SAN DIEGO — A former Navy man was denied parole Thursday after spending more than 50 years in prison for the sexual assault and murder of an 18-year-old San Diego State University student in 1974.
Ellis Handy, now 72, attended his latest parole hearing remotely from a prison in Northern California. The state parole board has denied his release 24 times prior to Thursday’s hearing.
Handy was 21 years old when he was arrested and confessed to sexually assaulting and murdering Tanya Gardini in December 1974. Gardini was found by her roommate partially clothed and strangled to death inside their second-floor dorm room in Zura Hall…