CA CA - Lompoc, WhtFem 16-25, 205UFCA, overbite, horseshoe earrings, Aug'69

[pentimento]

Hmm. No comments on my theory. I was kind of hoping for some just to know that I haven't gone off the deep end

I did find some other interesting information. It appears that Bobby B was from Santa Barbara, born and raised there. That would be about one hour from Lompoc and the site where Lompoc Jane Doe was found. It is possible that he was familiar with the area and would know the remoteness, especially at night.

At the time that Bobby B. was arrested, Charles Manson was in Big Sur with a 'young runaway', according to the book Chaos... Another family member driving the 101 or the 1 around the time of Lompoc Jane Doe's murder.

A couple of other things. Apparently Mary Brunner (who was purportedly at the scene of the Hinman murder) first testified that she was not there, then changed her testimony to include herself in a subsequent hearing. She was grilled about the inconsistency by prosecutors. Manson was also the mother of her child. Also, a witness who saw the family members leaving Spahn Ranch to go to Hinman's house listed Atkins, Bobby B, the driver (who dropped them off) and an "unidentified person" in the car. Brunner later put herself at the scene after testifying to the opposite. Testimony is described here: People v. Manson

Re the blood evidence: Apparently Bobby B. had blood on his clothes. This is significant because he was caught almost a week after the Hinman murder, and Hinman's Fiat had been placed at Spahn Ranch by a witness on the 28th, the day after Hinman was killed. Surely he could have changed his clothes before being arrested in San Luis Obispo.

I haven't been able to find anything about the blood on Bobby B. or the knife being tested. I found this blog where there's some discussion that the blood was never tested, although I don't know how accurate the information is.

Bobby Beausoleil in Santa Barbara

Robert Kenneth “Bobby” Beausoleil was born in Santa Barbara, California on November 6, 1947. The oldest of five children, Bobby might well ...

www.mansonblog.com

The book I'm reading suggests that the prosecution was laser focused on the Helter Skelter motive and since the Hinman and other murders didn't fit that motive they were not investigated and prosecuted as aggressively.

I hope no one thinks I'm trying to cast shade on the Lompoc Jane Doe by suggesting she might have been affiliated with the Manson Family. They dealt in young runaways and lost youth, and most of the "family members' or people who occasioned the Spahn Ranch were not criminals or killers. I suppose if someone came from abroad to Los Angeles for the 60's scene or the music culture they could end up out there, attracted and entangled like Gary Hinman or Dennis Wilson were.

Also, Bobby's B's girlfriend at the time (who was also pregnant with his child at the time) said that Manson threatened her and anyone who tried to leave "the family" and she fled the Ranch after Bobby B. was arrested (also from the book).

 

[Richard]

This cold case is certainly one with a lot of "followers" interest in solving it. There are a number of possible scenarios and potential suspects, although none have been officially named by homicide investigators.

 

[pentimento]

I grew up in Lompoc and would've been a kid when this happened, so maybe that's part of why it interests me. I am very familiar with that area having driven through there hundreds of times, although I can't say I was ever at that particular site. I knew people who worked for Grefco -- mining diatomaceous earth at the quarry -- but they entered at the northern part of the quarry on the city side. However, the workers there would have been familiar with it. Also, there wasn't much to do in Lompoc, and teenagers would park out in the boonies and party, smoke pot, etc. IDK if that was a place that people went to do that but somehow I have that impression.

 

[Richard]

I grew up in Lompoc and would've been a kid when this happened, so maybe that's part of why it interests me. I am very familiar with that area having driven through there hundreds of times, although I can't say I was ever at that particular site. I knew people who worked for Grefco -- mining diatomaceous earth at the quarry -- but they entered at the northern part of the quarry on the city side. However, the workers there would have been familiar with it. Also, there wasn't much to do in Lompoc, and teenagers would park out in the boonies and party, smoke pot, etc. IDK if that was a place that people went to do that but somehow I have that impression.

Interesting that you point out that her body was found in a quarry.

The late crime novelist, Sue Grafton wrote a series of books, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. The 17th book in the series was "Q is for Quarry".

Sue based her story on this actual case, and the last page in "Q" is a summary of available information about Lompoc Jane Doe, which included a picture of the earliest artist's composite drawing.

 

[pentimento]

Interesting that you point out that her body was found in a quarry.

The late crime novelist, Sue Grafton wrote a series of books, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. The 17th book in the series was "Q is for Quarry".

Sue based her story on this actual case, and the last page in "Q" is a summary of available information about Lompoc Jane Doe, which included a picture of the earliest artist's composite drawing.

Yes! I picked up that book at a book exchange a couple of years ago I think and then I saw the thread here about it, not sure which came first. I only had a vague idea about the murder when I lived there, and that wasn't until I was older. That was the way to go to the beaches and Santa Barbara, and one day a friend mentioned something about it as we were driving through. I think I also picked up some ideas from her book, and then just looking at the Google satellite image -- I never realized the quarry went from the city side almost all the way back to Highway 1. I think there's still a big white spot up high where they took off a chunk of the mountain and you can see that driving north on Highway 1, almost a landmark for the site I guess. I think it must be very near that.

 

[djanga]

Her profile moved to active genealogical research today! I hope it will be a smooth and fast identification.

 

[Richard]

I have always had a feeling that this Lompoc Jane Doe case might be related to the murder of Roxie Phillips who was killed in a very similar manner by John Norman Collins in June 1969 in Salinas, CA.

Both women were dressed in a similar fashion. Roxie was in California from another state and only visiting in Salinas. Her destination was Lompoc, California. There has been speculation that Lompoc Jane Doe was from out of state as well.

John Collins was in California in June and July 1969, along with a partner in crime, Andrew Manuel. They had stolen a camping trailer in Michigan and parked it at the home of Manuel's grandfather.

Collins and Manuel returned to their Ypsilanti, Michigan home in July 1969, leaving the trailer behind. On 26 July, Collins murdered Karen Sue Bieneman, age 18. Police closed in on him and just prior to his arrest, Manuel blew town, heading back to California by bus. Enroute, Manuel disposed of Collins' .22 revolver. Arriving back at his grandfather's home, Manuel carefully cleaned the camping trailer of any and all evidence and fingerprints. He next is known to have arrived at his sister's home in Phoenix, Arizona where he was arrested by the FBI in early August.

California law enforcement authorities felt that Manuel might have been involved in several unsolved murder cases but never charged him in them. Manuel probably knew of murders committed by Collins and may very well have participated in them or other similar ones. Could he have killed the Lompoc Jane Doe? Her estimated date and location of death coincidentally lines up with Manuel's return to California and subsequent move to Arizona.

 

[Richard]

Lompoc Jane Doe, August 1969 composite sketches.

In August, 1969, hunters found the body of a young Caucasian woman a few feet down an embankment in a quarry near Lompoc, California. She had been stabbed, and her body had been dragged across dust and scrub brush and dumped behind a cluster of rocks within sight of old Highway 1. Investigators believe she was killed nearby.

The woman was estimated to be between 16-25 years old, about 5’2” and 125 pounds. She had shoulder length brown hair dyed reddish blonde, and wore a dark blue blouse and what appeared to be homemade white hip hugger bell bottom pants in a floral print fabric. She also wore small, horseshoe shaped earrings and brown sandals with a gold buckle.

Investigators speculate that she might have come from abroad based on her dental work, which included 19 fillings placed within a few years of her death.

LINK:

Lompoc Jane Doe 1969 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

 

[theshadow45]

Lompoc Jane Doe has been unidentified for 56 years today.