The next body turned up near Redding on 22 July. It belonged to Nancy Feusi. Practically naked, it was so badly decomposed the cause of death could not be determined.
Back in San Francisco, the naked body of Laura O’Dell was found on 4 November. She had been strangled.
On 22 December 1973, 22-year-old Therese Dian Walsh disappeared while hitch-hiking on 101 from Malibu Beach to her home in Garberville. She had been hog-tied with a one-quarter-inch nylon rope, raped, strangled and thrown into a creek near the spot where Kim Wendy Allen’s body was found. Some believe that there is an occult significance that she went missing on the winter solstice.
The police believe the same killer stabbed Brenda Merchant in Marysville on 1 February 1974, dumping her naked body in a ditch alongside a rural road. Then on 29 September, the naked body of Donna Braun was discovered floating in the Salinas River near Monterey. The 14-year-old had been strangled. She was thought to have been the last of the killer’s victims.
The idea that these murders might have had occult significance was put forward by Sergeant Erwin Carlstedt of the Sonoma County Police. He cited the “witchcraft symbol” found on the embankment in the Caroline Davis case, though they could have been just a piece of childish art. He also pointed out that the bodies had all been dumped on the east side of a road. At the time he tied the California killings to those of seven women in Washington state, between January and July 1974, who had all been abducted in the waning—or sacrificial—phase of the moon. His 1975 report stated that the killer was “familiar with witchcraft or the occult, because of a witchcraft symbol found during the Caroline Davis case and the possible occult involvement in the missing females in the states of Oregon and Washington”. However, the Washington killings were later attributed to prolific serial killer Ted Bundy, while Bundy’s known movements preclude involvement in the California murders.
Serial rapist and murder Harvey Carignan was a suspect in the unsolved murders, when it came to light that he had been given a speeding ticket he collected in Solano County, east of Santa Rosa, on 20 June 1973. But no solid evidence ties him to any of the murders. One week later, he attacked Marlys Townsend at a bus stop 1,500 miles away in Minneapolis. Clubbed unconscious from behind, she woke in Carignan’s car, still groggy from the blow. But when he tried to make her masturbate him, she found strength enough to leap from the speeding vehicle and save herself. This ultimately led to his arrest in September 1974 and he was already in jail when Donna Braun was murdered. Besides none of the crimes showed Carignan’s MO. He beat his victims with a hammer.
In his book
Southern California’s Original Night Stalker
While “The Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez, who terrorized southern California in 1985, languishes on death row in San Quentin, “The Original Night Stalker” is still at large. He started out as the “East Area Rapist”, then became the “Orange Coast Serial Killer”, before being dubbed “The Original Night Stalker” because his MO closely resembled Ramirez’s, raping and killing his victims in their own homes.
As the East Area Rapist he committed 50 rapes in northern California between 1976 and 1986 and killed at least ten—Orange County Sheriff’s Office says 12—in southern California. We know the grand total because an enterprising Orange County criminologist matched DNA samples from the crimes in northern and southern California in 2001.
The Stalker began by raping women that were at home alone, then gradually moved on to couples, targeting “low-risk” victims—lawyers, medical professionals, computer programmers—people without a great deal of physical strength who were unlikely to fight back. He stalked upper-middle-class neighbourhoods looking for victims who lived in single-storey homes. He broke in late at night, then pulled a handgun. Always well-prepared, he brought pre-cut lengths of rope and cord with him to bind his victims. When attacking a couple, he would sometimes force the man to lie on the floor with perfume bottles or plates stacked on top of him while he raped the female, threatening to kill them both if the man moved enough to tip the bottles onto the floor or rattle the dishes.
The first 15 victims in late 1976 and early 1977 were women at home alone—though one attack was in the parking lot. Victims included a 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old youth in East Sacramento who was shot in the stomach when he confronted and chased the prowler. The perpetrator escaped even though a police cordon was thrown around the neighbourhood. In one case, he seems to have waited until a woman’s husband left the house before he attacked.
At the beginning of November 1976, a reward of $2,500 was offered for information leading to his arrest. That was later increased to $25,000, with a local dentist adding $10,000 to the $15,000 offered by the
The
Later descriptions make him younger—between 18 and 25 –of a slighter build. Though muscular, it was thought he weighed 140 to 180 pounds and was extremely agile.
“He has worn a mask, but descriptions are vague as to what kind,” the newspaper said. He also wore gloves, so left no fingerprints. “He has worn military type boots and black tennis shoes. His weapons have included a revolver, knife, a stick and a club. He has cut and beaten his victims, but none severely.”
The
This was a serial killer waiting to happen.
The suspect attacked a single-storey, single family dwelling in a middle- or upper-middle-class neighbourhood. Nearby there was usually a drainage ditch, vacant field, new construction, park area or one of the levees of the American River that runs through Sacramento, so he could approach and make his exit with little chance of being spotted. He entered a residence in the night time through an unlocked sliding glass door or window, though he pried open doors and windows if necessary. Once inside he threatened the victim with a knife, gun or club. He tied her with the ligatures—often shoelaces—he brought with him. Then he used strips of towelling and electrical cord found in the house to further bind, gag and blindfold his victims. He usually cut the telephone cord and covered a lamp to dim the lighting.
He spent between one and three hours in the house, sexually assaulting the victim several times. In between the assaults, he would wander about the house, eating and drinking. Sometimes he would even go out. Beverage containers were found outside where the suspect apparently stood, watching for anyone approaching the house. He would also look through photograph albums and lingerie drawers, stealing small items of costume jewellery, class rings, an earring and items of little value.
Because of the way he moved in and out of the house, the victim rarely knew when her attacker had left the premises. It would usually take her between 30 minutes and an hour before she was able to free herself. Sometimes she would be unable to do so and had to await assistance.
After April he began attacking couples, though he varied his pattern slightly when teenagers were involved. In one case, he raped two sisters who were at home alone together. He also molested a 13-year-old girl while her mother was tied up, and raped a 15-year-old babysitter in front of her eight-year-old ward.
On 7 May 1977, while attacking a couple in Carmichael, the rapist said that he would kill his next two victims. This was what the police had long feared. But he stayed his hand when he attacked a couple on the South Area of Sacramento, near the office of the dentist who had put up the $10,000 reward. Gun and lock sales soared.
It became plain to the police that the attacker had detailed knowledge of his victims. He knew that the father of one victim was out of town for the weekend and that another’s father was on vacation. The rapist knew families’ habits and work hours. He caught one victim when her sister was visiting friends and her parents were at a Christmas Party; another when her parents were out; another when her parents were away for the weekend.
He knew the schedule of spouses, catching one woman when her husband had relocated to the Bay Area where she was to follow; another when her husband was on a business trip; another when her husband had just
