CA CA - Carolyn Davis, 15, Santa Rosa, 20 July 1973

[burblestein]

DOB: 3 December 1957
Body discovered 31 July 1973
Considered sixth victim of Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Killer: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...ls-young-women-1972-1973&highlight=Hitchhiker

Carolyn ran away from home and high school in Anderson CA on 6 February 1973. She left about 7 PM wearing a brown leather jacket sporting a fur collar, and some faded jeans.

Shortly thereafter, her parents received a letter from her. It was postmarked Soledad CA, and stated she was a voluntary runaway. LE would later trace individuals mentioned in this letter, in their futile efforts to solve the murder. They would also trace her travels to Illinois and New Mexico. She was also rumored to have traveled to San Diego, but that was not proven.

(Note: Anderson is in the northern Cal, nearing the Oregon border. Soledad is about 350 miles south of Anderson, in central coastal California. Santa Rosa is about half way betwixt them.)

Carolyn was in touch with her grandmother in July 1973. At about 1:30 PM on 15 July, the grandmother dropped Carolyn off in front of the post office in Garberville CA. Carolyn intended to hitchhike south on Highway 101 towards Santa Rosa, which was some 175 miles distant.

(Another note: Anderson and Garberville are both about 175 miles north of Santa Rosa. However, they lay on the two separate major highways in northern Cal, which are separated by an enormous wilderness.)

At about 7:45 PM on 31 July, a motorcyclist spotted Carolyn's body. She had been thrown off Franz Valley Road north of Santa Rosa, and landed within four feet of the body dump site for Maureen Sterling and Yvonne Weber. The lack of crushing of the hillside bushes and saplings seemed to indicate Carolyn had been launched over the vegetation. Detectives posited that either a very powerful individual had thrown her down the bank, or that two people cooperated to supply the motive power.

Carolyn was identified by dental records. The pathologist estimated her date of death as approximately 20 July 1973. Cause of death was strychnine poisoning; means of administration was unknown.

Sources:

Death certificate: http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/docs/dcs/davis_dc.pdf

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/murdered_girl_identified.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/another _slain_girl_found_east_of_SR.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurde...o_is_the_slain_girl_found_off_county_road.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/witness_rewards_climb.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/dental_chart_may_provide_girls_id.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/lawmen_stymied_in_girl's_slaying.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/shasta_girls_death_appears_premeditated.pdf

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/articles/davis/strychnine_killed_caroline.pdf

 

[Richard]

Bumping the 45 year old case. She was found and identified but her killers are still unidentified.

 

[BDHOLLAND]

EARONS, BTK and Dogs. Applying what we have learned about our canine friends and serial killers.

I believe I have managed to utilize what we have gleaned from EARONS and BTK to develop a pattern for something I call the Northern California Dog Poisoner (1960 - 2000) who used strychnine, a controlled substance. You read the full article here.

He was active at the time Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders (1972-1973) and victim Carolyn Davis was poisoned with strychnine.

The cases are too close to be ignored—same place, same time, literally a few months.

It is looking like he didn't know how much poison he would need to kill a human. The dogs were all given well over the lethal dosage, enough to kill a child. He was expecting a child to be poisoned but the papers revealed to him what the lethal dose for a human would be on the 20th April 1973. Carolyn Davis disappeared on July 15th, 1973.

So strychnine was used to murder a child in the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker crimes within the same time frame that strychnine was used to kill pets in the area.

If you read more about the SRHM crimes the working hypothesis was that a drug addict's fixing could be how strychnine was obtained and that a drug addict carried out that crime.

In my model, that SRHM crime and the dog poisonings are connected to the same offender. That this is stronger than the drug addict hypothesis.

I am surprised this connection to the SRHM crimes was not identified in the newspapers, nor in subsequent public information. Maybe there are articles but I haven't found them in my research yet.

So I am putting forward this alternative because we know more about some serial killers today. That some had a past involving activities around harming animals. This is different however from any claim that harming animals causes serial killers. I am not saying that. I am saying this all lines up far better than any other hypothesis so far because of the timing, location, crimes, and use of strychnine.

I hope this is the important point people would be interested in. I think it is a new pathway and might be the lucky break needed. Strychnine was a controlled substance at the time as covered in the newspaper articles.

I don't believe JJD is responsible for those crimes, BTW. However, like BTK, an analysis of JJD and these crimes seems fruitful in explaining Carolyn Davis through connections with offenses against dogs.

 

[CastlesBurning]

https://kymkemp.com/2022/05/16/adve...st-seen-in-garberville-an-unsolved-cold-case/

 

[theshadow45]

Carolyn went missing 51 years ago today.

 

[theshadow45]

Today is Carolyn’s birthday.

 

[theshadow45]

Carolyn vanished 52 years ago today.

 

[theshadow45]

Carolyn was found 52 years ago today.

 

[SophieRose]

I wonder if LE ever looked into this guy. In 1974 he kidnapped a female stranger from Stanford Shopping Center (Palo Alto) and then kept her in his motor home, poisoning her with massive doses of Strychnine. The age of the killer is wrong in the article, he could not have been 11 at the time of murder, must be 71 in 2074, making him 21 in 1974.

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/murderer-who-kidnapped-woman-from-stanford-shopping-center-refuses-to-attend-parole-hearing/

Anyone have access to old articles about the Feb 1974 case?

Victim - Liana Linda Hughes

Murderer- John Warren Kreuter’s

I found this one but it's in Extracted Article Text (OCR).

The Times from San Mateo, California

Get this The Times page for free from Wednesday, July 3, 1974 a a a a a Smile Mightier Than the Gun For This DC Police Officer By FRANK LaPIERRE As Keate suspecte.... Edition of The Times

www.newspapers.com

According to Burlingame Police Chief Gerald A. Nordstrom, Kreuter was involved once before in a kidnaping. but charges were. dismissed after the San Diego victim refused to sign a complaint, authorities revealed.

Nordstrom's office conducted an extensive investigation of the convicted murderer's background, both locally and in the San Diego area, including an interview with the earlier rape victim. The results of Nordstrom's investigation are revealing. He said that Kreuter abducted the woman and her young child in early 1972. He reportedly forced the woman to take LSD tablets, but she faked their consumption and pretended she had swallowed them.

When Kreuter asked. "Are you becoming dizzy." she responded. Yes. The woman was then assaulted sexually, Nordstrom alleged, and was later dropped off. A short time thereafter, Keruter was arrested.

The victim, a legal secretary for an attorney, reportedly was told by a law enforcement official. "We'll put him away for life." The woman became concerned. and told authorities the suspect was in need of medical care and treatment. After Kreuter's arrest. she was unable to learn his name, so she went to the county -city jail and reviewed booking slips to determine the name from the charges.

While there, authorities said, a relative of the suspect arrived, and she reiterated to him the suspect was in need of medical attention. Eventually, the woman went to the district attorney's office, where she renewed her contention that the suspect should not "be put away for, life," but receive help and treatment. At one point, Nordstrom said. the district attorney in the case said, "I was going to have the officer sign this complaint. now you sign it or it will be dismissed." She didn't sign, and the case.

 

[CaliforniaScheminPod]

Adventurous Shasta County Teen Last Seen in Garberville - An Unsolved Cold Case

This was a fantastic article.

 

[Leprikawn]

Did they ever test the envelope that was sent to her parents for DNA? Maybe her killer licked the envelope or stamp?

 

[tilomagnet]

Wasnt the letter sent months before she was killed? And she showed up at her Grandmother's home well after mailing the letter. She most likely met her killer hitchhiking on the day she died....

 

[Melquiades]

I wonder if LE ever looked into this guy. In 1974 he kidnapped a female stranger from Stanford Shopping Center (Palo Alto) and then kept her in his motor home, poisoning her with massive doses of Strychnine. The age of the killer is wrong in the article, he could not have been 11 at the time of murder, must be 71 in 2074, making him 21 in 1974.

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/murderer-who-kidnapped-woman-from-stanford-shopping-center-refuses-to-attend-parole-hearing/

Anyone have access to old articles about the Feb 1974 case?

Victim - Liana Linda Hughes

Murderer- John Warren Kreuter’s

I found this one but it's in Extracted Article Text (OCR).

The Times from San Mateo, California

Get this The Times page for free from Wednesday, July 3, 1974 a a a a a Smile Mightier Than the Gun For This DC Police Officer By FRANK LaPIERRE As Keate suspecte.... Edition of The Times

www.newspapers.com

According to Burlingame Police Chief Gerald A. Nordstrom, Kreuter was involved once before in a kidnaping. but charges were. dismissed after the San Diego victim refused to sign a complaint, authorities revealed.

Nordstrom's office conducted an extensive investigation of the convicted murderer's background, both locally and in the San Diego area, including an interview with the earlier rape victim. The results of Nordstrom's investigation are revealing. He said that Kreuter abducted the woman and her young child in early 1972. He reportedly forced the woman to take LSD tablets, but she faked their consumption and pretended she had swallowed them.

When Kreuter asked. "Are you becoming dizzy." she responded. Yes. The woman was then assaulted sexually, Nordstrom alleged, and was later dropped off. A short time thereafter, Keruter was arrested.

The victim, a legal secretary for an attorney, reportedly was told by a law enforcement official. "We'll put him away for life." The woman became concerned. and told authorities the suspect was in need of medical care and treatment. After Kreuter's arrest. she was unable to learn his name, so she went to the county -city jail and reviewed booking slips to determine the name from the charges.

While there, authorities said, a relative of the suspect arrived, and she reiterated to him the suspect was in need of medical attention. Eventually, the woman went to the district attorney's office, where she renewed her contention that the suspect should not "be put away for, life," but receive help and treatment. At one point, Nordstrom said. the district attorney in the case said, "I was going to have the officer sign this complaint. now you sign it or it will be dismissed." She didn't sign, and the case.

Wow - serial killers/sex offenders who use poison as a murder weapon are exceedingly rare and to have a known offender who used strychnine in a sex crime in the same state and the same time period is pretty telling. Occam’s Razor would say this is the guy.

Wonder if they know he did it but have no evidence and this is why he’s been denied parole for 45+ years.

 

[CaliforniaScheminPod]

Wasnt the letter sent months before she was killed? And she showed up at her Grandmother's home well after mailing the letter. She most likely met her killer hitchhiking on the day she died....

Melquiades, Carolyn did indeed send the letters before she was murdered. They weren't letters however, they were postcards. There's more information about one of the postcards she sent to her older sister Judy at a Mendocino news blog called “Red Headed Blackbelt” at KimKemp.com. The following photos are from that blog and belong to Carolyn’s sister Judy.

 

[Vickster]

What do the letters say? The writing is almost illegible to me... (also hello, im a new user here!)

 

[CaliforniaScheminPod]

What do the letters say? The writing is almost illegible to me... (also hello, im a new user here!)

Let me attempt to translate

“Rodney, Judy, Eastlyn & Grandma,
Hi! Everything is just fine. I will try and be back to California before the baby is born. I’m in Illinois right now can’t write very good because I’m in a car. Did Dale say or ask anything? Keep care of my stuff. I’m very happy can’t tell you right now but I will let you know in a couple of weeks when I’m back. Thanks a lot for everything you do for me. (This sentence is illegible). Running out of room so I better stop now. Lots of love & happiness 4 all of you. Love C”

 

[CaliforniaScheminPod]

What do the letters say? The writing is almost illegible to me... (also hello, im a new user here!)

Also, she addressed her postcard to “Mrs Judy Maniac” Such a teenage girl

 

[tilomagnet]

That was nice, thank you!

Here's the link mentioned above (I hope its ok to post). It does have some additional photos of her I have not seen anywhere else:

Murder and Regret: Carolyn Davis’ Sister Recounts the Fear that Permeated the Teen’s Last Days

 

[CaliforniaScheminPod]

That was nice, thank you!

Here's the link mentioned above (I hope its ok to post). It does have some additional photos of her I have not seen anywhere else:

Murder and Regret: Carolyn Davis’ Sister Recounts the Fear that Permeated the Teen’s Last Days

Thank you! I wasn't sure if links are allowed!