A black drifter from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Bernard attempted his first murder there on August 15, 1983. 

Accosting a drunken migrant worker, 58-year-old Manuel Diaz, Bernard shot him once in the head with a small-caliber pistol, afterward severing the victim's penis for good measure. Believing Diaz to be dead, Bernard fled across country, winding up in Los Angeles, where he quickly resumed his activities. 

On October 13, 1983, Anthony Cody, a 34-year-old transient, was shot and killed in L.A. with a small-caliber weapon. Precisely one month later, an elderly "John Doe" victim was killed on Skid Row with the same gun. 

The following day, November 14, 52-year-old Milton Regzarrie was shot twice in the head, but he managed to survive his wounds. 

On November 20, Bobby Joe Jones, 45, was killed in the gunman's final attack. 

Arrested on November 21, the 32-year-old suspect led police on a tour of the shooting scenes, describing his crimes "in a matter-of-fact tone." Bernard professed a desire "to help" homeless men, stating that he was "doing them a favor" by putting them out of their misery. Surprised to learn that Manuel Diaz had lived through the attack in Fayetteville, Bernard confessed that crime on November 28. 

Three months later, on March 7, 1984, he pled guilty to three counts of murder "with special circumstances" in Los Angeles and was sentenced to a term of life without parole.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans

SEX: M RACE: B TYPE: N MOTIVE: PC

MO: "Mercy" shootings of homeless men.

DISPOSITION: Life without parole in California, 1984.