Man Charged With 4 Murders Convicted in Woman’s Death

MIAMI — Glen Rogers, a smooth-talking drifter who became notorious as the alleged “cross-country killer” after four woman died in a string of grisly slayings that began in Van Nuys, was found guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the stabbing death of a Florida woman.

A jury of seven women and five men took almost eight hours to decide that Rogers, 34, killed Tina Marie Cribbs after he met her in a bar and asked her for a ride to a low-rent motel room that he had rented under his own name.

The bloody body of Cribbs, 34, was found in the bathtub of that Tampa motel room on Nov. 7, 1995, and Rogers was arrested by police six days later after a televised high-speed chase in Kentucky. He was driving Cribbs’ white Ford Festiva.

Rogers, a former carnival hand with a reputation for charming women, could be sentenced to death. The same jury is to resume deliberations today to determine whether to recommend that Rogers be executed in Florida’s electric chair.

Rogers could also face death in California, where he is charged with the strangulation slaying of Sandra Gallagher, 33, of Santa Monica in the fall of 1995. She is believed to have met Rogers in McRed’s Cocktail Lounge in Van Nuys while she celebrated a $1,000 keno win. She left with Rogers, witnesses said, and her body was found in her burning truck not far from the bar.

Whether Rogers will ever stand trial in California is unclear. An agreement between Florida and Kentucky calls for Rogers to remain in Florida if he receives the death penalty.

Nonetheless, Gov. Pete Wilson’s office is trying to work out a plan with Florida officials to bring Rogers back to Los Angeles.

Rogers has also been charged with killing women in Louisiana and Mississippi. All the victims had red hair.

Rogers, who was also found guilty of robbery and grand theft in connection with Cribbs’ murder, showed little emotion when Circuit Judge Diana Allen read the verdict in a Tampa courtroom. But his mother, sitting nearby, began to sob silently.