Lauren Meanza was asleep in the downstairs bedroom of the Dorset Street home in Napa, CA, that she shared with Adriane Insogna and Leslie Mazzara, when at around 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2004, she was awakened by the sound of breaking glass and screaming. Meanza fled from the home and hid in the backyard. From her hiding place, she could hear someone climb out of the basement window and run off into the night. Finally feeling it was safe to return to the home, Meanza entered and went upstairs. There she found Mazzara, 26, dead and face down in a pool of her own blood. Insogna, 26, was behind the bed, bleeding but still alive. Meanza called 911 and then got into her car and drove away. Paramedics were soon on the scene, but they were too late to save Insogna.
Both women died from multiple stab wounds. Investigators discovered Turkish Gold cigarettes outside the house. None of the women smoked, which led them to believe the perpetrator left them there. Police also found blood that did not match Insogna or Mazzara. The blood matched the DNA that was found on the cigarettes. In September 2005, Eric Copple, the husband of Insogna’s best friend Lily Prudhomme, arrived at the Napa police station and confessed to murdering the women.
Copple said he believed he was about to be arrested because of the link between the cigarettes and the blood in the house. Further DNA testing showed Copple was a match to the evidence found at the scene. In court, Copple claimed he was depressed and drinking at the time, which led to him killing Insogna and Mazzara. In 2007, he was convicted of the double murders and sentenced to life in prison.