Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were college students at Pacific Union and on September 27, 1969, they were having a picnic at Lake Berryessa when a man approached them wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. On his chest hung a 3”x3” circular cross-like symbol. He had a gun but never used it. Instead, he tied both of them up and stabbed them. He proceeded to draw a circular cross symbol on Bryan’s car with a pen, and then wrote beneath it, "Vallejo/12-20-68/7-4-69/Sept 27-69-6:30/by knife." The killer then made a call to the Sheriff’s office from a payphone to report the crime. The police got a wet print off the phone, but it did not match any criminal in their system.
Cecelia Shepard went into a coma and passed away two days later. Bryan Hartnell, however, survived, and gave a good recount to the police and media about what happened, and what the perp looked like.
It’s interesting to make a note that Detective Ken Narlow of the Napa County Sheriff’s office was assigned to the investigation at the start, and continued working the case until his retirement in 1987, and even then, investigated on his own until he passed away at eighty years old on December 2nd, 2010. Talk about dedication.
In San Francisco on October 11, 1969, a cab driver by the name of Paul Stine stopped for a passenger when he was instantly shot in the head with a 9mm gun, Three teenagers witnessed the killer take the cabbie’s money, tear of a piece off the driver’s shirt, and wipe down the cab. They each gave a description of the killer and more composite sketches were drawn up. Over the years following, detectives investigated over 2500 suspects under the tutelage of Detectives Dave Toschi and Bill Armstrong. The killings were all happening in Northern California; thus each county would have to investigate the murders in their own backyards.
The Zodiac killer prepared another letter and just three days later on October 14, the Chronicle received it along with a swatch of the cab driver’s shirttail to prove he was the killer. In addition, the Zodiac Killer threatened to kill school children on a bus and wrote, “just shoot out the front tire & then pick off the kiddies as they come bouncing out."
On June 19, 1970, Police Sgt. Richard Radetich was shot in the head with a .38 caliber handgun while sitting in his patrol car, writing a parking ticket. In another letter to a newspaper, the killer said, “I shot a man sitting in a parked car with a .38.” The killer continued writing to the media with letters and greeting cards taunting the police and public.
Donna Lass worked as a Nurse at the Sierra Tahoe Casino. On September 6 , 1970, she finished her shift at 2am and was never seen again. In one of his notorious letters to the media, on March 22, 1971, the Zodiac took credit for killing Donna Lass and hiding her body. Things were quiet for about three years, until January 29, 1974, when the Zodiac once again sent a letter to the Chronicle praising the movie, “The Exorcist,” as the best comedy that he had ever seen.
The case of the Zodiac Killer has been investigated by numerous people officially and unofficially for over forty years. The murder cases remain open to this day with the SFPD, Napa County, Solano County, and the California Justice Department.
A website is available and is quite interesting if you want to check it out:
http://www.zodiackiller.com
The Original Night Stalker
Ventura, Dana Point and Irvine, California (50+ Victims)
It all started in Southern California in December of 1979 and continued to at least May of 1986. I will refer to the Original Night Stalker as ONS.
In a condo in Goleta California on December 30, 1979, Debra Manning, thirty-five, and Dr. Robert Offerman, forty-four, were found shot to death in bed. Some neighbors thought they’d heard gunfire, but weren’t sure and never reported it. The killer had actually brought along his German shepherd, and after he’d shot couple he’d fed the dog leftover turkey. He then went next door, which was vacant, and stole a bike. The neighbor, who happened to be an FBI Agent, heard the noise and gave chase on foot, but the ONS abandoned the bike and ran off.
On March 13, 1980, another couple was found murdered in their home. Lyman Smith, forty-three, and Charlene Smith, thirty-three, were beaten to death with a fireplace log, and bound with drapery cords on their ankles and wrists. Then, again in 1980, on August 19, newlyweds, Patrice Harrington, twenty-seven, and her husband Keith, twenty-four, were beaten to death in their home in Dana Point.
The following year there was another home attack and this time only the woman was home because her husband was in hospital recuperating from an illness. On February 6, 1981, Manuela Witthuhn, twenty-eight, was murdered in her home in Irvine. Her body showed signs of being tied before being beaten, but no ligature marks or murder weapons were found at the scene. It was believed that the ONS tried to make it look like a botched robbery, as he left her TV in the backyard, and stole a crystal curio and lamp.
Just five months later in Goleta on July 26, 1981, the ONS went to the home of Gregory Sanchez, twenty-seven, and Cheri Domingo, thirty-five, and brought along his German Shepherd again, as shown through trace evidence. Both victims were shot to death and Gregory’s body was found in the closet. Neighbors heard no gunshots even though the houses were close together.
There was a five year break between kills, but potentially not. Ten murders were linked through the dog’s DNA, but it is suspected the ONS killed approximately fifty people.
Janelle Cruz was only eighteen years old, and home alone as her family was in Mexico on vacation. On May 4, 1986 the ONS entered her home and beat her to death with a pipe wrench.
Some Law Enforcement authorities guesstimate that the ONS’s combined total number of victims is around fifty, including his rape victims in Sacramento County and Contra Costa County, and his murder and rape victims in Ventura, Dana Point, and Irvine, California. In the beginning, the ONS was actually called the East Area Rapist and was believed to be responsible for the raping of almost 100 women. He would target females living alone, but escalated his modus operandi and moved on to couples and killing; hence he is called the Original Night Stalker.
It is interesting to note that the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker case was the determining factor in the passage of legislation leading to the organization of California's DNA database which authorizes the collection of DNA from all accused and convicted felons in California. California's DNA data retrieval and storage program is considered by experts to be second only to Virginia's in size and effectiveness in solving cold cases. Ironically, while the California DNA database motivated by this case has solved numerous previously unsolved cold cases across the country, the original case remains unsolved.
The Twin Cities Killer
Minneapolis and St. Paul (34 Victims)
There was a growing concern among the residents of the twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis between 1986 and 1994. Over that span, thirty-four young women in their twenties and thirties were found dismembered, mutilated, and sometimes decapitated. Most of them were prostitutes who, unfortunately, have always been easy prey for serial killers.
The police came up with various scenarios to explain the mounting list of dead young women: there was one or more serial killers plundering these women; there was a serial killer; possibly several murderers who were killing under the guise of the initial serial killer; or an abundance of non-serial killers targeting prostitutes.