Blaney, Ronald James jr. "Ron"

Born deaf from maternal rubella at Kittery, Maine; other childhood diseases included meningitis, encephalitis, epilepsy, and a second meningitis attack. Had a troubled childhood including beatings and other abuses by his hearing father. At first educated orally, when this failed he learned sign language at age 9 or 10, finally gaining some limited communication with his family though he continued to have rocky relationships with them. Attended the Hawaii School for the Deaf, but expelled at age 13 for violence, possibly caused by or worsened by three drugs being used in attempts to control his epileptic seizures. Family moved to Los Angeles in 1970 or 1971, where he entered an oral day school for the deaf. Failing in oralism again, he transferred to the California School for the Deaf, Riverside, 1972 until graduation 1975 but not without continuing psychological problems. Enrolled at National Technical Institute for the Deaf, graduating 1978. Went to work as a data entry clerk for a California bank but left after a few years out of boredom and spent 2 years searching for another job. During this time, he lived with a deaf woman, but pursued an unsuccessful relationship with another. At this time, he had gone back to computer programming school and was receiving tutoring from Priscilla Antoinette Vinci (q.v.). They began dating in 1985; Ron became obsessed with her, while she remained ambivalent about the relationship, leading to numerous arguments between the two. In late 1986, they argued while on a driving trip to Seattle, and he pulled off into a woods and began strangling her; she was saved by a passing motorist who interrupted the act. Despite attempted intervention by concerned friends, they had many more serious conflicts, yet Priscilla remained with Ron. In February 1987, something set off Ron and he beat Priscilla. She still stayed in the relationship despite concerned family and friends. After more blow-ups, on May 4, 1987, Ron went to the Vinci house after she returned home from work, and stabbed both Priscilla and her mother to death; witnesses saw him leaving the scene and he was quickly arrested. Ron was tried in October 1989 and found guilty for the double murder, though the jury was deadlocked on whether Ron was insane at the time. A scheduled second trial on the insanity issue was cancelled when he dropped his insanity plea in exchange for imprisonment at San Luis Obispo, where the jail has a number of other deaf inmates. He was sentenced to life imprisonment there without possibility of parole. A book about the case is Tragedy in Deaf Orange County (1992).