On February 16, 1988, a mass shooting occurred at the headquarters of ESL Incorporated in Sunnyvale, California, when 39-year-old Richard Farley shot and killed seven people and wounded four others. A former employee of the company, he stalked his co-worker Laura Black for four years beginning in 1984. Farley was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder and is currently serving a death sentence at California Health Care Facility.

Background

Perpetrator

Richard Wade Farley was born in Texas on July 25, 1948. He was the oldest of six children. His father was in the military, therefore the family frequently relocated, and eventually settled in California. He graduated from high school in 1966 and attended Santa Rosa Junior College. Farley then joined the United States Navy in 1967, where he stayed for ten years. After his discharge in 1977, Farley began working as a software technician at ESL Inc., a defense contractor in Sunnyvale, California.

Stalking

upright=0.66|left|thumb|Laura Black, pictured in 1978

In April 1984, 35-year-old Richard Farley met 22-year-old Laura Black, who also worked at ESL Inc. Farley described himself as immediately smitten and later said that he instantly "fell in love" with Black. Farley began leaving gifts, including letters and homemade baked goods, on Laura Black's desk and asked her out numerous times. Despite her refusals, Farley persisted; he began calling her desk every few hours as well as showing up at Black's aerobics class. By providing false information to the ESL HR department through pretexting, Farley was able to obtain Black's home address and home phone number. Farley also befriended the custodial department in an attempt to copy keys to Black's desk so he could rifle through her files to gain an insight into her personal life. In addition, he went through her confidential personnel files under false pretenses.

During this time, Farley was sending one or two letters to Black a week. Though there were periods of time during which the letters would cease, in total Farley sent about two hundred letters over a period of four years, with the final letter sent from his prison cell after his rampage at ESL. Black moved four times during those four years, but Farley was able to obtain her address every time. Farley doctored photos of him and Black being together and mailed them to her.

In fall of 1985, Black asked the Human Resources Department at ESL for help. ESL ordered Farley to attend psychological counseling sessions, and despite attending these sessions, his harassment of Black continued. By spring of 1986, Farley was threatening fellow ESL employees. Because of his poor performance, his employment with ESL was terminated in May 1986. He had been working for ESL for nine years and spent several months stalking Black full-time, then found work at a rival company, Covalent Systems Corporation in Sunnyvale.

Shooting at ESL and Standoff

Black filed for a temporary restraining order against Farley on February 2, 1988, and it was granted by a family court judge the same day or the next day. A court date was set for February 17, 1988, to see if the restraining order should be made permanent. The restraining order did not prevent him from buying weapons during that time. A search of his residence after the shooting revealed that he also owned a variety of other weapons which were not present during the shooting at ESL, including a Mossberg shotgun barrel, a Ruger .22 LR carbine and over 3,000 rounds of ammunition. On February 9, 1988, he left a package with Black's attorney, claiming to have evidence that he and Black had a longstanding relationship.

He entered a side door by shooting through the glass of the Mardex Security Door. After entering, Farley killed Wayne “Buddy” Williams Jr. behind his desk near the lobby. He then entered a stairwell where another victim was killed. On the second floor, two men and two women were killed in a hallway as Farley approached Black’s office.

Upon arriving at Black's office, he opened her door which she slammed in his face. He fired a shotgun round through the door, hitting her in the left shoulder and collapsing a lung.

At 3:15 p.m., Farley called emergency services and stated "I'm the one who's been wasting people." He claimed he was doing it because of Black and the restraining order against him. He also requested that people be kept 300 yards from the M-5 Building.

Farley then held a police SWAT team at bay for six hours by moving from room to room so the SWAT snipers could not target him. For five hours during the standoff, Farley spoke by telephone with Sunnyvale negotiator Lt. Ruben Grijalva, expressing remorse for his actions and repeatedly threatening to commit suicide. He also claimed to have had severe financial difficulties after losing his home, car, and computer and falling $20,000 behind in his taxes. Farley also fired upon computer equipment within the building.

At 3:35 P.M., Farley stated, in response to being asked if he would surrender, that he wanted to "gloat a little bit."

At some point in the siege, he allowed longtime friend and former landlady Linda Walden to leave the building. During this exchange, fellow employee Christine Hansen left her hiding spot and also asked to leave, which Farley allowed. At several points, he told Grijalva that he did not plan to leave ESL alive and, at one period, claimed that he had changed the beneficiary of his life insurance policy from Black to his girlfriend, Mei Chang.

At 4:30 P.M,. Farley agreed to allow officers to rescue wounded individuals on the first floor. Negotiators also obtained audio recording of the conversations, where Farley stated: "There's no more reason to harm anybody; I've run out of enthusiasm for things really." with four more wounded, including Black.

Victims

;Dead

  • Lawrence J. Kane, 46, from San Jose
  • Wayne "Buddy" Williams Jr., 23, from San Jose
  • Ronald G. Doney, 36, from Manteca
  • Joseph Lawrence Silva, 43
  • Glenda Moritz, 27
  • Ronald Steven Reed, 26
  • Helen Lamparter, 49, from Sunnyvale

;Injured

  • Laura Black; shot in the shoulder

Black survived, but was hospitalized for nineteen days. She continued to work for the same company. Farley wrote to her again from his prison cell, claiming that she had finally won.

During trial, Farley admitted to the killings, but pleaded not guilty, claiming that he never planned to kill but only wished to get Black's attention or commit suicide in front of her for rejecting him. His attorney claimed that Farley was never a violent man and only had his judgement temporarily clouded by his obsession with Black, and that he would likely never kill again. Prior to the shooting, Farley did not have a criminal record.

The prosecution documented every step of the stalking, produced all the letters he sent, and documented his shotgun and ammunition purchases a week before his rampage at ESL, as well as his other weapons. All this amounted to extensive planning, which they claimed was evidence of premeditation.

On October 21, 1991, Farley was found guilty of all seven counts of first degree murder. On January 17, 1992, Superior Court Judge Joseph Biafore Jr. sentenced him to death. Because of California law, there were several automatic appeals. On January 22, 1992, Farley was admitted to San Quentin State Prison. On July 2, 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld Farley's death sentence (People v Richard Farley (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1053). Farley remained on death row at San Quentin State Prison, as CDCR number H23501, until April 2024, when he was moved to California Health Care Facility as part of a larger transfer of former death row inmates.

On August 9, 2024, district attorney Jeff Rosen sought to reduce Farley's sentence to life without parole. On December 6, 2024, a Santa Clara County judge delayed a ruling in the resentencing case to March 2025 to allow more victims to speak out. On March 21, 2025, a judge ruled that Farley’s death sentence would remain instated, following victim testimony.

The massacre helped prompt California's 1990 passage of the first anti-stalking laws in the U.S.

In media

A movie, I Can Make You Love Me (also known as Stalking Laura in the United Kingdom) was made in 1993. Brooke Shields played Black and Richard Thomas played Farley. Farley's case is also analyzed by forensic psychiatrist Michael H. Stone in his 2009 book The Anatomy of Evil.

See also

  • List of homicides in California
  • List of rampage killers (workplace killings)

References

  • Bill Lee's book, "Chinese Playground"
  • Associated Press news report (Page one and page two) via Newspapers.com