$4.6M Soquel Hills mansion where five were murdered in 1970 listed for sale
A California mid-century mansion designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's protégé is on the market for $4.6M — and was the site of a 1970 mass murder.
Frank Lloyd Wright protégé's Soquel Hills estate carries a dark past
A secluded hilltop mansion in Soquel Hills, overlooking Monterey Bay, has been listed for $4.6 million — following a recent price cut. NY Post Metro reports the property at 999 North Rodeo Gulch Road is considered one of Northern California's most intact examples of organic mid-century-modern architecture, designed in 1965 by Aaron Green, the protégé that Frank Lloyd Wright regarded as a son.
The 4,166-square-foot single-level home sits on nearly 10 private acres and features limestone masonry built into the hillside, redwood-framed walls of glass, polished concrete floors, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a living room that rises 25 feet — anchored by one of Santa Cruz County's largest private residential fireplaces. More than 5,000 square feet of stone terrace wrap around a pool house and traditional sauna. The grounds also include a tennis court, Japanese garden with a koi pond and waterfall, two redwood decks, a bocce court, and a bamboo walking path.
The lagoon-shaped swimming pool is still there. It is where, on the night of Oct. 19, 1970, the bodies of five people were found floating.
Five killed in a single night
Five years after the home's completion, 24-year-old John Linley Frazier entered the residence of Dr. Victor Ohta, a well-respected eye surgeon. Frazier, described in court records as a paranoid, Bible-obsessed hippie who called himself "the Killer Prophet," believed he had been chosen by God to punish those who "misuses the natural environment."
According to court records, Frazier used silk scarves and ties to bind Dr. Ohta, his wife Virginia, their two young sons — 12-year-old Derek and 11-year-old Taggart — and Ohta's secretary, Dorothy Cadwallader. He then marched all five to the backyard and shot them in the back and head at the edge of or into the swimming pool.
After the killings, Frazier set multiple fires inside the house. On the windshield of Dr. Ohta's Rolls-Royce, he left a typewritten note. According to TIME, it declared that "World War III" had begun and that anyone who destroyed the natural environment would "suffer the penalty of death by the People of the Free Universe." The killings drew comparisons to the Charles Manson murders in Southern California the previous year.
Firefighters responding to the blaze discovered the five bodies in the pool. The house sustained heavy fire damage.
Frazier was arrested four days later, found sleeping in a shack near the property. He was convicted on five counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison. In 2009, he died by suicide in his prison cell.
Restored and largely unchanged since 1965
The home was extensively restored in the early 1970s following the fire. Green's design philosophy — rooted in Wright's principles of organic architecture — remains legible throughout the property. The indoor-outdoor flow, deep overhangs, terraces, custom built-ins, and sweeping views of the Santa Cruz countryside survive largely as intended.
An outdoor fireplace blends the structure into the surrounding landscape. The Japanese garden, koi pond and waterfall, bocce court, and hilltop great lawn round out the estate's nearly 10 acres.
The current listing places the property among the most architecturally significant mid-century residences available on the California market.
Source: NY Post Metro