Detectives got their break on November 20th when Bittaker and Norris were arrested on charges related to the attack on Shirley Sanders the month before. While failing to positively identify either of the perpetrators, both were in possession of drugs and were held over for parole violations. Roy Norris broke under the strain once in custody and began telling tales of murder. He claimed that the girls had been plied with free marijuana and offered modeling jobs. He said they drowned the screams of their abducted victims with the van's radio. On February 8, 1980, Roy NOrris took police to the San Dimas Canyon and San Gabriel Mountains to retrieve the skeletal remains of Leah Lamp and Jackie Gilliam. The ice pick was still in Jackie's skull when it was recovered and further marks of cruel mistreatment were also visible on the remains.
The two men were charged with five counts of murder and the LA County Sheriff Peter Pitchess anounced that they might be responsible for 30-40 other disappearances. By February 20, the photographs found in the van yielded 19 missing girls, but none were ever traced and Norris was done talking. On March 18, Norris pled guilty to all five counts of murder and turned state's evidence against Bittaker in return for a sentence of only 45-to-life, with the possibility of parole after 30 years served.
Lawrence Bittaker claimed that Norris informed him of the murders while they were in jail together. The jury wasn't buying. They returned a verdict of guilty on all counts and sentenced him to die. The judge covered all the bases, however, and imposed an alternate sentece of 199 years and four months, to be served in the event that Bittaker's sentence would ever be commuted to life imprisonment.
Bittaker was convicted of rape, torture, kidnapping, and murder on February 17, 1981 and sentenced to death. He is still on death row where he continues to receive fan mail from women, which he signs "Pliers" Bittaker. Norris was also sentenced, but was guaranteed not to serve a life sentence or be executed in exchange for his testimony against Bittaker. Norris will be eligible for parole in 2010.
When not busy filing frivolous lawsuits, Bittaker busies himself with a spot of poker. He got together with fellow serial killers Randy Kraft, Douglas Clark, and William Bonin until Bonin's execution in 1996.