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 on the next round of hiring.
Cheri Jo was from Riverside and lived 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 to 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. 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 at the library but could not recall what time). Friends at the library at 6:40 did not report seeing her
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](http://ift.tt/2bK3kcp). (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 corresponded to a size 8-10 Wing Walker shoe. (Popular shoe with military). Also clutched in Cheri Jo’s fingers were four strands of a Caucasian males 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 in reference to a suspect which the hair cleared.
A woman who lived near the murder scene recounted hearing two loud 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 really was 9:00 – 9:30.)
The coroner made several findings of note: Cheri Jo had ate her last meal of a roast beef sandwich between two and four hours prior to her death. Police believe she ate at around 5:00 pm so this would place 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 prior to the autopsy (i.e. prior to 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 Terricina Drive. The windows had been rolled down and the keys 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 hand 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. 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.
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.
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’ll find her
just wait 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. May'be she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Or may'be she will be the shapely brunette that said no when I asked her for a date in high school. But may'be 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....I 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 criss-crossed bruise 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 “may’be”.
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](http://ift.tt/2bK3NLM).
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
Obviously nothing confirming this 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 a 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 the life of the boy turned killer, they might stop to think about the lives of their own 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 Zodiacs later communications.
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 are a hell of a lot more down there.” Some have speculated this refers to Cheri Jo’s murder.
My Thoughts
a) The “official” timeline has Cheri Jo leaving the library by 6:40 – but she was killed between 9:00 (the food digestion estimate plus the on scene estimate of time of death) and 10:30 (the witness plus the time of death). Multiple sources of time of death, from the digestion evidence pointing to 7:00-9:00 to the broken watch stuck on 9:07 to the autopsy finding of 10:30 to the initial assessment of 12:00am.
The digested sandwich estimate would fit the evidence better. My issue with that is the library closed at 9:00, and the crime occurred close to a Terecina drive near the library. If this crime occurred before 9:00 you would think someone would have heard the struggle. I would believe the 10:00-10:30 estimate more than the others. Even if we use the 9:07 estimate, what was Cheri Jo doing from 6:40 until 9:00, for three to four hours? And why did she return and not just leave her car there overnight? Did she go willingly with her captor or was she forcefully abducted?
Could she have stayed hidden in the library until closing time? The layout of the library had one central point with tables and such for studying. The rest of the area was devoted to shelves. I don’t see why she would have stayed among the shelves for more than three hours, and if she was in the main seating area someone would have saw her. Maybe she saw someone she was trying to avoid and hid in the stacks?
b) This is a really odd combination of organized behavior and unorganized behavior. The killer took the time to come up with a ruse and disable her car, presumably to get her trust by coming to her rescue. Solid planning. Yet, the murder itself has several indications of being unplanned.
A sudden blitz attack in a public area, just off of a main street. A murder weapon of convenience – it appears as if the killer just used what was on his person rather than bringing a weapon with him. A hasty cleanup of her car, leaving the widows open, the doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition – but failing to reconnect the battery. Only explanation I can think of is that, while the “rescue” was planned, the murder was not. The killer initially set up the car trouble so he could rescue her, in pursuit of some fantasy of Cheri Jo falling in love with him. She rejected him, the killer couldn’t take it and killed her. Of course, complete speculation, but it explains the above disconnect.
c) If the killer targeted Cheri Jo, how did they know she was going to the library? She only went because she realized she had lost the bibliography to her term paper on the electoral college. Seems like it was a last minute thing. Could they have followed her from her home? Could they have even stolen her bibliography?
d) The writings surrounding the case are strange.
There is nothing that clearly shows the poem to be relevant – it reads more like suicidal ideation than anything else. While it may be the killer writing about the murder, nothing to show that it is.
The Hautz letter is extremely callous: the use of “interesting” and “rewarding” especially so. The language is framed in terms of the writer – as if the story/murder’s only purpose was to serve as the author’s entertainment.
The “Bates had to Die” letters are interesting in that each shows some difference. They were all mailed at around the same time, so why the difference in capitalization?
The letter from the killer. “Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands, but only one thing was on my mind”. Why mention this? If your goal is to incite panic and fear, wouldn’t you play up the rapist angle? The author also refers to the “shapely brunette” who rejected him as a potential victim.
Is this the killer attempting to justify his actions? Stating that he believes, and is trying to convince the reader, that he is in the right, rather than being a typical “evil crazy rapist”? It is almost as if he is trying to draw attention to a cause. Shades of Eliot Roger.
e) The police believe that Cheri Jo put up a fierce struggle. The area she was found “resembled a fresh plowed field”. The numerous wounds all occurred when Bates was alive – that is this wasn’t overkill but rather part of the murder. Required for the killer to end her life.
Bates was a petite woman, at 5’2, 110 lbs. It seems like she could be easily overpowered by the average man. The wrist size of seven inches and size 8-10 shoe indicate a slightly below-average sized man but nothing egregious. (Average mans shoe size today is 10.5 USA, wrist size 7.2 inches).
How did she put up such a fight? Could the killer have been disabled?
f) What do we make of the reenactment – specifically the missing heavy set bearded man and Studebaker? This was a high profile request for people in the library to return – if innocent you think the bearded man would at least tell the police afterwards. (i.e. sorry, I couldn’t make the reenactment but I am the missing man).
g) Could the rumors of her meeting a boyfriend had been true? If she met someone after a brief stop at the library that would go a long way to explain the timeline.
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.
Edited for formatting.
Submitted September 03, 2016 at 06:50PM by Happy_Vincent http://ift.tt/2bXPkg4 UnresolvedMysteries
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