Finally and most importantly, we want to thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for sustaining us and our families throughout this long journey. Gallon was recently arrested for the murder of his brother in their Forestville home. PRESS DEMOCRAT STAFF. 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. BRUTAL CRIME MAY . Unsolved Murder; Police Chases: San Rafael & Nearby Crime Log - San Rafael, CA - A look at some of this week's police, fire and courtroom incidents from around Marin County and across the North Bay. One-Year Anniversary of the Unsolved Murder of 12-Year-Old Angel Gaspar. She was so full of life, her grief-stricken mother told local newspapers. "In investigating the death, detectives found evidence that showed the man knew about the murders, the newpaper reported. We uncover the best of the city and put it all in an email for you. The . Gallon had previously been arrested for the shooting death of his brother Shamus at their mother's home. 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. Investigators believed it was an oil used in a machine shop, such as one that had metal-cutting equipment. Perhaps in your youth, you caught the episode of Unsolved Mysteries that featured "the Blue Lady," a ghost said to haunt the Moss Beach Distillery and roam the coastal cliffs nearby. Homicide detectives from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation into the deaths. It was identified as an occult symbol dating back to medieval England and suggested a possible connection to the Zodiac Killer. Modern advancements in DNA analysis have provided important clues in several cold cases throughout the country. The unsolved San Francisco killing of one of the world's greatest chefs. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled with a cord-like material and dumped naked in the ditch. Upon Gallon's arrest for the murder of his brother, Sheriff's Office Detectives took another opportunity to talk to him about the murders in Jenner. . Earlier that day, shed made a trip to San Franciscos Chinatown to buy a wooden soy sauce barrel. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Silent Witness . 17 infamous crimes in Sonoma County history. The Bay Area, while truly wonderful, is also the sad hometo our fare share of high-profile and terrifying crimes. Jeannette Kamahele, a 20-year-old Santa Rosa Junior College student,[33] was last seen on April 25, 1972, hitchhiking near the Cotati on-ramp of Highway 101. Police thought two fingerprints on the checkbook might belong to the killer. In the decades since 1979, several high-profile names have been suggested as to the identity of the Santa Rosa murderer. The cause of her death was strychnine poisoning 10 to 14 days before discovery. Gallon had a history of criminal misconduct, including attempted murder with a package bomb in June 2004, a conviction for wounding a man with an arrow and allegedly killing his younger brother in March 2017. [3], Kerry Ann Graham, 15, and Francine Marie Trimble, 14, of Forestville, disappeared in mid-December 1978. [65], Fredric Manalli, a 41-year-old Santa Rosa Junior College creative writing instructor,[66] was suspected[67] when, after his August 24, 1976 death in a head-on collision on Highway 12,[68] sadomasochistic drawings he had created depicting a former student, Kim Wendy Allen, who was one of the victims, were discovered among his belongings. Boaters discovered her partially submerged underneath a log in Mark West Creek. Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Classmates of the girls were questioned about their whereabouts at school the following In 1975, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a report stating that fourteen unsolved homicides between 1972 and 1974 were committed by the same perpetrator. Additionally, I want to thank the members of our community who have come forward with information on this case. Smiths disappearance was reported on March 28, 1971, and as of this writing, her body has never been found. [3] Allen was also carrying a soy barrel with red Chinese characters painted on the outside. Want to post on Patch? Police had believed the girls were runaways. Police also learned that an eyewitness had seen Jeanette getting into a brown Chevrolet pickup truck. Following Manallis death, police discovered several sadomasochistic drawings that Manalli had made featuring Allen, a former student. [22], On July 2, 1979, the skeletal remains of a young white female were found in a ravine[16] off Calistoga Road approximately 100 yards (91m) from where the body of Lori Lee Kursa had been recovered seven years earlier. This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone. For more about the Napa County Cold Case Investigation Unit, please see Cold Case Unit Investigates Unsolved Deaths and Nine Cold Cases Could Still Be Solved. [12], Lori Lee Kursa, 13, a Lawrence Cook Middle School student,[13] had been reported missing by her mother on November 11, 1972[4] after disappearing while they shopped at a U-Save and was last seen on November 20 or 21 in Santa Rosa while visiting friends,[13] having deliberately run away. Upon investigation, the value of the coins was estimated to be around $10 million dollars. Examinations of the remains found that both victims had been bound with duct tape and buried in plastic bags. A nurse at the hospital thought she looked about 21-years-old. 2011. Jeannette was a 20-year-old Santa Rosa Junior College student; she was last seen trying to hitch a ride near the Cotati onramp of Highway 101 on April 25, 1972. On their last day alive, the girls had gone to Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa in order to buy Christmas gifts for their friends and family. They were last seen hitchhiking on Guerneville Road, northwest of Santa Rosa. The US in the early 1970s was awash in serial murder. Sheriff's Office detectives are continuing to follow-up on leads and are working hard to complete the investigation. I loved her. The cause of death could not be determined. The following cold cases remain unanswered, and they continue to haunt locals to this day: Our most famous and perhaps scariest unsolved crime, the Zodiac Killermurdered throughout the Bay Area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The press conference was held at the Sheriff's Office building at 2796 Ventura Avenue in Santa Rosa. Following a small snowstorm on Thursday, December 28, 1972, both bodies were found 3.5 kilometers (2.2 mi) from the rural Porter Creek Road, located in the Franz Valley Road area. [5], On July 16, 2009, a 62-year-old drifter named Joseph Henry Burgess was killed in a shoot-out in the remote Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. and Bundys locations didnt match, and he was ruled out. To all who have worked this case over the years, we can't thank you enough . [36] These consist of the six found victims as of 1975 and the following: The unapprehended Zodiac Killer is a suspect,[51] due to similarities between an unknown symbol on his January 29, 1974 "Exorcist letter" to the San Francisco Chronicle, in which he claims 37 victims,[52] and the Chinese characters on the missing soy barrel carried by Kim Allen,[53] as well as stating an intention to vary his modus operandi in an earlier November 9, 1969 letter to the San Francisco Chronicle: "I shall no longer announce to anyone. "Sometimes I felt like I was letting the girls down, Carlstedt said in 1989. If you haven't seen David Fincher's film Zodiac, you should. But the M.O. The crime remains unsolved, and the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office recently asked for the publics help identifying a suspect in the case. At least seven women and girls were killed in the span of a few years, all dumped on the sides of roads in Sonoma County. The case remained unsolved at that time. Complicating matters even further is the fact police never found the murder sites. Her family, who still believed Carolyn was hitchhiking around the state, submitted her dental records when they learned an unidentified teenagers body was found in Sonoma County. Graham had a habit of running away to stay with friends, as had her older siblings, and her parents were not overly concerned at first when she did not come home. DNA testing linked him in 2022 to the 1996 unsolved murder of a woman in Californias wine country. Jason and Lindsay were just 26 and 22 years old at the time of their deaths. Friends told homicide detectives that Walsh planned on hitchhiking back to Garberville, a full 740 kilometers (460 mi) north of Malibu. She was last seen with friends in Santa Rosa on the day of her disappearance. Police also did not question any of the girls classmates and many were not aware they were considered missing. No known connection to him between Lindsay Cutshall or Jason Allen has been uncovered yet either. 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. Authorities suspect it is possible that she was a possible homicide victim and that her case could have been related to the other attacks in the area during the same time period, but she disappeared months before the killings began. Investigators are . Read More . The victim had been bound at the ankles and wrists, raped and slowly strangled with a cord for an estimated thirty minutes. A high school friend said she last saw the girls on a morning in December when all of them were smoking outside the high school. This victim has yet to be identified. He works as a freelance writer and has been published in The Weekly Standard, The Atlantic, Listverse, and other publications. No off-topic remarks. We will be presenting our report to the District Attorney's Office in the near future. [61], Robert Graysmith, in his book Zodiac Unmasked, claims that a Sonoma County sheriff revealed that chipmunk hairs were found on all of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker victims and that Allen had been collecting and studying the same species. More recently, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office announced it was looking into Jack Alexander Bokin; Bokin was linked to a cold case murder in 1996 with new DNA technology. Maureen, 12, and Yvonne, 13, were friends and students at Herbert Slater Middle School in Santa Rosa. Bundy was known to drive hundreds of miles to commit a murder. To this day, Jeannette Kamahele has never been found. (This is a really good theory.) This location connected Walsh with Michelle Way, a road that intersected with Lorraine Way in Santa Rosa. the deaths never accounted for or answered for, justice elusive. The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders were a series of at least seven unsolved homicides involving female hitchhikers that took place in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa of the North Bay area of California in 1972 and 1973. [11] Her checkbook was deposited in a drive-up mailbox across from the Kentfield, California Post Office sometime on the morning of March 24, 1972, 20 days after she was murdered. In the 1970s the murder of eight young women, hitchhiking in rural parts of Sonoma County broke the hearts of thousands and continues to torment the community to this day. Before he died, he confessed to raping and killing at least 27 other women throughout the. ", "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. [16], It was determined that the unidentified victim was approximately 16- to 21-years-old, wore hard contact lenses (kept in a metal candy tin with a picture of cherries on it), had red, auburn, or brown hair, was about 5feet 3inches (1.60m) tall and at one time had broken a rib which was healed by the time of the murder. . MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Sometimes, police get a case they just can't solve and also cannot leave. 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. Her parents found a note waiting for them at their Anderson, California, home. Some of these unsolved cases include the murder of 20-year-old Rosa Vasquez, who had been strangled and dumped in some shrubs near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco; 15-year-old Yvonne Quilantang, who was strangled to death while she was seven months pregnant; 14-year-old Donna M. Braun, who had been strangled to death and dumped in the Salinas River; and 24-year-old Nancy Patricia Gidley, who had been strangled to death 24 hours before her body was found behind George Washington High School in San Francisco. 1976: Alvin Maddux and Faye Maddux; Elaine Lehtinen, 1980: Charles Slack; Ruben Huijon; Douglas Hancock, 1981: Ian Dallas; Lloyd Johnson; Henry Villanueva, 1991: Kin Po-Ko; Peggy Swarts; Marty Davis, 2007-2009: Johnethel McGehee (McGhee's remains were found in the Berryessa area in 2009; detectives determined she died in 2007. UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: DNA analysis has helped investigators piece together many of the crimes, but others remain a mystery. And when they called the police, no one yet knew that the search for a killer now spanning five decades and counting had just begun. [6] It could not be conclusively proven whether or not Davis had been raped. The case has received considerable national attention, but the crime remained unsolved, until news given at a press conference on May 5, 2017, suggesting that authorities had solved the crime. Anyone with information about Georgia's case is asked to call the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at 707-565-2185 or 707-565-2650. [2], Carolyn Nadine Davis, 15, ran away from her home outside Anderson in Shasta County[3] on February 6, 1973[16] and spent the next five months traveling. She is buried in Pacific Grove. 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. They did not tell her brother that Graham was missing until they saw him in person years later. Trimbles mother reported her missing to police within a few days when she had not returned home. On that day, two middle school students, Maureen Sterling (left above) and Yvonne Weber (right above), went missing. [2] Investigators postulated that her body had been thrown from the road as the hillside brush appeared undisturbed. The middle school students, experiencing a little taste of freedom, must have been buzzing with excitement. [14], Location of shooting (red map pin) within Sonoma County (shown in green), Last edited on 19 September 2022, at 20:57, "Timeline: Who is the lone suspect in Jenner beach murders? She, like so many other victims, was last seen hitchhiking on Highway 101 near the town of Cotati. Modaferi was never heard from again, although her name pops up in local news every year or so as potential evidence still trickles in. Although DNA analysis has helped investigators piece together many of the crimes, others still remain a mystery. The sheriff pegged it as an obvious suicide, even though the dead guy didn't seem troubled and was about to take a walk along the railroad tracks with his brother and niece. Arthur Leigh Allen, the man who Graysmith believes was the Zodiac Killer, has also been named as a possible suspect. The broken neck would have prevented Kursa from moving, but it would have taken some time for her to die from the injury. I'm pleased to announce that the Sheriff's Office has made a major break-thru in the investigation surrounding the murders of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall that took place in August, 2004 in Jenner. I'm grateful to the dozens of detectives, from all of the Sheriff's Office investigative units, who persistently and faithfully worked on this case for nearly 13 years. A mate to the earring was not found at the scene. The mate to the earring was not found at the scene. She was a 19-year-old art student, described by friends as a "pure spirit," "innocent" and possessing a "child-like acceptance of people." Looking further into this, according to the same report, from 1965 to 2019 there were roughly 128,787 murders in California alone. Her body was found six days later by kayakers in Mark West Creek in Sonoma County. The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders remain some of the Bay Areas most baffling unsolved crimes. A reward of up to $2,500 is being. Detectives considered Gallon a suspect for 13 years before he was publicly named as the gunman. 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. Fifty years ago, Maureen Sterling and Yvonne Weber walked into Redwood Empire Ice Arena in Santa Rosa. Gallon is well known to Sheriff's Office Investigators, and early on in the Jenner murder investigation Gallon was a person of interest who detectives never ruled out as a possible suspect. Like so many of us, Kristin Modaferirelocated to the Bay Area from across the country. [7] Her partially submerged body was found six days later by kayakers in Mark West Creek. The bodies of Lindsay Cutshall, 22, and her fianc Jason S. Allen, 26, were found on Fish Head Beach, between Russian Gulch and the mouth of the Russian River, in the small coastal hamlet of Jenner, California. He died in December 2021 at the California Department of Corrections Medical Facility in Vacaville, where he was serving a life sentence for attempted murder. The friend declined to accompany the girls to smoke with the man, whom she had never seen before. [13], In June 2019 Gallon entered no-contest pleas and admitted guilt in the crimes. Friends said she was a frequent hitchhiker, which was not uncommon for young women at the time. Last week Shaun Michael Gallon, the Forestville felon named more than a year ago as the lone suspect in the 2004 Jenner Beach shooting deaths of Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, was formally charged by Sonoma County prosecutors marking a milestone in a shocking case of violence that vexed sheriff's detectives for years. The case was unsolved for two decades after investigators. A single bird-shaped earring was found at the scene that Grahams sister later identified as one she had given to Graham. 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