Jurors on Tuesday began deliberating the fate of a caretaker accused of stealing more than $500,000 from an 88-year-old Rancho Bernardo man before killing him so she could carry out her plan to become independently wealthy.
Denise Goodwin, 47, is charged with a dozen counts, including murder, and also faces a special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain in the death of Gerald Eugene Rabourn, who disappeared in October 2010. His body has not been found.
In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Bill Mitchell told jurors that Goodwin was a “predator disguised as a caregiver,” who targeted elderly men with money and no family nearby.
Mitchell said Goodwin endeared herself to Gerald Rabourn after being hired to care for his 91-year-old wife, Carolyn, who died of lung cancer in September 2010.
Gerald Rabourn trusted the defendant and allowed her access to his bank account after she convinced him she could help him with his finances, the prosecutor said.
“Gerald Rabourn was sucked in (and) taken to the cleaners,” Mitchell told the jury. “She (Goodwin) had found her golden goose. He (Rabourn) thought she (Goodwin) was wonderful. He thought he was getting something for nothing. When it came to his money, he wanted to keep it.”
The prosecutor said Mary Weaver, Rabourn’s daughter from his first marriage, tried in October 2010 to persuade her father to move to the Midwest, but he said “he was planning to live with Denise.”
She said she last spoke to her father on Oct. 19, 2010, but didn’t report him missing until the following February, when she didn’t get a birthday card from him.
A few days later, Rabourn’s grandson got a call from a woman named Carmen, who said “Gerry and I got married in Las Vegas,” asking the family not to contact them, Mitchell said.
The defendant used Rabourn’s money to buy properties in Temecula, telling people she had gotten an inheritance from her father, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said Gerald Rabourn was a “miser” who wanted to amass more wealth, and it was “unthinkable” that he would give away money.
Once Goodwin got her name added to Gerald Rabourn’s account, she changed the direct deposit so that she could gain access to his $3,000-a-month pension check, Mitchell alleged.
Many of Rabourn’s signatures on documents were forged, the prosecutor said.
Goodwin signed a quit-claim deed on Rabourn’s home and listed it for $381,000, and later took in the profits from the sale, Mitchell alleged.
Rabourn’s family contacts, cell phone use and financial activity came to an abrupt end after Oct. 21, 2010, he said.
Goodwin’s plan to become independently wealthy had to involve the death of Rabourn, who died by “criminal means,” Mitchell told the jury. He alleged Goodwin successfully disposed of Gerald Rabourn’s body, but it was unclear how she did it.
Mitchell alleged that in 2009-2010, Goodwin also stole thousands of dollars from a man in his mid-90s who was suffering from dementia, cashing his $44,000 life insurance policy after he died and stealing from his $200,000 so-called “education fund.”
In all, Goodwin contacted at least 15 elderly men looking for her next victim, Mitchell said.
Defense attorney Ron Bobo told the jury that there was plenty of evidence linking Goodwin to misappropriating the victims’ money, but it was a “giant leap” to suggest his client was a hardened criminal guilty of murder.
Goodwin was arrested in July 2011 as she boarded a plane for a European vacation. If convicted, she faces life in prison without parole.
— City News Service
