Killer of alleged ‘gay grifter’ mastermind breaks his silence

The man who killed the alleged mastermind in one of the most notorious and complex murder cases in California history is breaking his silence. In a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter on Wednesday, August 13, Rodney Sanchez denied that Kaushal Niroula’s killing was a contract killing and said he acted alone.

Police and prosecutors say Niroula was a prolific con man. His alleged grifts included the theft of the deeds to three luxury condos in San Francisco, the swindling of a Japanese woman out of more than a half-million dollars, another con that took $400,000 from a Bay Area art collector, and a grift that helped hasten the demise of a college in San Francisco.

Niroula was convicted in the 2008 killing of gay retired art dealer Clifford Lambert, 74. Prosecutors said he conspired along with four other Bay Area men to kill Lambert in a scheme to steal his possessions and the deed to his Palm Springs home.

Lambert’s remains were found in northern Los Angeles County in 2016 and 2017 but weren’t identified until 2020.

Sanchez, 64, was not one of Niroula’s alleged victims. He was his cellmate. Sanchez killed Niroula, 41, in a Riverside County jail in September 2022. One of the men convicted of Lambert’s murder, now-disbarred gay San Francisco attorney David Replogle, reiterated to the B.A.R. in a telephone interview from prison on Thursday, August 14, that he is convinced that Niroula’s murder was a hit.

Court records show that Sanchez was convicted of killing Niroula on September 19, 2022, the day he was arraigned. He pleaded guilty and the judge sentenced him to 75 years in prison.

When told that Sanchez says he acted alone and received no compensation for the killing, Replogle said, “He would never admit it. Who pleads guilty at their arraignment? No one.”

In his interview with the B.A.R., Sanchez said, “This was no contract killing. They are just giving you a bunch of bullshit,” referring to Replogle and the other men who were convicted for Lambert’s murder.

Sanchez mentioned that he read the book on the case, “Until Someone Gets Hurt,” by Sherrie Lueder and Tyson Wrensch.

“Kaushal (Niroula) and David (Replogle) were a bunch of conniving individuals,” Sanchez said. “They put up a bunch of stumbling blocks in pursuit of their freedom.”

Sanchez would not disclose his motive for killing Niroula because he was concerned it could negatively impact the appeal of his original case.

When asked if he regretted killing Niroula, Sanchez responded, “That is a double-edged sword,” and he reiterated his concern that if he discusses his reasons for killing Niroula that it would jeopardize his appeal.

According to court documents, Sanchez was tried and convicted in 2023 of eight counts in connection with the sexual assault on a minor. According to the Desert Sun newspaper, Sanchez’s victim was a Riverside area girl under 14 years old and the crimes against her took place in 2009 and 2010.

Sanchez told the B.A.R. that during the time when he shared a cell with Niroula, Niroula never admitted or denied being involved in Lambert's murder.

“He was a very intelligent individual but he lacked common sense,” said Sanchez.

Niroula’s family is suing Riverside County for wrongful death. They say that Niroula was a transgender woman who should never have been put in a cell with a convicted sex offender.

 
Sanchez told the B.A.R. that Niroula appeared to him as a man and that he was being adequately protected by jail staff.

The lawsuit against the county alleged that Sanchez had beaten and strangled Niroula and that the attack lasted for a minimum of 68 minutes. The suit states that the beating could be heard by jail inmates and should have been observed through a video feed by the jail staff.

One of the men convicted of Lambert’s murder, former Daly City resident Miguel Bustamante, who identifies as bisexual, told the B.A.R. that shortly after Niroula’s murder he had been forwarded a note from Sanchez stating that he had killed Niroula. Bustamante said that he had turned the note over to authorities. Sanchez told the B.A.R. that he never sent the note.

The case has gotten renewed attention with the sentencing of Replogle last month, the sentencing in April of another defendant in the case, gay former San Francisco resident Daniel Garcia, and the release of the 12-part podcast “American Hustlers” that dropped earlier this year. The NBC show “Dateline” plans a two-hour program on the case that could air as soon as this fall.

Bustamante, Replogle, and Garcia were all sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Niroula was born in Nepal but was granted a student visa by New College in San Francisco’s Mission District. He falsely claimed to be Nepalese royalty. He was later dubbed the Dark Prince because of that claim. He promised the school a $1 million donation. The donation never came and the school closed in 2008 amid financial and accreditation issues. A school administrator told the San Francisco Chronicle that Niroula had conned him out of thousands of dollars of his personal money.

The Lambert murder case had been dubbed the “gay grifters” case because defendants Garcia, Replogle, and Niroula identified as gay. In the wrongful death case being brought by Niroula’s family, court papers say Niroula was female and identified as a woman at the time of their murder.

The wrongful death case had been scheduled to go to trial in September, but Niroula’s family attorney, Denisse Gastélum, told the B.A.R. this week that the trial has been postponed until October 28.