Most Popular. The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders remain some of the Bay Area's most baffling unsolved crimes. [2] Her home life was troubled and she was a frequent hitchhiker and habitual runaway. One Year Anniversary of the Unsolved Murder of 15-Year-Old Devin Griffiths. Over the past half-century several unsolved murders have haunted the North Coast. The . It was 9 p.m. on a Friday, and their mothers wouldnt be back to pick them up for two hours. Read More. Maureen Louise Sterling, 12, and Yvonne Lisa Weber, 13,[2] both Herbert Slater Middle School students,[3] disappeared around 9 p.m. on February 4, 1972, after visiting the Redwood Empire Ice Arena. Camping is prohibited on the rural stretch of beach where Cutshall and Allen met their deaths, but drifters and hitchhikers on State Route 1 (which runs alongside Fish Head Beach) are known to use the oceanfront site for sleeping. At least seven women and girls were killed in the span of a few years, all dumped on the sides. Almost an entire year would go by before Sterling and Webers bodies were found. Benjamin Welton is a West Virginia native currently living in Boston. I'd like to make a brief statement and then I will take some questions. UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: DNA analysis has helped investigators piece together many of the crimes, but others remain a mystery. Get Started Now Jason and Lindsay were just 26 and 22 years old at the time of their deaths. Under California law, law enforcement agencies may ask the Governor to issue rewards in certain unsolved cases where they have exhausted all investigative leads, to encourage individuals with information about the crimes to come forward. In May 2006, 21 months after Cutshall and Allen were slain, Sonoma County Sheriff's detectives released new evidence in the case, which they hoped would generate new leads. Based on the condition of the remains, she was likely killed about three years prior. All of the victims were found nude in rural areas near steep embankments or in creek beds near roads.[1]. Eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Kursa in Santa Rosa told investigators that she had been thrown into a van on Parkhurst Drive by two unidentified men. [27] One expert consulted by authorities determined that the victim was likely killed between 1972 and 1974 and was about 19-years-old. Bundy was known to drive hundreds of miles to commit a murder. No clothing was found, so it was assumed they had been nude when they were left about 66 feet from the road. No official missing person report was filed for Graham until decades later, when Grahams sister suspected the victims found were Graham and Trimble and urged police to conduct DNA testing. The case remained unsolved at that time. Modaferi was never heard from again, although her name pops up in local news every year or so as potential evidence still trickles in. According to Yvonnes stepfather, Santa Rosa police insisted the young pair were willing runaways. Only seven victims can officially be tied to the mysterious killer, five of whom actually died. The Sonoma County Sheriff's department offered a $50,000 reward for information.[5]. These skeletons would not be identified as Graham and Trimble until 2015. Davis would not be seen again until her corpse was discovered on July 31. ", "No Contest Plea In Notorious 2004 Jenner Beach Murders; DA Agrees Not To Seek Death Penalty", "Jenner beach killer Shaun Gallon sentenced to life in prison", "10 years on, Jenner beach killings haunt 2 families", "Retracing the doomed couple's steps / Slain Christian camp counselors spent some time in S.F. A Pan Am airplane named "The Romance of the Skies" took off from SFO in 1957 but never arrived in Hawaii as scheduled. She was last seen alive on December 22, 1973, at Zuma Beach in the tiny resort town of Malibu, California. [3], Kerry Ann Graham, 15, and Francine Marie Trimble, 14, of Forestville, disappeared in mid-December 1978. Modern advancements in DNA analysis have provided important clues in several cold cases throughout the country. Authorities could not identify a cause of death for the victims who were found in 1979 but duct tape was found at the scene, likely indicating the two girls had been bound. Panic rose in their parents throats as they searched the skating rink for Maureen and Yvonne. Officially, however, the mystery remains unsolved. The couple met in 2002 while Cutshall was a student at the Appalachian Bible College in West Virginia, and became engaged six weeks later. No known connection to him between Lindsay Cutshall or Jason Allen has been uncovered yet either. Earlier that day, shed made a trip to San Franciscos Chinatown to buy a wooden soy sauce barrel. [5], Both Cutshall and Allen were counselors at Rock-N-Water, a Christian summer camp in El Dorado County, California. The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Hard contact lenses were not often sold in the United States and Canada after the mid-1970s, when soft contact lenses became available. Then someone killed him, An SF man was found dead in his locked home. Authorities later said she had traveled to Illinois and New Mexico. ", "Secret Witness - Officials seek killer of woman", https://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/strychnine_killed_caroline.pdf, "Is he Zodiak? 5. Search continues for Bay Area serial killer who murdered at least 7 women and girls, Restaurant chain slated to close site at Bay Area mall, Grapevine closed indefinitely due to heavy snow and ice, Graupel falls on Disneyland, shocks guests, Plan to bring bullet train from LA to Vegas is underway, What it looks like inside Coit Towers former apartment, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, Hundreds of thousands of workers have abandoned downtown SF, Avalanche slams into Tahoe apartment building amid blizzard, Tahoe's snowfall totals are on track to break records, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, Popular yet divisive fast food chain coming to this Bay Area town, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck. The case was unsolved for two decades after investigators. We will remove any comments or commenters that do not follow this commenting policy. At least it should be. The helicopter spotted the bodies and notified the department. Her left earlobe had not been pierced. the deaths never accounted for or answered for, justice elusive. The North Carolina native had just moved to Oakland and taken a job at a San Francisco coffee shop when she disappeared in 1997. According to Robert Graysmith in his book Zodiac Unmasked, Manallis belongings had included pictures of himself as Freda, a lock of hair in his wallet, and letters outlining his interests in sex slavery and large-breasted women.[4]. [1] She was carrying the barrel, which had red Chinese characters on it, when she was last seen hitchhiking near a ramp to northbound Highway 101 in San Rafael. Specifically, Trimbles mother filed a missing child report with the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office in mid-December, while the Graham family did not report their daughter missing until Christmas Eve. But there wasn't enough evidence to close the case." In August of 2004, a young couple. The Bay Area, while truly wonderful, is also the sad hometo our fare share of high-profile and terrifying crimes. Want to post on Patch? Looking further into this, according to the same report, from 1965 to 2019 there were roughly 128,787 murders in California alone. And the dedication of all the lieutenants, sergeants, detectives, and support personnel of Sheriff's Office Investigations throughout the years has totally amazed us. She, like so many other victims, was last seen hitchhiking on Highway 101 near the town of Cotati. We have appreciated your support for this case throughout our thirteen-year ordeal. All told, it had taken 30 minutes for Allen to expire. The rifle is uncommon, considered too high caliber for most ranchers, and most likely would have required hand loaded ammunition. The victim had not been raped and likely died one to two weeks prior to discovery. However, a US Department of Justice report published in 1992 ruled out Bundys involvement due to gas receipts showing that Bundy had not been in the area on the dates in question. A single bird-shaped earring was found at the scene that Grahams sister later identified as one she had given to Graham. Neither caller was able to provide further details. Bundy was executed in 1989 after being convicted of murdering two women and a 12-year-old girl in Florida. [1] Resslers in-depth penetration into the minds of sexual sociopaths lead him to become the worlds foremost expert on murder. Lori had a history of running away, and it was believed she initially left of her own volition to stay with friends in Santa Rosa. [7] Her partially submerged body was found six days later by kayakers in Mark West Creek. Other investigators later cast doubt on the meaning of the twig figure and whether it had any connection to the girls murder. The police did, however, conclude that the girls had been murdered elsewhere and that their killer had kept their clothes, possibly as trophies.[2]. She was discovered wedged under a log; investigators believed it was possible she had floated several miles downstream from the initial dump site, as it had rained heavily in recent days. I'm Steve Freitas, the Sheriff here in Sonoma County. "It's a horrible, senseless crime," said Margo Rohrbacher of the Central Marin Police. The girls told their friend that they were going to hitchhike to a party in Santa Rosa but did not say who they were meeting. Dear Mom, it read. Crime app could shed new. February 4, 1972, proved to be a tragic day in Sonoma County, California. A California deputy stopped a van with 2 corpses inside. Almost four years later, investigators caught a break when Fredric Manalli died in a car accident on Highway 12 in August 1976. Investigators made the tragic match. The case remained unsolved at that time. The coroner determined she died of strychnine poisoning. Finally and most importantly, we want to thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for sustaining us and our families throughout this long journey. The city of Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County, California, was once the location for just one series of horrific murders, which would go on to shock this . [1][64] A 2011 San Francisco Chronicle article noted that the dates of the credit card receipts show there would have been enough time for Bundy to drive to California, commit the crimes, and then drive back to Washington. [5] Their bodies were found on December 28, 1972, [6] 2.2 miles (3.5km) north of Porter Creek Road on Franz Valley Road, down a steep embankment approximately 66 feet (20m) off the east side of the roadway. On July 8, 1979, skeletal remains were found in a shallow embankment inside the Jackson State Forest in Mendocino County, California. Her body has never been found. Trimbles mother reported her missing to police within a few days when she had not returned home. Moses was last seen getting into a car with a 25- to 30-year old man in Santa Rosa on Aug. 13, 1997. Kim went missing on March 4, 1972. In Mendocino County, DNA evidence allowed sheriff's detectives to close the books on the quarter-century old murder investigation of Georgina Pacheco, 20, who was raped and bludgeoned to death by her brother-in-law, Robert James Parks in 1988. The bodies of the slain couple were not discovered until Wednesday, August 18, when the Sheriff's helicopter was dispatched following a report of a man who was stranded on a cliff above Fish Head Beach. The mystery surrounding her death has always messed with my head, brother Larry Kursa told the Press Democrat in 2011. Katie Dowd is the SFGATE managing editor. Officially, however, the mystery remains unsolved. Public assistance is vital to law enforcement, and rewards may encourage the public cooperation needed to . Camo beer originates in Wisconsin, is no longer made, and is an uncommon beer in California. A true crime magazine, Front Page Detective, published an article in September 1975 linking the Santa Rosa murders with the Zodiac Killer and witchcraft. The cause of the plane's crash remains a mystery. With the window quickly closing on any hopes of catching a still-living suspect, here is what investigators know about the hitchhiker murders that terrorized the young women of the Bay Area. Shockingly, Daviss corpse was left almost at the exact same place where the bodies of Maureen Sterling and Yvonne Weber had been found. She was last seen alive on July 15, 1973. Although Graham and Trimble are only suspected victims of the Santa Rosa murderer, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence, from the use of a ravine to the fact that both girls were known to hitchhike, to suggest that they ran afoul of the unknown serial murderer. Unlike the killers first two victims, Kim Wendy Allen was a teenager (19, to be exact) and a college student attending Santa Rosa Junior College. Jenner Beach Double Murder Camping near the beach is one of life's great pleasures. Dental records were not a match, however, and Jeannettes body has never been found. Yvonne Quilantang, 15, was found strangled in a vacant, Nancy Feusi, 22, disappeared after going dancing at a club in the, Brenda Kaye Merchant, 19, was found stabbed to death at her home on February 1, 1974, in, Donna Maria Braun, 14, whose strangled body was found at 7 p.m. on September 29, 1974 in the, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 10:39. 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