Police arrested 43-year-old Scott Gary Holland late last week. Investigators say he posed as a utility worker when he gained access to a woman's apartment and killed her.
Holland was just released from Corcoran State Prison in April. Part of the terms of his parole were that he not return to Fresno. He was convicted in 1999 of attempted murder for slashing a woman's throat, now police say he is responsible for a Bay Area murder.
46-year-old Kathleen Horan is described by loved ones as a well known Bay Area Fashonista and entrepreneur. Her parents say she spent her free time doing charity work.
Victim's father, Bill Horan said, "The real beauty of Kate was she gave to people. She was not a taker. She was a giver."
Horan lived in San Francisco's posh Russian Hill neighborhood. It's a safe area and access to her apartment building required a key or card.
Police say a Fresno native Scott Holland wore a hard hat, safety vest and carried a tool box when he managed to get into her second floor apartment. An anonymous 9-1-1 call hours after the murder led police to Horan's badly beaten body.
SFPD Public Affairs Officer, Albie Esparza said, "Investigators believe a stranger walked up to the door of the victim's premises and knocked on the door and the victim answered the door."
An Action News investigation has revealed Holland's dark criminal past began in 1999 at this house in northeast Fresno. According to court records Holland used a knife in which the victim's throat was slashed resulting in a near death injury.
Stuart Develasco remembers the police cars that rushed to his neighbor's two story home. "The story very quickly went around that her nephew had been staying with her because he didn't have a place to live and slit her throat now she survived so and she wore a collar around her neck for months after that."
The manager of a Bay Area motel helped police solve the murder mystery in San Francisco. Holland came into the lobby and the observant manager noticed his scratched face and bandaged hand. The suspect walked across the street to a park and the manager reported his suspicious behavior.
Seal Rock Inn Manager, Rick Landereman said, "He looked a little out of it and his demeanor when he was standing across the street was sort of looking out at the distance spaced out."
Holland has been charged with murder, robbery, burglary and attempted rape. Action News did speak with the suspect's mother Monday afternoon at her Fresno home. She told me she only knows what she's read in media reports and what her son has told her. She cried and said she's just trying to survive.
