Mark Anthony "Gator" Rogowski (born August 10, 1966)[1] is an American former professional skateboarder who was convicted of murder.
His life was chronicled in a critically acclaimed 2003 documentary titled Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator by American filmmaker Helen Stickler.
He was the first skateboarder to receive his own 'pro-deck' by Vision Sports, and his pro-deck proved popular and was soon followed by the Mark Gonzales and Tom Groholski models.
[3] Rogowski was one of a group of elite skaters who enjoyed significant fame in the 1980s, alongside Christian Hosoi, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, and Steve Caballero.
[8][9] At a 1987 skate show in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S., Rogowski was introduced to Brandi McClain and her good friend Jessica Bergsten, an aspiring model.
Soon afterward, he began a tumultuous long-term relationship with McClain—they appeared together in numerous advertisements and promotional videos for Vision, which had become one of the top-selling skateboarding brands of the 1980s.
[10] In 1989 Rogowski also worked as a stunt double on the 1989 film Gleaming the Cube, which starred Christian Slater, and appeared, along with McClain, in the music video for Free Fallin' by Tom Petty.
The sudden lifestyle change contributed to the end of McClain's relationship with Rogowski, along with his occasional bouts of violence (which included his locking her in a closet) and unprovoked jealousy, and she returned to her parents' home in San Diego, California.
Rogowski then either strangled or suffocated her and drove the body to the Shell Canyon desert, where he disposed of her corpse in a shallow grave.
[3] Concerned when his daughter failed to answer phone calls, Bergsten's father reported her missing and put up posters with her photo requesting information all over the city of San Diego.
[3] Police searched his home and found blood that soaked through the carpet padding and into the floorboards in two small spots, adjacent to where Bergsten's head allegedly rested.
[14] Following the advice of his attorney, Rogowski pled guilty to first-degree murder and rape, thus avoiding the death penalty or life without the chance of parole.
He claimed to accept responsibility for his acts, but also began blaming outside factors unrelated to the death, such as his previous sexual activities outside of marriage, pornography, and "not following the word of the Bible.
Five uniformed bailiffs with metal detectors were at the hearing due to a rumor that Stephen Bergsten, the father of the victim, would attempt to harm Rogowski.
Although Rogowski claimed to take responsibility for his actions while in court, he later attempted to retract his police confession and change his story, placing a significant share of the blame on Jessica herself.
The next thing I knew, I look down and she’s not breathing and not moving.”Johnson wrote that during this interview he was "listening to a man skating away from the idea that the murder was really his fault.
However, Governor Gavin Newsom again reversed the parole board's decision, ensuring Rogowski would continue to serve his sentence.
[20][21] A documentary examining Mark Rogowski's trajectory, Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator, was released in 2003 by Palm Pictures.
The film was written, directed, and produced by Helen Stickler, and features interviews with other professional skateboarders such as Tony Hawk, Kevin Staab, Lance Mountain, Ken Park, Steve Caballero, Jason Jessee, Craig Johnson, Stacy Peralta, and Rogowski.