The Unsolved Murder of Cheri Jo Bates

The October 30, 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates

 

The Murder of Cheri-Jo Bates

 

Cheri Jo Bates was a student at Riverside Community College (RCC) and was brutally murdered on October 30, 1966. Her dream was to be a flight attendant and travel the world. She had attempted to obtain a flight attendant position out of high school and was rejected – she attended RCC in the hopes of improving her chances in the next round of hiring.

 

Cheri Jo was from Riverside and resided with her father, Joseph Bates. She was dating her high school sweetheart, Denis Highland, and they were engaged to be married. Denis was attending San Francisco State on a football scholarship at the time of her murder. (About four hundred miles away, or a six-hour drive). She had a part-time job as a bank teller – mainly to pay for her lime green Volkswagen, which she was especially proud of. Note that I linked to a magazine article on her murder, but I also pulled from FBI and local police reports, and other sources.

 

I cite the magazine article because it is one source that is pretty comprehensive. The article has a salacious 1960’s cover page, but the story itself has good content. I know a lot of researchers are passionate about the Zodiac case – if my post contains any inaccuracies or there is other additional information please note so in the comments.

 

Cheri Jo’s case always gets lumped in with the Zodiac killer discussion when it is far from clear that the Zodiac is the perpetrator – I think she should get attention on her own.

 

FACTS

Cheri Jo attended the Sunday, October 30 morning church service with her father. Her father went to the beach after church and Cheri Jo stayed home to work on a paper on the Electoral College. Her father returned home late in the afternoon to see a note on the refrigerator reading “Dad – went to RCC Library”.

 

A neighbor recalled seeing her lime green Volkswagen parked at her house at 4:45 pm. Cheri Jo was seen by a friend waiting for the library to open at 5:40 pm, which gives a rough timeline of [when she left] (http://www.zodiackiller.com/InsideDetective7.html). Police believe she ate a roast beef sandwich shortly before leaving home.

 

The library didn’t open until 6:00 – a friend reported waiting with her for it to open. That is one of only two reported sightings of Cheri Jo after she left her home. (A librarian reported seeing them at the library but could not recall what time). Friends at the library at 6:40 [did not report seeing her] (http://www.zodiackiller.com/InsideDetective5.html)

 

At 6:30 the next morning, Cheri Jo’s body was discovered by a campus groundskeeper near Terencina drive on the campus, slightly west of the library annex. A campus map can be found here. (The crime scene was west of building 1, and you can see the student parking lot off to the left side of the map).

 

Cheri Jo’s remains were found on a side street of Tericina drive, which led from the library to a student parking area. The injuries inflicted were horrific – the autopsy recounted 26 different injuries to her body. At the scene was a men’s Timex watch, spattered with dried paint. The police determined the watch was sold at an overseas military base. The watch was set to 9:07 PM. The person wearing the watch had a seven-inch circumference wrist. Footprints left at the scene correspond to a size 8-10 Wing Walker shoe. (Popular shoe with the military). Also clutched in Cheri Jo’s fingers were four strands of a Caucasian male's hair. A DNA sample was eventually recovered from the hair. Police have stated they believe the hair may be unrelated to the crime, but that was about a suspect the hair cleared.

 

A woman who lived near the murder scene recounted hearing two screams at around 10:00-10:30 PM, followed by a car starting. (This is complicated by daylight savings time – some people argue that this witness may be mistaken based on DST – that she hadn’t wound her clocks back and it was 9:00 – 9:30.)

The coroner made several findings of note: Cheri Jo had eaten her last meal of a roast beef sandwich between two and four hours before deher ath. Police believe she ate at around 5:00 pm so this would place the time of death at 7:00 – 9:00. And the time of death, based on rigor and body temperature, was initially placed at nine to twelve hours before the autopsy (i.e. before 9:00 am, so 9:00 to midnight.) and later revised to approximately 10:30 based on rigor and body temperature. The murder weapon was a 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch pocket knife. There was no sign of sexual assault.

 

Police found Cheri Jo’s Volkswagen approximately 200 feet west of her body, parked on Terracina Drive. The windows had been rolled down and the keys were left in the ignition. The middle distributor wire had been disconnected, so her car would not start. Some reports have additional wires being pulled. There were greasy hands and fingerprints on the door.

 

Police brought everyone who had been in the library that night back to the library for a reenactment of the night of the 30th. A total of around 83 people showed up. All males there volunteered hair samples and fingerprints. None matched. One man was missing – multiple people recounted seeing a heavy-set bearded man at the library that night and he wasn’t at the reenactment. Several people also recounted parking next to a light-colored 1947-1952 Studebaker sedan in the library parking lot, yet it had not returned for the reenactment. Nobody reported seeing Cheri Jo in the library that night, save one librarian who couldn't recall when. There was also an older woman who was in the library that night who didn't show.

 

Writings After: The Poem and the Letters

 

The Poem

In December 1966 a janitor discovered a poem carved into a desk that had been put into storage available here. Some believe it may be connected to the murder. The poem reads as follows

 

Sick of living/unwilling to die

 

cut.

 

clean.

 

if red;

 

clean

 

blood spurting:

 

       dripping:

 

       spilling: 

all over her new

 

dress

 

oh well,

 

it was red

 

anyway.

 

life draining into an uncertain death

 

she won’t

 

die

 

this time

 

someone here

 

just wait for til

 

next time

The Killers Letter

 

On December 29, 1966, two identical typed letters were delivered to the Riverside Police Department and the Riverside Enterprise, a local newspaper. A copy is here The text of the letter read as follows:

She was young and beautiful but now she is battered and dead. She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake at night thinking about my next victim. MayMaybe shell is the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening at about seven. Or maybe she will be the shapely brunette that said no when I asked her for a date in high school. But maybe it will not be either. But I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see. So don't make it too easy for me. Keep your sisters, daughters, and wives off the street and alleys. Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaughter like a lamb. She did not put up a struggle. But I did. It was a ball. I first cut the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home. When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time she asked me, "about time for what ? ". I said it was about time for her to die. I grabbed her round the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat. She went very willingly. Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands, but only one thing was on my mind. Making her pay for all the brush off's that she had given me during the years prior. She died hard. She squirmed and shook as I choked her, and her lips twitched. She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up. I plunged the knife into her and it broke. I then finished the job by cutting her throat. I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game. This letter should be published for all to read it. It just might save that girl in the alley. But that's up to you. It will be on your conscience. Not mine. Yes, I did make that call to you also. It was just a warning. Beware... am stalking your girls now.

CC. Chief of Police Enterprise.

 

The letter states that “she did not put up a fight”, which is wrong. But the letter is collaborated by the broken knife and the kick to the head. The autopsy refers to an irregular laceration to the throat and a crisscrossedbruise pattern on her face (like the bottom of a shoe). Additionally, the police think the letter is authentic, specifically stating that the author knew details only the killer would know. (A letter from Riverside PD to Napa PD, here and here Note the spelling mistake “maybe.

 

The Taunting Letters

On April 30, 1967, Bate’s father, the police, and the newspaper all received taunting letters referencing her death. The letters can be found here.

 

They are handwritten and read as follows:

 

Letter 1: To the Press-Enterprise, a local paper. Note that this envelope was marked: ATTN: Editor.

 

BATES HAD

 

TO DIE

 

THERE WILL

 

BE MORE

Letter 2: To Joseph Bates, Cheri Jo’s father

She Had To

Die There

will Be

More

Letter 3: To the Riverside Police

BATES HAD

TO DIE

THERE Will

Be MORE

 

IIsis was the killer. Sherwood Morrill, a handwriting expert assigned to the Zodiac case, matched the handwriting to confirmed Zodiac letters. However, an FBI report was inconclusive. Additionally, John Shimoda, Director of the Crime Laboratory of the United States Post Office, disputed Morrill’s conclusion.

 

Patricia Hautz Letter

On November 1, 1967, a typed letter to the editor of the Press-Enterprise was written by Patricia Hautz, which can be read here.

 

Nov. 1, 1967.

 

To the Editor,

 

Your human interest story (Oct 1, 1967) about Cheri, the RCC girl that was killed, was very interesting. Perhaps a story about the boy that killed her would be more rewarding. If people were to read about the life of the boy turned killer, they might stop to think about the lives of their children. “ Are we laying the blueprints for another killer?” might be one of the questions brought to mind by such a story.

 

With Hope

 

Patricia Hautz

 

Fellow Student

 

There are no records of a student at Riverside Community College named Patricia Hautz. As far as I know, she has not been tracked down. Some have speculated that this letter was written by the killer.

 

One thing of note –the Hautz letter envelope was lost. In 1997, an author named Howard Davis was writing a book on the Zodiac. While searching the Press-Enterprises archives he alleges that he discovered an envelope missing a letter, dating to 1967. The envelope allegedly was marked, ATTN: Editor, which is a hallmark of Zodiac's later communications.

 

Zodiacs letter

 

On March 17, 1971, Zodiac sent a letter to the Los Angeles Times which stated, “I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there is a hell of a lot more down there.” Some have speculated this refers to Cheri Jo’s murder.

 

Other things of note:

 

Two friends reported that Cheri Jo went to the library to meet her boyfriend. Her boyfriend went to a college that was quite a distance away, and had an alibi that he was at football practice, leading some to speculate that Cheri Jo had been seeing someone else. Police later determined the two friends' report to come from secondhand info (i.e. rumors) and discounted its relevance.

No source for this but if I recall correctly Cheri Jo had gone to the library to finish her report on the Electoral College. She had already completed the report but lost the bibliography. The two books recovered from her car were on the Electoral College.

 

A researcher named Mike Butterfield claimed to have tracked "Patricia Hautz" down but offered no proof. So it is unverified. The Riverside PD still considers Hautz to be an unidentified person.

 

The Zodiac Question

 

While there are some writing similarities (ATTN: Editor comes to mind) there are differences as well, in the lack of double stamps, the typing rather than handwriting, and lack of many misspellings or errors.

 

As far as the Zodiac taking credit there is reason to discredit his statement. The confession itself is extremely vague. Zodiac had no problems providing details when writing about previous murders, and even took the time to get “proof” at the Stein murder scene. Yet here he ambiguously refers to his “riverside activity”. It reads as if he is deliberately keeping it vague, in case they solve the Bates murder. There is no way to prove that statement to be a lie – because it isn’t clear what activity he is referring to.

 

Additionally, why did he wait more than four years to take credit? The longest he waited before was six months after the Jensen/Faraday murders, and I think that was so he could commit one more murder to have credibility. He includes both the Jensen/Faraday and Mageau/Ferrin murders in his first letter, why doesn’t he include Bates? He doesn’t wait a day before writing about Paul Stein. Why is Bates any different?

 

Finally, the letter Cheri Jo's killer sent implies a need for approval - a need for the killer to be seen as just. This couldn't be further from Zodiac, who bragged about killing people for sport. Seems like a large difference.

 

Zodiac may have authored some of the memoranda surrounding the murder. The “Bates had to die” letters and the Patricia Hautz letter do bear certain similarities to his later writings. Cheri Jo’s murder may have influenced young or young adult Zodiac and may have even started him on the path to becoming a serial killer. But it is far from clear that he is the actual killer.

 

If not Zodiac, who is responsible? Police questioned two men as suspects – one of Cheri Jo’s ex-boyfriends, and another man who had been harassing her about dating him for several months prior. Even though the ex was cleared due to DNA, the police still believe he is a suspect.

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