In that rest room,
there was at least two inches of blood on that floor. It was like
they had a water leak. I'll never forget that. It's the most blood
I'd ever seen at one location. It was awful."
Medical examiners had difficulty determining if the victims also
had been shot because the bodies had been stabbed so many times and
there was so much blood.
The victims were Anil Varughese, 18, night manager of the
business and a college pre-med student, and three employees: Roddy
Harris, 22, and brothers Arnold Pequeno, 19, and Joerene Pequeno,
18. Varughese's body was found in an office. The three others were
in the rest room.
"I laid awake that next night thinking about those people,"
Mosier said. "They put them in the stalls in the rest room and took
one out each time and killed them. I kept thinking about the people
inside waiting their turn and what horror it must have been."
"I'm not going to lie and say I don't want to live," Ransom, in
his first comments about the case, said last week from inside a
cage at the Texas death row visiting area. "Life and freedom go
hand in hand. So if I have to die, I'm accepting it. I'm not afraid
of dying. The one thing I say is that I'm afraid of what's beyond
death. I don't know if I'm going to a better place or if I'm going
to be banished to hell."
Ransom, who had previous prison terms for burglary and auto
theft, described himself as a 'video freak' who accompanied
Wilkerson and Randall to the arcade so Wilkerson, who had been
fired two weeks earlier, could pick up his final paycheck.
"I didn't have any idea they were going to kill," Ransom said.
"Everything is just -- I want to say surreal."
"I'm definitely sorry. I'm not sorry just for myself. I'm sorry
for Richard Wilkerson and James Randall and their families and I'm
definitely sorry for the victims and their families."
Testimony at his trial, however, showed Randall and Ransom took
a butcher knife from a dish drainer at Ransom's girlfriend's house.
The knife, broken in two, was found later near the murder scene.
The girlfriend also described how the three split up the money and
how Ransom was wearing a class ring and watch that police
determined belonged to Arnold Pequeno.
Ransom said he didn't even count the money he got, but bought a
new pair of shoes and some jeans to replace jeans that had been
bloodied in the massacre. He didn't find out his share was just
over $300 until his trial.
"Three hundred dollars for four lives," he said. "That doesn't
even come out to $100 for each victim. That's what hurts."
"It's pretty evident I'm going to die," Ransom added. "But I
told my lawyer from day one I wasn't guilty of capital murder.
Maybe accessory or aiding and abetting but not capital murder."
While insisting he did not do the stabbings, Ransom blamed
Wilkerson for forcing him to participate. "Fear makes you do some
stupid things," he said. "I know I held one (victim) down while
Richard threatened my life. I was offered a life sentence from the
first day to testify. I won't accept it and I didn't accept it. I
might be wrong but I feel I'm right. You've got to stand for
something or you'll fall for anything. I stood my ground. I
lost."
THE CACHE:
Prepare yourself for a visit to the site of the grisly murders.
Rechristened FunWerks after the Malibu Grand Prix Corporation
shuttered its Houston location some years ago, the amusement
center's miniature golf courses, batting cages, game rooms and
go-kart tracks have now lain abandoned for several months.
Considering all the recent highway construction in the area, half
the challenge will be discovering the correct approach to the cache
site.
You'll be looking for a 35mm film canister hidden in an obvious
geocaching spot. Bring your own pen to sign the log. Do not linger
long, for the ghosts of both victims and murderers are said to
inhabit the grounds...
SPECIAL UPDATE 11/07/2005:
As others have pointed out, my memory proved faulty in this case
(as in so many others). The killings actually took place a few
miles away at a different Malibu Grand Prix location, which is now
operated as Zuma Fun
Center. This site, however, remains a fun place to visit.
Also, this cache is neither an endorsement of nor a condemnation
of the death penalty; it's simply a cache description with a bit of
historical perspective thrown in for flavor. I'll leave the
political commentary to more qualified individuals. If you have
children who would be traumatized by reading this cache
description, perhaps you should supervise their online activities
yourself rather than expecting me to do so. I have enough things to
keep me busy...
 Kid Friendly 
Lunchtime Cache  Wheelchair
Access  Less
than 500 ft. from car
 Beware of Muggles!
 Bring a pen or pencil
 Historic Site
 Park n Grab
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