Transients plead guilty in slayings of SF backpacker, Marin hiker

A pair of drifters accused of killing a backpacker in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and a hiker in Marin County pleaded guilty Monday to two counts apiece of first-degree murder, bringing to a close a case that shocked the Bay Area with its brutality.

Under a plea deal endorsed by the victims’ families, Morrison “Haze” Lampley, 24, will be sentenced to 100 years to life in prison for shooting Audrey Carey, a 23-year-old Canadian backpacker, and Steven Carter, a 67-year-old tantric yoga instructor, during a crime spree in 2015, said the Marin County district attorney’s office.

Lampley’s girlfriend, 19-year-old Lila Alligood, will be sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison.

A third defendant, Sean Angold, 25, pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder in connection with the Carter slaying, cutting a deal with prosecutors to testify against the other two. He is expected to be sentenced to 15 years to life in prison when all three defendants are sentenced April 18.

During the preliminary hearing in the case, Angold described a savage, drug-addled crime spree that unfolded over a few days in October 2015. Angold, an old acquaintance of Lampley’s, said he had planned to join the couple as they traveled to Oregon with dreams of starting a pot farm.

FILE - This undated combination of file photos provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office show, from left, Sean Michael Angold, Lila Scott Allgood, and Morrison Haze Lampley. The three young transients accused of robbing and killing two people in Northern California have pleaded not guilty to murder charges in a Marin County Superior courtroom Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015, in San Rafael, Calif. The three were arrested in Portland, Ore. (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office/Portland Police via AP, File) less FILE - This undated combination of file photos provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office show, from left, Sean Michael Angold, Lila Scott Allgood, and Morrison Haze Lampley. The three young transients ... more Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Transients plead guilty in slayings of SF backpacker, Marin hiker 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

After the group found a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun in an unlocked truck near Coit Tower in San Francisco, they crossed paths with Carey near one of the windmills at the edge of Golden Gate Park near Ocean Beach.

Though they were friendly with Carey, the three decided to rob her because “she was foreign and possibly had money,” Angold said. But he said the robbery went awry when Alligood tackled Carey and Lampley held the stolen gun to her head.

Angold, who had been trying to tie up Carey’s legs, heard a pop, and he said Lampley told him, “She’s dead, dude. Don’t worry about it.”

The three regrouped two days later, heading into Marin County on their journey north to Oregon. While they had initially intended to only rob Carey, Angold said, they targeted Carter for death because they wanted his station wagon. Alligood was the one who chose Carter, Angold said.

They followed him as he walked his Doberman pinscher, Coco, down a popular trail northwest of Fairfax, Angold said, and Lampley shot him and his dog. The dog survived but lost an eye.

They then rifled through Carter’s pockets for his keys and wallet, which had been pierced by a bullet, and used the ripped, bloody cash to buy gas and cigarettes in Point Reyes, according to court testimony.

The trio was arrested two days later outside a Portland, Ore., soup kitchen after authorities tracked them with the station wagon’s GPS device.

Lampley’s attorney did not immediately return requests for comment. Amy Morton, Alligood’s attorney, said that under California’s youthful offender program, which grants earlier parole eligibility for any prisoner who was under 23 at the time of the offense, Alligood will be eligible for parole in 25 years.

“She’s a totally different person than when she was arrested,” Morton said. “She’s come out of her drug fog. She cried today, not for herself, but because she thought of the people whose lives were taken because of her.”

As part of their guilty pleas, Lampley and Alligood waived their right to appeal, Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian said.

“Our main concern is with the victims’ families,” he said. “Hopefully this will let them have some closure.”

Carter’s widow, Lokita Carter, said she was “relieved that the end of the legal process is in sight.”

“While I feel that justice is being served in the legal context, the impact of their cold-blooded actions will never go away,” she said. “Can justice ever be served, when my husband is gone forever?”

The Carters had been married for 17 years and had just moved to Costa Rica to build their dream home when Lokita Carter was diagnosed with breast cancer. They were living in Marin County with friends while she underwent treatment when Steve Carter was killed.

On her blog, which Lokita Carter began to document her journey toward recovery and later expanded to write about her husband, she wrote that, “agreeing to the plea agreement was hard, really hard.”

Though she wanted “the murderers to fully feel the impact of their actions” in a jury trial, she realized that she needed to take care of herself and focus on her “healing, and the healing of our families, friends and community.”

“We can complete this part of our lives, but whatever their punishment is or could have been, it is never going to bring Steve and Audrey back,” she wrote. “We have to live with the excruciating and traumatizing ramifications of their crimes until our very last breath.”

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo