Charlotte, a 19-year-old Black girl, was last seen alive the afternoon of Thursday, January 3, 1974, when she left her Oakland, Alameda County, CA home to visit a sister in San Francisco. Earlier that day Charlotte had testified as a witness in a robbery case in Alameda County.
On January 4, 1974, at about 1:15pm, State Park Ranger Steven Gazzano looked up from his ranger station in Thornton Beach, Daly City, San Mateo County, CA and spotted a body about 195 ft from the top of the cliff. The body was described as that of a young Black woman, about 5'5 and 110 lbs, with "short Afro-style hair."
When Charlotte's body was found she was wearing a light blue sleeveless blouse; a white suit; a white, red, blue, & orange waistband around the suit; and knee-high black leather boots with two-inch heels. She was also wearing an expensive camel hair coat. She was identified by her father, Neal Davis, of San Francisco. Neal was contacted by an aunt who read a newspaper description of the expensive camel's hair coat the girl was wearing and informed the father.
Charlotte is estimated to have died early that same morning, and/or had been dead for 12-24hr (this latter initial estimated PMI is according to the first clipping); the 12-24hr estimate would put her death at about 1:15pm Jan. 3 to 1:15am Jan. 4. The first article to report the discovery stated that the body "had apparently been thrown over the cliff from a parking lot during the night." She had been strangled to death with a brown cloth belt that was left looped around her neck.
Charlotte's murder has since gone cold. The Daly City PD is investigating. Anyone with information in the case is urged to call (650) 991-8169 or email Lieutenant Harold Rolfes at [email protected]. Daly City's Citizen's Online Police Reporting System can also be used to submit tips. Any little piece of information counts.
Sources
FindAGrave
Daly City Police Department Unsolved Crimes
San Mateo Times 1/5/74
San Mateo Times 1/7/74
South San Francisco Enterprise Journal 1/9/74
ETA that, to my knowledge, all of the information on the FindAGrave profile is accurate and verified through my own thorough research on Ancestry
On January 4, 1974, at about 1:15pm, State Park Ranger Steven Gazzano looked up from his ranger station in Thornton Beach, Daly City, San Mateo County, CA and spotted a body about 195 ft from the top of the cliff. The body was described as that of a young Black woman, about 5'5 and 110 lbs, with "short Afro-style hair."
When Charlotte's body was found she was wearing a light blue sleeveless blouse; a white suit; a white, red, blue, & orange waistband around the suit; and knee-high black leather boots with two-inch heels. She was also wearing an expensive camel hair coat. She was identified by her father, Neal Davis, of San Francisco. Neal was contacted by an aunt who read a newspaper description of the expensive camel's hair coat the girl was wearing and informed the father.
Charlotte is estimated to have died early that same morning, and/or had been dead for 12-24hr (this latter initial estimated PMI is according to the first clipping); the 12-24hr estimate would put her death at about 1:15pm Jan. 3 to 1:15am Jan. 4. The first article to report the discovery stated that the body "had apparently been thrown over the cliff from a parking lot during the night." She had been strangled to death with a brown cloth belt that was left looped around her neck.
Charlotte's murder has since gone cold. The Daly City PD is investigating. Anyone with information in the case is urged to call (650) 991-8169 or email Lieutenant Harold Rolfes at [email protected]. Daly City's Citizen's Online Police Reporting System can also be used to submit tips. Any little piece of information counts.
Sources
FindAGrave
Daly City Police Department Unsolved Crimes
San Mateo Times 1/5/74
San Mateo Times 1/7/74
South San Francisco Enterprise Journal 1/9/74
ETA that, to my knowledge, all of the information on the FindAGrave profile is accurate and verified through my own thorough research on Ancestry
