Marlene Olive – The Barbecue Murders

On a hot summer day in June 1975, a firefighter in Terra Linda, California was called to put out a fire in one of the barbeque pits in China Camp State Park. Initially thought to be the remains of an animal left behind by a hunter it would be discovered that was not the case. Listen to the story of Jim and Naomi Olive and find out why Marlene Olive orchestrated their murders.

China Camp State Park in Marin County, California, where the bodies of murder victims Jim and Naomi Olive were burned in a barbecue pit Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Location

Terra Linda, California is a residential community located in Marin County approximately 14 miles north of San Francisco. Most of Terra Linda was built after WWII.  Famous residents include Olympic medalists, mountain biker Susan DeMattei (1996), and swimmer Rick DeMont (1972).

Unattended Fire

Early on Sunday morning on June 22, 1975, a firefighter was notified of an unattended fire in a barbecue pit located at China Camp State Park. This was not uncommon for hunters to roast their deers in the oversized barbecue pits. The firefighter did notice some bone chips as he was putting out the fire but thought nothing of it at the time.  

In the days that followed the business partner of Terra Linda resident, Jim Olive decided to drop by the Olive residence to see if he could track him down. The partner hadn’t been able to get ahold of Jim. Jim had failed to show up for work the past few days. When the partner looked in the window of the Olive home he thought they might have been victims of a robbery. The place was in such disarray he notified the authorities.    

When police arrived they noticed the same mess but were unable to see any blood. Since no one was home they left a note for the homeowners asking them to notify the police if there was a problem.

Marlene Olive arrived home and saw the note from the police. So she went into the police station and told authorities that her parents had gone off on a brief vacation to Lake Tahoe, but had yet to return. This story would quickly change and would lead authorities to a gruesome discovery

Wanted

Marlene Olive was born in Norfolk, Virginia on January 14, 1959, and was placed for adoption as a newborn. Jim and Naomi Olive were a childless couple that had been married for ten years. They adopted Marlene the day after she was born. The couple moved Marlene to Ecuador, South America. Jim worked there as a marketing executive for Tenneco and Gulf Oil Companies. While Marlene was a daddy’s girl and had a very close relationship with her father the opposite could be said of her relationship with Naomi.

Jim and Naomi had met when Jim was an Army recruit during WWII and the couple soon married. After the war, the couple moved to Panama, South America due to what Jim believed would be lucrative real estate deals. Naomi is said to have been an over diligent mother. She was so extreme that for the first six months of Marene’s life Naomi would only approach Marlene wearing a gauze face mask. She expected Jim and everybody else to do the same. Naomi would also sterilize everything Marlene came in contact with.

What Does Adoption Mean?

At the age of 10, Marlene Olive discovered her adoption papers. She asked her father to explain what the word adopted meant. Jim Olive explained to his young daughter that sometimes couples are not able to conceive a child of their own and so they adopt a child from mothers who are unable to raise them. He told Marlene that she was special because she was chosen.

The Olive family moved often in the first 14 years of young Marlene’s life. Jim lost numerous jobs, but would always find another one causing the family to move. After Ecuador, the family moved to back to the United States to Colorado and then to New Mexico. Eventually, they would resettle back in Ecuador before moving to Terra Linda, California in March of 1973. Marlene was 14-years-old around this time.

Deterioration

The move to California could be considered a fresh start for the family, but that didn’t seem to be the case. For years, Naomi’s mental health seemed to be deteriorating. Naomi had become an alcoholic and her drinking had her having conversations with imaginary people. She would often be unkept and care little about Marlene, often leading to fights between the two.  Naomi seemed to prefer interacting with the various fish kept in tanks around the home than interacting with her daughter. Marlene had a better relationship with her dad, but that was also strained as Jim was often away from the home.

Marlene Olive didn’t seem to cope well with the new change in schools having a mentally ill mother and absentee father and soon turned to her own destructive choices. In 9th grade, Marlene was caught shoplifting. Her parents bailed her out, but that leads to more conflicts at home especially between Naomi and Marlene. Petty theft soon turned to drug use and in 1974 Marlene, now 15-years-old, would take her first trip with LSD on the front lawn of her high school. Other students started making fun of her until a boy stepped in and broke it up. This “boy” was 19-year-old, Charles “Chuck” Riley, a high school drop-out and part-time drug dealer.

Lonely Soul

Chuck Riley was born in 1955 to a homemaker mom and grocery store clerk father. He had younger siblings. A brother, and a sister and was said to have a soft spot for animals that he cared for. Unfortunately, Chuck was an overweight child and was often made fun of by his peers. He usually hung around younger peers and began smoking marijuana before starting 7th grade. He would go on to use alcohol, hallucinogens, and cocaine. Chuck got into stealing and selling drugs more for peer acceptance than the money or thrill of selling drugs.  He would end up dropping out of high school during his senior year. But he would often hang around the high school selling to the students. Up to this point in his life, Chuck had never dated girls or engaged in any type of sexual intercourse until he met Marlene Olive.

Chuck was enamored with Marlene. He began to lavish her with gifts that included free drugs and would drive her wherever she wanted to go. Eventually, the two had a sexual relationship. It is said that Marlene wasn’t attracted to Chuck because of his weight. He weighed over 300 pounds, but she found that she could easily manipulate him into giving her what she wanted. On two occasions Chuck had attempted suicide when Marlene broke up with him. He was always anxious to please her and would do what he had to so they would get back together. Marlene took on the role of the domineering partner and often influenced him into doing what she wanted.

The Couple Goes On A Shoplifting Spree

In early 1975 Chuck and Marlene would go on a massive shoplifting spree. They stole up to $6,000 worth of goods which were mostly women’s clothing and accessories. The couple was eventually caught and charged with grand larceny on March 26, 1975. In this incident, Marlene had directed Chuck to steal $1,114 worth of clothes from a department store. They didn’t stay in jail long and were soon bailed out by their parents. In May, Chuck would be arrested again. This time it was for possession of marijuana and having a sawed-off shotgun. By June, Marlene’s parents were frustrated with her antics. They planned to send her to a juvenile program for the remainder of the summer.

This Is It

Marlene Olive didn’t hide her disdain for her mother from anybody that would listen. She often told others that she wanted her dead. She would tell friends she wished both her parents were dead. Marlene even asked a boy she had gone on a date with if he could supply her a bomb so she could blow her parent’s car up. She would talk about other means of disposing of her parents such as poisoning them to pushing them off a cliff in their car. This was something she often talked to Chuck about. Marlen wanted him to kill her mother now more so than ever due to the threat of being sent away. Chuck agreed and Marlene planned the date when it would all go down. However, Marlene didn’t want her father killed and planned a shopping trip for them on June 21, 1975.

While Marlene and her father were away from the home, Chuck entered the residence with a claw hammer and a .22 caliber pistol. Naomi was lying down in her sewing room when Chuck attacked her with the claw hammer bludgeoning her in the head. He hit her repeatedly in the head until the hammer got stuck.  Naomi was still alive flaying around so Chuck ran to the kitchen to get a steak knife. He was reluctant to use the pistol fearing the sound it would make.  Returning to the sewing room Chuck repeatedly stabbed Naomi and then put a pillow over her head to suffocate her.

What Happened Next

There are two versions I read of what happened next. This is the first version. Chuck’s attack on Naomi was not a quick one. In the middle of finishing off Naomi, Jim and Marlene returned home. When Jim entered the bedroom and saw Chuck he grabbed a steak knife and came at Chuck. Chuck then fired his pistol four into Jim’s chest. In the second version, from an appeal to the California Appellant Court Chuck stated that after he killed Naomi he hid in wait for Jim to return home. Upon Jim entering the sewing room he shot him in the back. The second version is the one that Marlene had told friends after the murders.

Cleaning Up

The couple wrapped the bodies in bedsheets and waited until dark to transport the bodies in the family vehicle to the fire pits at China Camp. The bodies were burned using wood and gasoline. The couple planned to wait until Jim and Naomi were declared dead (Marlene was the sole beneficiary) and then collect their insurance money and move to Ecuador. Chuck returned to the fire pits twice after burning the bodies.  Once later on the evening or early morning hours and then again on June 23, 1975. Chuck used those visits to burn some of the remains that were still present and other evidence gathered from the home.

Back at the Olive residence, the couple began to clean up the sewing room. They removed blood from the carpet and walls along with rearranging some of the furniture in the room. You would think that the fewer people that know what you’ve done the better, but not for this couple. It is said that they told several friends about the killings. Chuck even told one friend that they had to do it because they (The Olives) wouldn’t let me see her.

Marlene and Chuck Play House

For several days after the murders, Marlene and Chuck lived at the Olive residence. They used cash, checks, and credit cards belonging to Jim and Naomi to pay for their expenses. These included attending a Yes concert, shopping sprees, and eating out. They carried on as if nothing was amiss. However, others were concerned about Jim not showing up for work or communicating with his office about the reason for his absence.

Marlene Olive didn’t appear to be able to keep a straight story with the police when questioned. She would provide police with different alibis for herself and Chuck, all of which they would discover to be false. Marlene even claimed that her parents killed each other at one point. When that didn’t seem to stick she said that the Hells Angels biker club had killed them both.  At some point, friends of Marlene and Chuck were questioned. One friend told police about the murders and having helped Chuck and Marlene clean up the sewing room at Marlene’s house.

Whether Marlene eventually told police or a friend of theirs did, police soon took a visit to the fire pits at China Camp where they were able to find some of the Olives’ charred remains. Both Marlene Olive and Chuck Riley were placed under arrest.

Chuck Sings Like A Bird

Once under arrest, Chuck gave a detailed confession to the police telling them that he had killed both Jim and Naomi because they were trying to keep him and Marlene apart. On the day of the murders, Marlene had phoned Chuck telling him to get his gun. He told police that Marlene had arranged to be out of the house with her father and he was to enter and kill Naomi with a claw hammer she left behind. Chuck also claimed to have been high on drugs during the murders. At the time of his arrest, Chuck was 20-years-old. So he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and would be facing the death penalty.

Police searched Chuck’s home and found numerous letters that Marlene Olive had written to him in which she writes “of course I hope you’ll wait till I”m 17 to marry me or kill my parents.”  Other letters would be found in Marlene’s bedroom address to Chuck stating “if I could kill my parents, I wonder if Susan could come live with me.”  And yet another letter this time addressed to “Mike” who is believed to have been a former boyfriend of Marlenes’ read.

I was thinking about what you said, about that man who would take care of my mom. I think we should talk it over, together. You and I. I’d be worried about what would happen after she died. But whatever did, wouldn’t keep me away from you.

Marlene Olive – January 1974

Marlene Olive Is Tried in Juvenile Court

She was only 16 years old at the time of her arrest so her case was tried in juvenile court. Marlene Olive would end up being represented by Terence Hallinan. Hallinan had a colorful background as a youth and had been a ward of the juvenile court in 1954. His law career centered on defending counterculture figures of the 1960s in mostly drug cases. He was once an attorney on the defense team of heiress Patty Hearst. Later in his career, he would win the office of district attorney in San Francisco in 1995. He would end up being defeated in 2003 by Kamala Harris.

Marlene was charged with violating Section 602 of the California State Welfare and Institutions Code. Section 602 at that time covered everything from petty crimes to murder. She was sentenced to four to six years confinement at the California Youth Authority at Ventura. Marlene would be released on her 21st birthday unless the youth authority determined that she was not rehabilitated. In that case, she could be held until she turned 23.

Time For Court!

On October 30, 1975, Chuck stood trial in Marin County for the murders of Jim and Naomi Olive. His trial would last seven weeks. The difficulty for Chuck’s defense team was how to combat the detailed confession Chuck had given upon his arrest. Their strategy was to show that Chuck was susceptible to being hypnotized mostly by Marlene; they refer to it as she had cast a spell over him. Their defense was to try to show that Marlene had such a hold over Chuck that she could manipulate/hypnotize him into doing anything she wanted.

Chuck soon recanted his confession claiming that he did not kill Naomi Olive. His new version claimed that Naomi was already gravely wounded when he arrived at the Olive residence. The claw hammer was embedded in her head when he entered the sewing room. He did admit to strangling and stabbing her, but that was only to end her suffering. Chuck claimed his shooting of Jim Olive was in self-defense. He did admit to participating in the clean-up of the crime scene and disposing of the bodies along with theft when he used money taken from Jim’s wallet. The only reason he admitted to murdering Naomi was to protect Marlene so she wouldn’t get blamed.

How would they show this? They had the jury listen to tapes of Chuck being hypnotized by a hypnotist which they replayed several times in court. It is said that some jurors occasionally fell asleep while listening to the tapes. If that wasn’t enough they had two more hypnotists testify to Chuck’s susceptibility. And if that wasn’t enough Chuck was placed under hypnosis while on the stand.

Chuck Riley Verdict

When it was the prosecution’s turn they were able to counter the hypnotist’s claims by putting on an expert of their own who disagreed with the finding of the previous three hypnotists. He felt that when a subject is under hypnosis they talk in the present tense when they are accurately recalling information. In Chuck’s case, he talked in the past tense and to their expert, showed that he was lying.

Chuck Riley was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death on January 26, 1976. He was transferred to San Quentin State Prison. His fortunes changed slightly in 1978 when the death penalty was declared unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court. So his death sentence was commuted to two life sentences to run concurrently with the possibility of parole after 7 years.

Marlene Is On The Run

Marlene Olive had been serving her time at the Ventura School. She only had two months to go before her release, but that wasn’t soon enough for her. Marlene decided to escape and took off for New York City.  She then took up prostitution and delved back into drug abuse which soon turned into an addiction. She was detained in New York and sent back to California to finish out her sentence. Marlene Olive was released in 1980 when she was 21 years old.

She then moved to Los Angeles where she would once again delve back into a life of crime. Marlene changed her name several times, but whatever her name was she would be arrested at least seven times over ten years for forgery and drug-related offenses. In 1986, Marlene along with 13 other people was arrested in L.A. for operating a large counterfeiting/forgery ring in the San Fernando Valley. Marlene was allegedly the ring leader of this group. She would end up serving a five-year sentence. She would end up serving more time in 1992 after being convicted for making false financial statements and again in 1995 for possessing a forged drivers’ license. In 2003 she would be sentenced to a seven-year prison term after being convicted of passing a bad check while in Bakersfield.

Aftermath

Whereas Marlene Olive had not gotten her life straightened out Chuck seemed to do the opposite. Having gone into prison topping 300 pounds he had slimmed down to about 190 pounds, got his high school diploma and even a college degree. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Chapman College. He also took courses in vocational drafting, milling machine operator, tool grinder operator, and lathe operator.

During his time in prison, Chuck became involved in 12-step programs and since 2008 has been an active member of Narcotics Anonymous. Chuck married while in prison. The first time was when he was 29. He met his wife through the prison pen pal system, but that marriage only lasted a year before ending in divorce. He would marry for a second time at the age of 31. This marriage would last 10 years before his wife would die due to breast cancer.

At his 2011 parole hearing, Chuck was asked how he became involved with the murders. He told the board that:

It began in disbelief. I did not believe that this was something that was going to – ever going to take place. And my desire to have this relationship was so, was overwhelming to me. And so, whatever when talk of this crime came about, I went along with it, and it grew from there. I was a sick kid. I mean, the way that I look at that what I was thinking, I was willing to do this because my relationship with her was more important to me than the consideration of other people’s lives.

Chuck Riley

He goes on to talk about never having had a girlfriend before Marlene and his need to do anything she wanted to keep that relationship.

Chuck Applies For Parole

Since he became eligible for parole Chuck has applied numerous times only to be denied until 2014. That year Chuck applied again stating that he was no longer a threat to society and now at 59 years of age he had changed and was rehabilitated. The parole board found him suitable for release, but in February 2015 his release was denied by the governor, Jerry Brown.

Chuck appealed the Governor’s decision to the Court of Appeals of California, First District, Division Two Court in December of 2015. They vacated the Governor’s decision and granted Chuck’s petition for habeas corpus and reinstated the parole board’s decision to proceed with releasing him on parole. Where Chuck stands today I don’t know. I could find nothing that indicated Chuck Riley has been released or has a set parole date.

Resources

• Terra Linda, San Rafael, California
• Adopted California teen convinces boyfriend to kill parents in 1975 ‘Barbecue Murders’
• Kill My Parents: The Story of Marlene Olive
• The Barbecue Murders of California | by A.
• Close-Up of a Deadly Family Explosion
• Barbecue murders
• Terence Hallinan
• A Local Murder
• ⓘ Barbecue murders. The barbecue murders, also known as the BB
• IN RE RILEY | No. A145041. | By KLINE | 20151203042
• Governor reverses parole board decision to release Marin double-murderer
• Marlene Olive (“BBQ Murders”) in trouble again
• Suspect in Forgery Ring Arrested : Crime: Police say Marlene Olive ran a sophisticated ID-counterfeiting operation that victimized businesses throughout the Valley with bogus checks.
• Court says 1975 killer of two in Marin should be released

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