Man serving life for killing 25 farmworkers is up for parole

Serial killer Juan V. Corona, convicted in the 1970s of murdering 25 farmworkers, is scheduled for a parole hearing Monday, officials said.

Corona, 77, was accused of burying his victims' bodies in crude graves near Yuba City. Calif.

His first conviction was overturned, but he was retried nearly 10 years later, convicted again of 25 counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He is being held at Corcoran State Prison.

PHOTOS: California serial killers

The bodies of Corona’s victims were unearthed near a riverbank over a period of several weeks in 1971.

The victims were all itinerant farmworkers who may have been employed by Corona, a farm labor contractor who hired workers for various jobs in the area.

Corona has never admitted to the killings, said Sutter County Dist. Atty. Carl Adams. Because of this, Adams said, the parole board “has no way of saying that he is not still a danger if he is released.”

Corona’s detention has been reviewed periodically over the years but he has not appeared at a hearing since 1998, Adams said.

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-- Paloma Esquivel

Photo: Convicted serial killer Juan V. Corona. Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation