He remained on death row at San Quentin State Prison until he was extradited to Missouri in December 1998 to face execution.

[4] He attended Brentwood High School in St. Louis County, where he met Michael Terry Crenshaw.

[5] On February 15, 1979, Malone and another man, Andrew R. Armstong, robbed Missouri Court of Appeals judge George F. Gunn Jr. near his home in Brentwood.

Malone began his sentence on January 24, 1980, at the Missouri Intermediate Reformatory at the Algoa Correctional Center in Jefferson City.

[5] Malone's crime spree began on March 10, 1981, when he kidnapped 37-year-old Leroy Cambs in Santa Maria, California.

After forcing Cambs to drive him around for two hours, Malone ordered him into the trunk of his car in an underground parking lot in Los Angeles.

Malone and Crenshaw stole Rankin's car and took him in the trunk to a remote spot in the Mojave Desert just in or near California.

The cashier, 55-year-old Myrtle Dee Benham, was kidnapped, robbed, sexually assaulted, and battered to death with a pipe by Malone.

At dawn on March 21, just north of Blythe, Malone shot 51-year-old Minnie Ola White to death after robbing her.

[12] Crenshaw was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for his role in the crime spree.