CA CA - Theresa 'Terri' Walsh, 23, Santa Rosa, 26 Dec 1973

Theresa “Terri” Diane Walsh
DOB: 25 March 1950
Description: 5 feet 6 inches tall, 125 pounds, youthful appearance
Last seen: Zuma Beach, CA on 22December 1973

Terri Walsh lived in Miranda CA, north of Santa Rosa, with her husband and small son. During Winter 1973, she decided to take a road trip. She hitchhiked her way south on Highway 101 through Santa Rosa, to visit friends in the Los Angeles area. She then hitched her way to Malibu to visit other friends.

Homesick for her family, Terri decided to hitchhike home for the holidays. She was last seen on the highway across from Zuma Beach on 22 December 1973. It was a sunny day, temperature in the 60s.

On 28 December 1973, a couple of kayakers were taking advantage of high water caused by heavy rains to shoot the rapids on Mark West Creek north of Santa Rosa. They spotted Terri's body bobbing in an eddy, between a boulder and a log. The horrified sportsmen hurried to call the Sonoma County Sheriff'sOffice; the call was received at 15:10 hours.

Retrieval of Terri's body from the rapids of a flooded creek at the bottom of a canyon was an epic effort. Her remains still showed some evidence of rigor mortis; she had died within the last day or two. No clothing or shoes were found with her. However, the array of ropes binding her made it obvious she had been murdered—and in an extremely cruel way.

Her thumbs had been bound together, then her wrists. Her wrists had then been tied to her thighs. Nor was that all. Her ankles had also been tied up. In a final vicious stroke of meanness, a length of rope had been tied to the ankle bindings, run up Terri's back, looped about her neck, and pulled snug with her heels against her buttocks. The pain of being cinched up became excruciating; however, stretching her legs to relieve the strain tightened the noose around her throat. As Terri inevitably tired and relaxed her legs, she slowly and agonizingly throttled herself to death.

Terri Walsh's remains were found within100 yards of the fire trail where Lori Lee Kursa had been dumped a year earlier. However, it is not known where Terri entered the creek. Bridges and roadside embankments upstream offered several possibilities.

Lori is considered the fourth victim of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Killer; Terri is deemed his sixth victim.

Sources:

“Lost Coast Highway”, by Gray George, pages 203 – 214.

News articles: (apparently from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurde...et_witness-officials_seek_killer_of_woman.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/walsh/mark_west_creek-another_girl_slain.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/walsh/still_no_identity_on_slain_girl.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/walsh/dead_woman_unidentified.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/walsh/miranda_woman_said_sonoma_murder_victim.pdf

Malibu, California in the early 1970s
Nearly six hundred miles south of the Southern Humboldt hamlet of Miranda, where the City of Angels meets the ocean, is Zuma Beach-the City of Malibu’s white sand crown jewel.

It was late December 1973– Malibu’s coldest month of the year—the Pacific was slate-gray

23-year-old Miranda woman Theresa Terri Diane Walsh was taking stock of the Southern California winter. Back home, Walsh’s two-year-old son was in the care of his grandmother, Walsh’s mother, Goldie Smith. Walsh’s husband and she had separated, but their two-year-old boy tied them together.

We don’t know her reasons but for all the excitement Los Angeles offered, Walsh longed to return home. Perhaps, instead of the sea breeze, she wanted mountain air. Instead of palm trees, she wanted redwoods.

She contacted her mother and told her the good news: “I’m coming home for Christmas.”

Once set on returning home, Walsh tried to arrange a ride north, including using a group known as Hitchiker’s Anonymous to get north. But, no luck. This did not worry Walsh. That month alone, she had hitchhiked from the State of Washington to Los Angeles on her own. She had navigated the interstates with strangers and made it out on the other side.

In today’s age, these plans might have given someone pause. 1973 was a different era- the era of Easy Rider, two years before Janis Joplin sang of Bobby “thumbin’” a diesel down.

Walsh’s friends bid her farewell on December 22, 1973, around 9:00 a.m. They dropped her off at Zuma Beach. She wore bell bottoms, a lavender blouse, a faux-fur brown coat, brown hiking boots, and an olive green Boy Scout knapsack- the traveler chic of a bygone era.

As the Pacific crashed into the continent, Walsh hitched a ride north and began her journey of 600 miles to spend Christmas with her mother and son amidst the mountains.

One can imagine Goldie Smith’s frenetic, loving energy of a mother preparing for her child to come home for the holidays. The anticipation, wondering what sort of woman her Theresa was coming to be. Would she look different? Act differently?

It was Christmas Eve, and Goldie Smith had not heard from her daughter Theresa. She’s resourceful. She’s tough. She’ll walk through the door at any moment.

Christmas Day came and went with no sign of Theresa. What was supposed to be a day of homecoming was likely a day of nerves and distress.

Each day after Christmas, Goldie Smith’s thoughts of “she’ll be home any minute” probably were drowned by a downpour of nerve-racking what-ifs.

Finally, Smith gave in. She contacted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office on December 31, the last day of 1973, and reported her daughter Theresa as a missing person.