Jonathan D'Arcy, a man condemned by California for the 1993 murder of Karin LaBorde

D'Arcy in a 2007 mugshot

In 1993, believing that a bookkeeper, 44 year old Karin LaBorde, stiffed him of a $160 paycheck, D'Arcy and a coworker entered her office for a confrontation. With gasoline he stored in a water bottle, D’Arcy light LaBorde's dress and she was quickly burned alive.



Despite being taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, LaBorde died of her injuries a day later. Just before her passing, she named D’Arcy as her attacker to investigators. Ironically, LaBorde lamented on her deathbed that she would’ve given D’Arcy the paycheck he wanted by simply “asking nicely.”


An undated photo of LaBrode, taken from her Find A Grave profile
At the time of the murder, D’Arcy was working as a janitor in order to pay for his dream contracting career. He was fired from a telemarking firm for reasons that will discussed later, and was desperate for money. 4 years after the killing, he was sentenced to death by the state of California.



D'Arcy had a very long history of extreme violence. In one incident, he threatened to chop off his ex wife's hands and feet while assaulting her with a knife, and tried to strangled a drug dealer for refusing to sell him marijuana in another. He also had a much older girlfriend that he severely abused. Court documents mentioned that throughout their relationship, D'Arcy ripped out chunks of her hair, choked and twisted her neck with his hands, and slammed her against bedposts and the sidewalk.


D'Arcy during his trial
He was also previously convicted of beating his girlfriend's adult son and a former coworker with a baseball bat. As previously mentioned, D’Arcy was fired from a telemarketing firm for not showing up to work and he blamed it on the coworker. Seeking vengeance, he first attacked the coworker, and then redirected his rage towards his girlfriend's son for trying to intervene. For the double beatings, D’Arcy was sent to prison for a year and got out in the same year that he killed LaBorde.

Despite the current post 2019 moratorium and the Newsome’s attempts to dismantle the state's death penalty, D’Arcy still remains condemned. Citing reports of hostile behavior and talking to himself in his cell, D’Arcy was citied for by his defense attorneys for psychiatric treatment in 2014.


D'Arcy's mugshot in 2000
Sources:

1.https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-ln-death-row-20/ (warning, paywalls)

2.https://www.ocregister.com/2011/02/15/ocs-death-row-58-killers-and-counting/ (warning, paywalls)

3.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/165269631/karen-marie-laborde

4.https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-darcy-33833

 

I just wanted a platform to write about and discuss these sort of stories. The moderation and spam filters of specialized True Crime forums like WebSlueths and a few crime subreddits can be quite difficult, and thus tried my luck here.