burblestein
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This case is now covered in a new book, "Lost Coast Highway". I will add anything new that I find.
CA - Kerry Graham, 15, & Francine Trimble, 14, Forestville, 16 Dec 1978
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burblestein
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Gray George did a masterful job of research on the Graham/Trimble murders. He even achieved the near-miracle of getting a Mendocino County Sheriff's Detective to talk to him. I find his information heartening.
I say that, because based on a lot more information, he concluded the girls hitchhiked from the same old service station I tracked down. There's nothing like having your sleuthing confirmed to put a little heart into a guy.
So I am adding Lost Coast Highwayas a source for my scenario given above. I had intended to write up a victimology on both girls first, but there's Jackie Hovarter to consider. If you have the killer, do you need the victimology, you know?
I say that, because based on a lot more information, he concluded the girls hitchhiked from the same old service station I tracked down. There's nothing like having your sleuthing confirmed to put a little heart into a guy.
So I am adding Lost Coast Highwayas a source for my scenario given above. I had intended to write up a victimology on both girls first, but there's Jackie Hovarter to consider. If you have the killer, do you need the victimology, you know?
burblestein
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Jackie Ray Hovarter drove his own 18-wheeler tractor trailer from the East Bay Area to Eureka CA along Route 101. To do so, he crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and went north through Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt Counties. After loading lumber at the Louisiana Pacific mill in the Eureka suburb of Samoa, Hovarter would double back to the East Bay to deliver his lumber. His driving schedule put him in Eureka at about 4:30 AM to ensure he was near the front of the queue of trucks awaiting loading.
On 11 December 1984, Hovarter kidnapped a school girl hitchhiking south towards Fortuna. After raping her, he left her for dead after tumbling her down an embankment into the Russian River near Squaw Rock. She survived, to see him convicted.
While awaiting trial, Hovarter developed a case of runny mouth. First, he bragged to his two cellmates about the rape and attempted murder. Then he claimed to have kidnapped a teen girl from Willits, driven her north, raped her, garroted her, and heaved her body off a bridge near Rio Dell. Eventually, he was convicted of this murder.
Under subsequent interrogation, Hovarter confessed to three more homicides. One of them was of a southbound hitchhiker picked up in Eureka and discarded in the woods between Miranda and Redway. Another homicide he claimed to have committed in Oklahoma in 1981 or 1982. A third homicide could be verified by police report of a teenage girl's disappearance.
So what does this have to do with the murders of Kerry and Francine? Gray George dismisses Hovarter as a suspect in their murders, but I am unconvinced. I doubt George knows about the mill in Fort Bragg.
Georgia Pacific had a mill in Fort Bragg at the time Kerry and Francine disappeared. However, Hovarter was an independent contractor, not a company employee. If he had a contract to pick up lumber in Fort Bragg, he would turn off Highway 101 in Willits and travel Highway 20, right past the spot where the girls' bodies were dumped.
Long haul truckers are required to keep log books of their travels. If Hovarter's logs are still available, they could be checked for Fort Bragg hauls.
This is the short version of Hovarter's possible involvement. More later on additional reasons to suspect him.
On 11 December 1984, Hovarter kidnapped a school girl hitchhiking south towards Fortuna. After raping her, he left her for dead after tumbling her down an embankment into the Russian River near Squaw Rock. She survived, to see him convicted.
While awaiting trial, Hovarter developed a case of runny mouth. First, he bragged to his two cellmates about the rape and attempted murder. Then he claimed to have kidnapped a teen girl from Willits, driven her north, raped her, garroted her, and heaved her body off a bridge near Rio Dell. Eventually, he was convicted of this murder.
Under subsequent interrogation, Hovarter confessed to three more homicides. One of them was of a southbound hitchhiker picked up in Eureka and discarded in the woods between Miranda and Redway. Another homicide he claimed to have committed in Oklahoma in 1981 or 1982. A third homicide could be verified by police report of a teenage girl's disappearance.
So what does this have to do with the murders of Kerry and Francine? Gray George dismisses Hovarter as a suspect in their murders, but I am unconvinced. I doubt George knows about the mill in Fort Bragg.
Georgia Pacific had a mill in Fort Bragg at the time Kerry and Francine disappeared. However, Hovarter was an independent contractor, not a company employee. If he had a contract to pick up lumber in Fort Bragg, he would turn off Highway 101 in Willits and travel Highway 20, right past the spot where the girls' bodies were dumped.
Long haul truckers are required to keep log books of their travels. If Hovarter's logs are still available, they could be checked for Fort Bragg hauls.
This is the short version of Hovarter's possible involvement. More later on additional reasons to suspect him.
Roselvr
Ask me how to get your loved one in NamUs
My hub throws the logs out after 7 years. I don't think truckers had logs back then
burblestein
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My thought was that his logbooks must have been seized, and may be in an evidence room. And admittedly, it's a long shot. This suggestion was prompted by the realization that pilots I served with during the Vietnam War still had their flight logs as momentoes.
Of course, four decades on, everything is a long shot.
Of course, four decades on, everything is a long shot.
burblestein
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Francine was born in Marin County CA to a high school dropout. After pregnancy forced Francine's mom's departure from high school, she married Francine's father. However, as happens all too often, the immature dad bailed out on his family.The abandoned mother had no job skills and little opportunity to work. Inevitably, she ended up dependent on a boyfriend.
At age five, Francine ended in an emergency room because of her mother's boyfriend's abuse. A rightfully outraged doctor called the authorities. Francine was sent to foster care, where she was also abused both sexually and physically. She would spend the next six years bouncing from family to family, with little attention being paid to her education.
Francine's mom gradually got her life together as she matured. She retrieved Francine from the social welfare system at age 11. Francine began schooling in Forestville. Luckily, her teachers were willing to extend the extra time and effort to help Francine pull her academics up to snuff. Despite this rugged childhood, Francine was a goodnatured, resilient and uncomplaining kid.
Francine was so poor she went to school in second hand clothes and shoes. However, she was befriended by a slightly older girl who wanted to be a beautician, Kerry Ann Graham.They became best friends. Eventually, they became so close they blazed their own private path through the woods between their homes.
Something that caught my attention was that mom's poverty often forced her to hitchhike. Hitchhiking, then, was part of the Trimble family life. This explains why Francine would have no qualms about thumbing it.
At age five, Francine ended in an emergency room because of her mother's boyfriend's abuse. A rightfully outraged doctor called the authorities. Francine was sent to foster care, where she was also abused both sexually and physically. She would spend the next six years bouncing from family to family, with little attention being paid to her education.
Francine's mom gradually got her life together as she matured. She retrieved Francine from the social welfare system at age 11. Francine began schooling in Forestville. Luckily, her teachers were willing to extend the extra time and effort to help Francine pull her academics up to snuff. Despite this rugged childhood, Francine was a goodnatured, resilient and uncomplaining kid.
Francine was so poor she went to school in second hand clothes and shoes. However, she was befriended by a slightly older girl who wanted to be a beautician, Kerry Ann Graham.They became best friends. Eventually, they became so close they blazed their own private path through the woods between their homes.
Something that caught my attention was that mom's poverty often forced her to hitchhike. Hitchhiking, then, was part of the Trimble family life. This explains why Francine would have no qualms about thumbing it.
burblestein
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Kerry was the youngest of three children, and was born into a comfortably middle class family. From the time she screamed her way out of her diapers, she was a rebel. She grew into an argumentative teen.
The Graham family moved out of Los Angeles in 1971, when Kerry was seven. Having escaped the smog and pollution of LA, they settled first in Santa Rosa, then in Forestville. The woods overlaying Forestville became Kerry's playground.
Kerry had both an elder brother and older sister, respectively six years and two years older. A couple years later, when he turned 16, Kerry's brother began running away from home. When his frantic mother reported him missing to LE, she was informed that Sonoma County teens ran away all the time. The kids customarily took unannounced mini-vacations with their friends for a few days before returning home. Over the succeeding years, Kerry's brother came and went pretty much at will. A year later, Kerry's sister would also start to pull occasional disappearances, often because she tired of quarreling with Kerry.
As Kerry was promoted into high school, her actions became more defiant. Although she had bus fare, she began hitchhiking. Her newer friends smoked cigarettes, and were beginning to tinker with illicit drugs.
The Graham family moved out of Los Angeles in 1971, when Kerry was seven. Having escaped the smog and pollution of LA, they settled first in Santa Rosa, then in Forestville. The woods overlaying Forestville became Kerry's playground.
Kerry had both an elder brother and older sister, respectively six years and two years older. A couple years later, when he turned 16, Kerry's brother began running away from home. When his frantic mother reported him missing to LE, she was informed that Sonoma County teens ran away all the time. The kids customarily took unannounced mini-vacations with their friends for a few days before returning home. Over the succeeding years, Kerry's brother came and went pretty much at will. A year later, Kerry's sister would also start to pull occasional disappearances, often because she tired of quarreling with Kerry.
As Kerry was promoted into high school, her actions became more defiant. Although she had bus fare, she began hitchhiking. Her newer friends smoked cigarettes, and were beginning to tinker with illicit drugs.
burblestein
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Both Francine and Kerry looked upon hitchhiking as a reasonable way of getting around. While they began by hitching local rides from neighbors, their trips lengthened until, at least once, they went 68 miles to San Francisco and returned.
They were both rurally raised, and used to independence because they were used to roving the woods. However, they had no street smarts to warn them of stranger danger.
Francine was the larger of the girls, but she was a passive personality. Tiny Kerry, who would have fought an aggressor, was only 4 feet 9 inches tall.
Thus, Francine and Kerry would accept rides from strangers without suspicion. However, there was little chance they could defend themselves if attacked. Also, even a medium-sized man would be powerful enough to overcome them. Lastly, they had hitchhiked Highway 101 and probably felt comfortable on it.
They were both rurally raised, and used to independence because they were used to roving the woods. However, they had no street smarts to warn them of stranger danger.
Francine was the larger of the girls, but she was a passive personality. Tiny Kerry, who would have fought an aggressor, was only 4 feet 9 inches tall.
Thus, Francine and Kerry would accept rides from strangers without suspicion. However, there was little chance they could defend themselves if attacked. Also, even a medium-sized man would be powerful enough to overcome them. Lastly, they had hitchhiked Highway 101 and probably felt comfortable on it.
burblestein
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An interesting point of interest... As can be seen by this map,
https://www.google.com/maps/dir//Gu...8df245e3808d9!2m2!1d-122.7863403!2d38.4525715, "Snoopy's Home Ice" is across the road from Coddingtown Mall. This ice skating arena is a prime social center for Santa Rosa's teens. Thus, it could have been the rendezvous point for the party Kerry and Francine were seeking.
BTW, in a case eerily parallel to that of Kerry and Francine, two young teens had vanished from the ice skating arena http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Yvonne-Weber-13-Santa-Rosa-CA-4-February-1972 some six years previously.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir//Gu...8df245e3808d9!2m2!1d-122.7863403!2d38.4525715, "Snoopy's Home Ice" is across the road from Coddingtown Mall. This ice skating arena is a prime social center for Santa Rosa's teens. Thus, it could have been the rendezvous point for the party Kerry and Francine were seeking.
BTW, in a case eerily parallel to that of Kerry and Francine, two young teens had vanished from the ice skating arena http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Yvonne-Weber-13-Santa-Rosa-CA-4-February-1972 some six years previously.
Claireishere
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I was reading about another case and came across this case. Does anyone think they could be later victims of the Santa Rosa Hitchiker murders. The fact no clothing was present, they were known Hitchikers, and were tossed down a steep area matches his previous victims. Their disposal locations and the date leads me to the questioning. However I don’t see someone killing at his pace in 72 and 73 just stopping. Unless jailed or dead. So it’s possible he had moved on.
burblestein
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Although no one in LE has said so, I do believe these two girls could be later victims of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murderer. There is always the question of what he did between 1972 and 1978, but then there is always the question of his whereabouts before and after the string of murders.
burblestein
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Jackie Ray Hovarter was a trucker, an independent owner/operator. He made late night runs along Hwy 101 from the Bay Area to the sawmill at Samoa near Eureka. On 11 December 1984, while southbound on Hwy 101, he picked up a hitchhiking 15-year-old girl. He kidnapped her. At Squaw rock in southern Mendocino County, he raped her and shot her twice in the head and left her for dead. Incredibly, she survived, and her testimony led to his arrest. After his arrest, he admitted to four murders.
On 24 August 1984, he kidnapped teenager Danna Walsh from a convenience store two blocks from my home in Willits. When he was done with her, he dropped her body off the Rio Dell Bridge near Scotia. Hovarter would be convicted of this murder, as well as the attempted homicide.
He admitted to three other murders. In 1980, a girl in her early teens knocked on Hovarter's door looking for her lost dog. Hovarter murdered her in his own house and disposed of the body at a local dump. In 1981 or 1982, he murdered a young woman while visiting his father in Oklahoma. In 1983, he picked up a southbound hitchhiker from a Eureka truck stop. He claimed he murdered her after pulling over between Miranda and Redway, but LE couldn't find a body. There's a lot more detail on this in Gray George's "Lost Coast Highway", pages 306 - 363.
To me the cogent info about Hovarter is that he was set up to haul lumber. Investigators found out he had a long history of hauling from the Samoa mill. However, In 1978, there was also a mill in Fort Bragg. If Hovarter were hauling from that mill, he would be driving right past the turnoff where Kerry and Francine were found. He would pass it in the lonely wee morning hours.
Hovarter would also make legal history: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-suprem...t/1226817.html
Hovarter remains locked up on San Quentin's death row for Danna Walsh's murder. Gray George claims the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders ceased when Hovarter was incarcerated.
On 24 August 1984, he kidnapped teenager Danna Walsh from a convenience store two blocks from my home in Willits. When he was done with her, he dropped her body off the Rio Dell Bridge near Scotia. Hovarter would be convicted of this murder, as well as the attempted homicide.
He admitted to three other murders. In 1980, a girl in her early teens knocked on Hovarter's door looking for her lost dog. Hovarter murdered her in his own house and disposed of the body at a local dump. In 1981 or 1982, he murdered a young woman while visiting his father in Oklahoma. In 1983, he picked up a southbound hitchhiker from a Eureka truck stop. He claimed he murdered her after pulling over between Miranda and Redway, but LE couldn't find a body. There's a lot more detail on this in Gray George's "Lost Coast Highway", pages 306 - 363.
To me the cogent info about Hovarter is that he was set up to haul lumber. Investigators found out he had a long history of hauling from the Samoa mill. However, In 1978, there was also a mill in Fort Bragg. If Hovarter were hauling from that mill, he would be driving right past the turnoff where Kerry and Francine were found. He would pass it in the lonely wee morning hours.
Hovarter would also make legal history: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-suprem...t/1226817.html
Hovarter remains locked up on San Quentin's death row for Danna Walsh's murder. Gray George claims the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders ceased when Hovarter was incarcerated.
SpeckledCactys
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Has this case been resolved or is my browser just having problems? I cant seem to click on any of the links to read up on these two, it brings me to a 404 Error.
Roselvr
Ask me how to get your loved one in NamUs
It's resolved. I sent a note to the mods to change the thread title to located deceased. Not sure why it wasn't changed as the Mendocino thread has been changed.
Hit the arrow in the quote to be taken to the Mendocino thread for anyone wanting to read it
Pettibon Junction
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It's not resolved. We still don't know who killed them.
Lilibet
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What is “resolved” is that they were listed on the forum for the missing and have been found. If there is ever an arrest, the title will say *Arrest*. Of course, the case would not be fully resolved until the killer is convicted and sentenced. Hope that helps.
Did they ever recheck that extra tooth for any DNA or as a missing tooth from another victim or a suspect or have they concluded it was an old tooth from back in the pioneer days?
burblestein
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Note to Tricia: Return thread to CA - CA - Kerry Graham, 15, & Francine Trimble, 14, Forestville, 16 Dec 1978 in Cold Case homicides.
Lavender Moon
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I see a resemblance. She looks petite, as Kerry was.
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