From Olvera’s appeal: In June 1989, an eighteen year old girl named Tina Hendricks was sexually battered and then murdered by strangulation, and her body was thrown into a canal in a Lake County park. Evidence accumulated by law enforcement authorities revealed that, on the night of the murder, the victim was in a bar dancing and drinking into the early hours of the morning. Olvera was also in the bar and witnesses testified that he attempted to dance and talk with the victim. Certain eyewitness testimony also indicated that the victim left the bar with Olvera. Forensic evidence indicated that the semen retrieved from the victim’s vagina matched the DNA provided by Olvera’s blood samples, and hairs found in the car he was driving that night were indistinguishable from the victim’s. The hair was not DNA tested, however.
Olvera was charged in the death of Tina Hendricks and the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder 1 and sexual battery.2 The trial court sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment, with a mandatory term of twenty-five years on the murder conviction and a consecutive life sentence on the sexual battery conviction.
Before trial, DNA testing was done on at least four individuals: Olvera (who is Hispanic); Tom Hopwood, the victim’s boyfriend; “Johnny” Lockerd, an individual who was also at the bar that night and who some witnesses identified as being the individual who left with the victim; and a fourth individual, Ken Bowles, a friend of Olvera’s.
Olvera Gets 2 Life Terms In Hendricks Rape-murder
Mark Vincent Olvera v State of California 2004 conviction and sentence affirmed)
Movies/Documentaries
Swamp Murders: Lethal Attraction
INMATE INFORMATION
DC Number: 122766
Name: OLVERA, MARK V
Race: HISPANIC
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BLACK
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5’06”
Weight: 147 lbs.
Birth Date: 05/07/1961
Initial Receipt Date: 12/23/1991
Current Facility: CHARLOTTE C.I.
Current Custody: CLOSE
Current Release Date: SENTENCED TO LIFE
