CA CA - Richard Strehle, 26, South Lake Tahoe, 5 July 1973

[FOXINBOX]

Looking at the ads Richard placed - I have not finished looking, but so far there are ads selling environmental cleaners, offering tuition, and finally car servicing. Not being silly this time - they are very diverse. Are they messages to someone?
It has crossed my mind that Richard might be involved in smuggling blokes that wanted to avoid the Vietnam conscription up into Canada. He was so near the state line.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

There was a Richard W. Strehle born in 1946, just like 'our' Richard E. Strehle. He got married in 1974, so this could be a diff one. I don't know the married couple's address history, but at some point they lived in Minden, NV 19 miles from South Lake Tahoe

At first that’s what I thought, but that doesn’t explain how our Rich Strehle (the real estate agent) had the same P.O. Box address as the Rich who authored the letters to the editor and mentioned having a wife. I’m confident that our Rich is the one who wrote those letters to the editor—as someone with an extensive background in archival/historical research and genealogy, it seems highly improbable to me that there were two different Rich Strehle’s with the same P.O. Box address, age, and occupation in the same small geographical area at the same time. MOO.

 

[FOXINBOX]

At first that’s what I thought, but that doesn’t explain how our Rich Strehle (the real estate agent) had the same P.O. Box address as the Rich who authored the letters to the editor and mentioned having a wife. I’m confident that our Rich is the one who wrote those letters to the editor—as someone with an extensive background in archival/historical research and genealogy, it seems highly improbable to me that there were two different Rich Strehle’s with the same P.O. Box address, age, and occupation in the same small geographical area at the same time. MOO.

Quite, not to mention the fact that he's using the Rich name, when it could just as easily been Dick, Richie or Rick

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Quite, not to mention the fact that he's using the Rich name, when it could just as easily been Dick, Richie or Rick

Exactly. Also, the Vietnam angle is interesting. Based off of the letters of the editor he wrote, he was clearly sympathetic to a lot of the leftist social movements of that era—he talked about humanity’s preoccupation with violence and destruction of the environment (he even mentions DDT specifically), destigmatizing drugs, and curtailing population growth (he was also a member of a population control advocacy group), so involvement in the anti-war movement wouldn’t be surprising. I also believe “Strehle paints” either had a salesperson in Berkeley or at least advertised in the local paper there which lends some additional credence to that theory.

 

[FOXINBOX]

I think Strehle Paints was also a racehorse, which might be a bit misleading.

 

[FOXINBOX]

I think Strehle Paints was also a racehorse, which might be a bit misleading.

Sorry, Fox was venturing into unknown territory - they were the San Leandro Baseball Team

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Also, I found the physical address of Maloney Realty (at least in 1971 and 1972)––2700 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe, CA.

Mason Valley News (Yerington, NV), 28 April 1972, section 3, pg. 3.

 

[FOXINBOX]

Richard was working for Maretta Weir in 1971

 

[FOXINBOX]

Fox's Fun Fact of the Day

Lake Tahoe has/had THREE lighthouses, inc. the highest in North America, elevation that is, not actual height...

When I searched for "Rich Strehle" instead I found an another snippet in the Los Angeles Times, June 27 1966 - a Rich Strehle of Claremont came in 5th place in the Manhattan Beach Bicycle Grand Prix, Class C Men's Race.

 

[FOXINBOX]

Hoping this link works - this is [A Very Rough] My Map of the Strehle Surname in Western USA. There were more than I thought. The dots represent the number of Strehles, with the violet the fewest and the orange the most. Mostly they're in California, of course, but there are some sneaky outliers in other states.
Loki - Google My Maps

 

[FOXINBOX]

The thing that niggles at me regarding Donna are all those new clothes in her new apartment. They are all still unworn and in their polythene covers. Very odd, and might well connect with what you're suggesting. Maybe the originals had blood spatter, or worse. Donna, unlike Richard, seemed to be in close touch with her family, and they had stayed with her a short time previously.

My biggest niggle with the Strehle case is the way his prolific correspondence ceases so abruptly, c. 1972. It's a real worry to me, like he's stopped talking. Paranoia increases with depression, everything in the environment seems to be a threat, and you can see it in his letters [And in the aggressive repost from Mr Greenwell] Richard was a quiet, reliable man according to his colleagues, the kind that bottles their emotions up. Contrary to perception, a determined suicide will keep up the pretence of normal because they want to succeed. I have to consider the possibility of a suicide, because his car wasn't moved.
Of course he may have been on his bike, peddlin' up to Canada...in which case he didn't take much with him.

 

[morf13]

My biggest niggle with the Strehle case is the way his prolific correspondence ceases so abruptly, c. 1972. It's a real worry to me, like he's stopped talking. Paranoia increases with depression, everything in the environment seems to be a threat, and you can see it in his letters [And in the aggressive repost from Mr Greenwell] Richard was a quiet, reliable man according to his colleagues, the kind that bottles their emotions up. Contrary to perception, a determined suicide will keep up the pretence of normal because they want to succeed. I have to consider the possibility of a suicide, because his car wasn't moved.
Of course he may have been on his bike, peddlin' up to Canada...in which case he didn't take much with him.

Any time depression is mentioned we have to consider depression, same with Hollingsworth. The trouble for me is that 3 cases in less than 3 years of missing people in South Lake Tahoe, and NONE of their remains were ever found? While it is a rural, wooded area, I just find it odd that none of the remains were found, assuming that the 3 may have met their demise one way or another there

 

[FOXINBOX]

Any time depression is mentioned we have to consider depression, same with Hollingsworth. The trouble for me is that 3 cases in less than 3 years of missing people in South Lake Tahoe, and NONE of their remains were ever found? While it is a rural, wooded area, I just find it odd that none of the remains were found, assuming that the 3 may have met their demise one way or another there

I agree with this, it's unusual. However remote the dump site is, it usually turns up, because the perp has to access these locations as well, and they will have physical limitations, same as everybody else, take the Molly Bish case, Gilgo Beach or Robert Hansen's Alaskan murders.
You've talked me into at least Donna & Charlie Hollingsworth ending up in a mineshaft, Richard I can see cycling or hiking his way to an as yet undiscovered spot. Then again maybe he just started a new life in Binghamton...and the search is all a ruse to get him out of a sticky situation...

I had a little look at Richard's antagonist in the Auburn Journal, very unremarkable, until I discovered his birth certificate was for a stillborn infant.

 

[morf13]

I am making and compiling a list of Unsolved missing persons & murder cases from South Lake Tahoe- or very close to it. Feel free to add to it.

I have so far:
Donna Lass 1970
Charles Hollingsworth 1970
Richard Strehle 1973
Julie Schossow & Marilyn Putt both abducted together in 1982, & later found murdered
In June 87, an unidentified woman's body (as of 1989)was found along Highway 50 near Greenstone Rd

July 1984, Debney Lobanoff found floating in Slab Creek anchored by a tow chain.

Also- side note re: Lass
In January, 1982, a woman walking a dog near Fallen Leaf Lake Rd found a skull and other bones of a woman determined to be in her 20's. (as of the 1989 article she was not identified) She had extensive dental work, $4,000 worth, not sure if the dental work matches Lass, or if they compared to Lass case



I am also looking at crimes with some overlap or mention of Lake Tahoe:

Anna Jeanette Anderson, a nurse from Oakland, found dead in shallow grave in Carson City, 30 miles from Lake Tahoe in 1966. When she went missing, she told her brother she was "going to Lake Tahoe or Reno for the weekend"

 

[FOXINBOX]

Although it's clearly a lust murder, Kimberley Dawn Best & Paige Susan Sinclair were found a short distance from Auburn. They were said to be heading for Vegas.

It originally caught my eye because they came from Albany, Oregon - "Albany is a nice town..." [The Zodiac]

 

[morf13]

Although it's clearly a lust murder, Kimberley Dawn Best & Paige Susan Sinclair were found a short distance from Auburn. They were said to be heading for Vegas.

It originally caught my eye because they came from Albany, Oregon - "Albany is a nice town..." [The Zodiac]

To be clear, that was Albany, NY and it was not confirmed to be from the real Zodiac

 

[FOXINBOX]

Well, the police presumed it was Albany NY because the letter was sent to the newspaper there, but it could equally be any other Albany, although it's quite true that I haven't looked at recent findings. I've always thought that, given the number of Albanys in the US, it was a great way to waste police time.
IMO The Zodiac never was one person, so it's still a potential letter from someone who intended to kill.

 

[FOXINBOX]

Here are some of their addresses marked on map

Help, Morf! I'm not familiar with the US road signing system, and need to check other data. Try as I might with Donna's old address, I keep ending up in Nevada 80 miles away, which is clearly a bit of a stretch.

 

[FOXINBOX]

More for Morf's List
Judith Ann Hakari, 23, March 7 1970 - Nurse @ Sutter Memorial, abducted from her car in the parking lot of her apartment @ 1740 Markston Road, Sacramento. Body found in a shallow grave near Weimar. Possible link to EARONS I think there might be a Websleuth's thread.
Nancy M Bennallack, 28, slashed to death in her apartment a block away from Judith's.
There are obvious differences from the rest of the "Tahoe Cluster", but neither have been solved.

 

[morf13]

More for Morf's List
Judith Ann Hakari, 23, March 7 1970 - Nurse @ Sutter Memorial, abducted from her car in the parking lot of her apartment @ 1740 Markston Road, Sacramento. Body found in a shallow grave near Weimar. Possible link to EARONS I think there might be a Websleuth's thread.
Nancy M Bennallack, 28, slashed to death in her apartment a block away from Judith's.
There are obvious differences from the rest of the "Tahoe Cluster", but neither have been solved.

Her case has long been compared and linked to Donna Lass, the issue is, she vanished 115 miles from where Lass did, she was found 120 miles from where Lass vanished.
Although there was an unknown caller police were interested in who called about the Lass case from Sacramento. He was supposed to call them back he never did