Two deputies spotted a woman named Willie Jane Willis. She was leaning against a phone booth in a dazed condition. The Kit Kat’s janitor said he saw Willie Jane get out of a yellow cement truck. The driver chased her around the truck, gave up the chase and drove off. Willie Jane showed the deputies a bump on her head.
The deputies drove Willie Jane to the Falk Medical Center. A doctor placed her on an examination table. Willie Jane started to rant. She said, “Carlos, don’t kill her. I saw him kill her and dump her body by the school.”
One of the deputies asked her if she meant Arroyo High. Willie Jane attacked him and tried to run out a rear door. The deputies caught her and placed her in their patrol car. The emergency room doctor thought she was high on narcotics.
The deputies drove Willie Jane to the Temple City Station. She mumbled hysterically en route. The deputies heard her say, “I saw him kill her. He choked her and dumped her body by the school. I saw her face, it was purple, how horrible.”
Willie Jane tried to jump out of the car. The deputies prevented her. Willie Jane said, “Don’t take me back to that school, please don’t make me go back there.”
They arrived at the station. The deputies escorted Willie Jane inside. A detective interviewed her and forwarded a memo to Homicide.
Hallinen and Lawton wrote it off as bullshit.
The tips and nut reports died out. The Ellroy case moved into limbo.
Lawton caught a business-dispute killing on October 9th. Hallinen caught wife-shoots-husband jobs on the 12th and the 14th. A sex creep named Harvey Glatman was arrested on October 27th.
The CHP bagged him down in Orange County. He was struggling with a woman on a roadside near the Santa Ana Freeway. They fell out of Glatman’s car and wrestled for the gun he pulled on her. A Highway Patrol guy saw the incident and made the arrest.
The woman’s name was Lorraine Vigil. She was a pinup model from L.A. Glatman lured her out on a photo- session pretext. He said he had a studio in Anaheim.
Glatman was booked at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. They charged him with attempt rape and ADW. Deputies found clothesline cord, a camera, several rolls of film and a box of .32-caliber shells in his car. They checked old teletypes and missing persons reports and got three potential clicks.
8/1/57:
A pinup model named Judy Ann Dull disappeared. She was last seen with a photographer named Johnny Glynn. The two left Miss Dull’s West Hollywood apartment and were never seen again. Harvey Glatman matched Johnny Glynn’s description.
3/8/58:
A woman named Shirley Ann Bridgeford disappeared. She left her house in the San Fernando Valley with a man named George Williams. The two were never seen again. Miss Bridge-ford belonged to a lonely-hearts club. Williams contacted her through the club directory. Harvey Glatman matched George Williams’ description.
7/20/58:
A pinup model named Angela Rojas AKA Ruth Rita Mercado disappeared—and was never seen again.
Harvey Glatman agreed to take a polygraph test. The operator asked him questions pertaining to the three missing women. His responses indicated guilty knowledge. The operator pointed this out to him. Glatman said he killed the three women.
Bridgeford and Rojas were LAPD missings. Judy Ann Dull was an L.A. Sheriff’s case. The Orange County cops notified both agencies.
Two LAPD detectives drove down to Orange County. Jack Lawton drove down to represent Sheriff’s Homicide. Captain Jim Bruton came with him.
The interrogations ran long. Glatman had his details down pat.
Lawton questioned him regarding victim Dull. Sergeant Pierce Brooks questioned him regarding victim Bridgeford. Sergeant E. V. Jackson questioned him regarding victim Rojas.
Glatman said he saw a newspaper ad in late July ’57. It offered pinup models at hourly rates. He called the number included and talked to a woman named Betty Carver. Miss Carver invited him over to view her portfolio.
The apartment was on North Sweetzer. Glatman arrived and asked Miss Carver if she was free for a session now. Miss Carver said she was busy. Glatman saw a photograph of her roommate Judy Dull. He asked if
Miss Carver said she probably would be.
Glatman left and called back the next day. He talked to Judy Ann Dull and gave his name as Johnny Glynn. Miss Dull agreed to a two-hour session. Glatman drove to her apartment and picked her up.
They drove to his apartment in Hollywood. Glatman told her he wanted to sell some bound-and-gagged shots to
Glatman photographed her. Glatman pulled a gun on her. Glatman fondled her and raped her and forced her to pose in the nude with her legs spread.
They spent six hours at his apartment. Judy Ann did not resist his assaults. Glatman said she was actually eager. She told him she was a nympho and couldn’t control herself around men.
Glatman tied her wrists and led her down to his car. It was 10:30 p.m.
He drove her east on the San Berdoo Freeway—90 miles or so out of L.A. They hit that big desert pocket around Indio. He turned off on a desolate switchback. He stopped the car and walked her off the road. He tied her ankles and placed her facedown in the sand.
He tied the slack end of the ankle cord around her neck. He stepped on her back. He yanked the middle of the cord and strangled her. He stripped her down to her panties and scooped sand over her body.
