Santa Rosa Murders ////// Hitchhiking Victims | Forensic Files

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you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is a man who has the
filter setting at no. Here is the captain. No filter, full brew. That's the captain way. It's good to be seen
and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. This week we are drinking Saddle Bronc
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>> Yeah. BWR beer run. Dude, all I can say is I love the dude. And that's enough of
the business. >> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk
some true crime. [Music] Nearly 2 months after the discovery of Kim Allen's body, another beautiful
young girl went missing from this same area with eerie similarities. While sources reference Janette Kamahle as
both a confirmed and unconfirmed victim of the Santa Rosa hitchhiker's case, we are going to include the young Pacific
Islander here in this telling as her case is still open and should be discussed either way. So Janette, a
young woman of Hawaiian descent, was 20 years old when she went missing from Santa Rosa. Because of her father's
naval career, Janette had grown up overseas in Japan. After graduating from Yokohama American High School in 1970,
she opted to live stateside. Like Kim Allen, Janette was a student at Santa Rosa Junior College. And just like Kim,
Janette frequently got to where she was going by thumbming rides. Janette was last seen hitchhiking on the Kotati
on-ramp off Highway 101 in Santa Rosa, California. This on April 25th, 1972. So there's that highway again. Highway 101
mentioned another time in this story. This was a Tuesday. According to reports, she was picked up by a 20 to
30year-old Caucasian man with an afro who might have been driving a faded brown 1950 to 1952
Chevrolet pickup truck with a homemade camper. So, this is one of those cowboy campers, I'm guessing, that you put in
the bed of the truck. >> Yeah, the old creepy camper. Witnesses further described the driver as likely
being tall with mutton chop sideburns. I've also seen reports of stating that the man may have had a beard. Either
way, it seems that the detail here that is shared throughout most versions of the story is there's some form of facial
hair on the driver of this vehicle. >> Yeah. Old beardo. Weirdo. >> Beardo weirdo. shave them and feel and
cleanse yourself of the evil that could take you over. Janette was wearing a dark brown blouse or sweater, Levi
jeans, sandals, and gold post type earrings when she vanished. She had been carrying a brown leather purse as well.
Janette has black hair and brown eyes. She stood 5'5 in tall and weighed 120 lbs. Janette wears a dental bridge and
has a large birthark beneath her right breast. If still living, Janette would be 73 years of age today. But
tragically, Janette has never been heard from since the day she was last seen in
Santa Rosa and is classified as endangered and missing. After Janette's disappearance, months ticked by, months
ticked by mercifully without incident. But in November of 1972, 13-year-old Lorie Lee Kursa disappeared.
A habitual runaway, Lori was last seen by her mother while the two were grocery shopping at the used Save Mart on
November 11th before the girl decided to take off to visit some friends in Santa
Rosa. Now, despite her status, so she's only 13, but as reported by her family, she regularly would run away, would run
off, would take off without permission. This was something in her nature. And despite her status as a frequent
runaway, her mother did report the eighth grader, a student at Lawrence Cook Middle School, missing to the
police the same day that she vanished. She told them that when she ran off, Lori was wearing blue jeans, a brown
leather jacket, and brown suede cowboy boots, and had wire earrings in her ears. Lori was next reported as having
been seen presumably safe in Santa Rosa. This would have been on either November
20th or 21st. This was when she was staying at a friend's house. However, just a few days later, around November
30th, there's a witness that reported seeing Lori hitchhiking. Several days after that, another witness said that
they saw her on Parkhurst Drive, possibly being forced into a vehicle, forced into a van by two men, one of
whom was a white man with an afro. So, here again, we have Afroman popping up in our true crime story. A little
warning though to the listeners out there. I have reviewed several different versions of this story. They are all
slightly different, >> right? >> They all come from credible sources, which makes it even more difficult to
sift through and sort out. The two consistent details, however, Captain, present in each version of this story is
the white dude with the afro and the van. Yeah, but in 2025, white guy with afro, maybe not so common, but during
the times of this abduction or these eyewitness accounts of abduction, a little more common for a white guy to
have afro. >> Yeah, some of the other versions say bushy hair. Most versions say some type
of afro. The other thing that's aggravating to me with with some of these older cases that we cover and some
of the cases that are not from our region of the United States, if you go back in time, other regions, the word
van and truck are almost interchangeable in some areas of the country. So remember the the previous story where we
had a victim tied to this afro man was a truck with the bed camper in it. I also
think that given the generic shape of the two vehicles, one might be confused somewhat easily for the other and both
would presumably have doors on the back. >> Well, not to go down some crazy rabbit
hole here, but when you have a truck with a camper van on the back, that obviously looks similar to like a camper
van. And there's all kinds of different van conversions back in the day. The ones where they had the the extra
headroom so you could stand up in the van. So >> So us tall guys could uh >> just hang out in the van
>> all around. Here's the deal, right? And I like playing within I like coloring
within the lines. I like playing inside of the confines of the law. But dude, I hate those cowboy campers. I I love the
word cowboy. Love cowboys. Hate cowboy campers. State troopers, state police. >> Yeah.
>> Men and women who are guarding and protecting our highways and freeways in this country. Just pull every one of
those guys over. I I just don't believe any of them are up to any good at all. We move on, right? We got to move Unless
you're a teenager drive driving your father's creepy camper, there's no excuse cuz when you're a teenager, you
you'll essentially drive any >> anything gives you a car. >> Yeah. So, she's been seen by several
different witnesses during the time of after leaving her mother. >> And again, this is not her first time
doing so. So staying at a friend's house, that seems reasonable, seems believable and credible. And then we
have these other witnesses that may have seen her. The again, the one is being forced by two men into a van
>> like in the other case. Now we have these two individuals. They can provide alibis for each other.
>> So I hate this being forced into a van again because there's several versions
of this story. In one version, it's two ladies. In one version, she's walking with the two men, not being forced into
the vehicle. So, I mean, take it for what it is. It does, all of those different versions do play into well
into the series of cases that we're talking about here in the garage this week. I have a hard time reading too
much into this, but again, the seeing hearing the white dude with the afro again sets off alarm bells, but when you
have witnesses that cannot tell you what day that this presumed abduction took place,
>> right? >> I mean, I don't know how many abductions you're used to seeing, but if I see one,
I'm I'm going to I'm going to remember what day it is. and and not just that I'm going to go out of my way to report
it to somebody. >> Yeah. But again, in a lot of these cases, these eyewitnesses aren't being
nefarious by nature, but they're just trying to help. So, some of this is just made up
[ __ ] >> So, the best that I could trim this down to here, Captain, is that this took
place sometime between the 3rd of December and the 9th of December. The witness here says that after she gets
into the vehicle, whether it was forced or not, the vehicle did speed off heading north on Kalisoga Road. A second
witness supported this claim, describing seeing a girl resembling Lori in the company of a white male with bushy hair
driving a pickup truck. These reports were eerily similar to the eyewitness descriptions of the man who last was
last seen with Janette Kamahle, who had disappeared months earlier and hadn't been heard from since. Tragically, in
mid December of that year, Lorie Lee Kursa's naked body was found off of Kalisoga Road in Santa Rosa, just
minutes away from the downtown area. Her frozen remains were located in a ravine
about 50 f feet off of the road northeast in Rencon Valley. Her body had either fell or been pushed over an
embankment at least 30 feet down to the bottom of the ravine. So this is one detail within this particular story that
is dramatically different than the other that we have discussed so far. So, the pathologists confirmed that the young
teen had died a week or two being discovered, right? A week or two before the discovery of her body on December
14th, 1972. The cause of death was a broken neck with compression and hemorrhage of the
spinal cord. So, Lori was not raped. It was theorized that after being abducted and then stripped naked, she may have
either been pushed out from a moving van or vehicle by her captor or captors or leapt from the vehicle in order to
escape her abductors and then breaking her neck as a result. So, if she was attempting to escape, either she was
unaware or maybe didn't care, was willing to chance it and jumped and instead of
hitting the side of the road, she's now falling down this ravine. It's actually her death is really horrible, though.
Um, as all of these are, of course, but it's a different level of violence, potentially a different type of violence
here. But this type of injury, so she breaks her neck as a result of this fall. This type of injury would have
immobilized her, preventing her from escaping the ravine where she eventually would perish. So she she likely laid
there for a considerable amount of time. I want to talk about secret witness. We've had similar scenarios in other
cases. A lot of times you see a community will do something of this nature when they're starting to get
fearful that oh we have we really have something going on here. We have people disappearing. We have murder after
murder. We're finding body after body. You will see a community get wise band together and do something of this
nature. Here it appears it's the media that is attempting to help law enforcement and thus the community. So
shortly after Christmas 1972, local media announced the launch of a tip line program and reward for information
related to the murders of Kim Allen, Yavon Weber, Marine Sterling, and Lorie Kursa. So, of course, this is
after the time that that Weber and Sterling were finally found. An area newspaper, the Press Democrat that we've
mentioned earlier, launch a secret witness program in conjunction with radio stations KSR and KRVE.
This was of course endorsed by the Soma County Sheriff's Office, >> right? particularly Sheriff Don Stripek
who was leading the investigation. So what they did here, Captain, was they did a reward of $500 a piece that was
offered up for information regarding to those responsible for the murders of the
four girls, as well as information as to the whereabouts of a fifth, the still missing Janette Kamahle. So, the reward
I I like the way they did this, though, because it's $500 a piece. You're You can't confirm, nobody, no Stradamus
wouldn't be able to sort this out if these were connected or not, 100%. And so, what you're in a sense asking the
public to do is put your blinders on. If you know something about this one case,
this one missing girl, this one dead girl, don't concern yourself about the other cases. If you know something about
one of these cases, let us know. We are starved for breadcrumbs. We are looking for a breadcrumb trail. Not in all of
these murders, in each of these murders. >> Yeah. Question for you because it seems
like the community, the public, and media are connecting all these cases, but is law enforcement at the time
saying, "Hey, it's most likely that some of these are connected." >> Yeah. So you again I would imagine you
have a little bit of infighting behind closed doors but Sheriff Don Stripek did not did not shy away from the idea. In
fact, he he openly postulated that they were connected and and in some cases as the as these cases and investigations
drug on without a conclusion, without a good result, he would openly say that he
thought that they were connected. I've heard his name pronounced multiple ways. Stripic. Straic. Uh I'm going to go with
Stripic for now. Forgive me, my garage friends. The reward fund totaled $2,500. >> Mhm.
>> Which doesn't seem like a lot, but again, $500 a piece for each case, but $2,500 in 1972
is over $17,000 today. >> Not bad. >> Not bad. And it it's encouraging. If you if you've seen something, let us know.
So, but the way that this secret witness program works, because at some point, Captain, when you have case after case
after case, don't you a as law enforcement and anybody with a with a level head and a brain here, they're
starting to go, why isn't somebody coming forward? Why aren't more people coming forward? Somebody must have seen
something. These girls, every one of them, if if the story is as it's been told, they were on the side of the road
somewhere, presumably seen by several people, if not dozens of people. You start to wonder, why don't we have more
people coming forward? So, this secret witness program was a mailin tip line, a sort of precursor to Crimestoppers
tipline, if you will. So, anyone with information about the a crime or the crimes was asked to mail in a letter to
the secret witness program after typing up or writing out printing their information. tipsters were instructed to
not include their name, to not sign the letter, but instead sign the last page with a code comprised of three numerals
and three letters of their own choosing. Okay? So, you write this code, you come
up with your own code. NIC123 would be a good example or N1 C2I3 would be another good example. Three
letters, three numbers. You write this code on your information and on the last page of the information that you are
sending in. Write the code again. Then tear that corner off, the bottom right hand corner as instructed. tear the
bottom right hand corner of the last page off and save that so the people receiving your tip have the same code
that you have and then you mail it to a PO box in Santa Rosa. Certainly, this is
a noble attempt on the part of the media to assist law enforcement in gathering information. I couldn't find any sources
that reported whether this led to any viable leads that resulted from this program.
>> Also, you're asking these individuals to do too much work. It's hard enough to
get people to call in tips. >> Agreed. I think they're giving the public an anonymous option.
>> No, I Yeah, I understand what they're trying to do. I just think sometimes you
you're putting too much work. And if there's too much work that maybe some people just go, ah, it's not
worth my time. [Music] [Music] TV's number one drama, High Potential, returns with star Caitlyn Olsen as the
crimesolving single mom with an IQ of 160. Every week, Morgan uses her unconventional style and brilliance to
crack LAPD's most perplexing cases. It's the perfect blend of humor and mystery.
She's breaking the mold without breaking a nail. New episodes of High Potential Tuesdays 10:9 central on ABC and stream
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sure you subscribe to the show. Tall cans in the air. Cheers to you, Colonel. >> Tall cans way up high. Let's see.
>> Way up high. So by now, Captain, the police were pretty much convinced that the four confirmed confirmed hitchhiking
murder victims along with the missing hitchhiker Janette Kamahle were linked. As said previously, they were openly
speculating about this with the media and the public and the community, but also in in a lot of cases pointing out
that this very likely is the scenario that we are forced to deal with. Now, whether the murders were the result of a
single perpetrator or multiple asalants, this they could not confirm nor 100% agree upon, which makes a lot of sense
considering how and where you're finding the bodies, right? You don't, especially with the ones that were
fully decomposed, it gets really difficult to try to say, "Hey, somebody pulled up on the side of this ravine at
the top of this ravine and uh on the side of the road and and got out, drugged the body out of their vehicle
and simply rolled it down the hillside." or where we have the scene where someone
is saying we we may have an injured perpetrator. Are they carrying them down? Making sure
that they're away from the roadside. Making sure that they are away from the old eyeballs that will be traveling
those routes so that they won't be found for considerable amount of time. Well, it's
difficult though, too, because we have eyewitnesses that see one individual, one suspect, and then we have other
eyewitnesses that possibly see two. And then the first case, we have these eyewitnesses that probably have more
details and and probably know more about this possible suspect if these are all connected. But we don't know if this
individual at the skating rink did he did he have a buddy in the van with him or a buddy in his truck with him? We
don't know that. >> Yeah. And of course it will be easier if there's more than one.
But here's the thing we're we got to be faced with. All right. Spoiler alert. It's 2025.
We still don't know who committed these murders. And it's not always the case, but often
the case is if there's more than one perpetrator, eventually somebody talks. And you're right, Captain, you're
absolutely right. based off of the eyewitness accounts, whether they are 100% factual or speculation or somewhere
in between. You have accounts where there's one person seen with the victim or in other
cases more than one, two to three people seen with the person that's no longer with us.
In the Press Democrat, there was this great article. The Soma County Sheriff Don Stripic reiterated his belief that
these unfortunate young women had fallen prey to the same killer or killers, citing the similarities between the
victims. One, all four were found nude. Two, their bodies had been discovered at
the bottom of steep embankments off of desolate country roads. Three, two of the girls were known to routinely
hitchhike and the other two were deemed likely to have accepted a ride. Four, clothing and jewelry known to be worn by
the victims were not recovered at the crime scene. But in the case of Kim, Moren, and Yavon, a single earring was
found at the scene. While it is was true that while it was true that the causes of death varied, strangulation, a broken
neck, and undetermined, that didn't necessarily rule out a connection in Sheriff Stripik's eyes. While some law
enforcement officials felt that the cases were unrelated, there simply wasn't enough evidence beyond gut
instinct to make a determination one way or another. Nevertheless, the investigation ramped up with a group of
up to eight investigators tasked with focusing upon the hitchhiker murders as well as sharing information with
neighboring counties in an attempt to crack the case. But that unfortunately is going to lead us captain to victim
number six. So, we have things that seem fairly quiet for a few months until 14-year-old Caroline Davis ran away from
her home in Shasta County, California. She runs away February 6th, 1973. She left a note for her mother telling her
not to worry, stating that she was leaving simply to get away. And it says something about
trying to stay alive. I'm I'm leaving to simply try to stay alive. And that may make a little more sense here as I get
further into the telling of this part of the story. So, the note as reported reads, "Dear mom, don't worry too much
about me. The only thing I'm going to be doing is keeping myself alive. Love, Carolyn." So, she drifted for 5 months.
What we do learn ultimately is for a good portion of that time she does stay with her sister. So her sister lives her
her adult sister lives in Garberville, California. So she stays with the sister for a while. The teen claimed to have
been witnessed to some type of double homicide that she said took place in Shasta County. And she says tells the
sister she's scared for her life. Now, her sister Judy would say that she was somewhat skeptical of of her sister
Carolyn's story about witnessing a murder, but she admitted her sister was clearly fearful and afraid of something
or someone to the point that Carolyn insisted upon sleeping on the floor of her older sister's bedroom closet. So,
she's sleeping in the closet on the floor at night. >> Isn't that some evidence of truth?
>> Well, that's what her sister's saying. Like, I don't I don't know that I fully
believe her story, but she clearly was afraid of something. Regardless, the older girl covered for her little sister
with the mother, you know, not not revealing the teen's whereabouts. She felt that 14-year-old Carolyn was
essentially mature, a good girl who had just gotten a bit lost and running a bit
wild. Now, Captain, let's fast forward a few months. So, we're going to go to the
summer of 1973. Carolyn spent a couple of weeks with her grandmother in July before deciding to
visit friends in Modesto, California. On July 15th, 1973, her grandmother dropped her off in
Garberville. This is where she was last seen hitching a ride near the southbound Highway 101
ramp. Carolyn's body was found on July 31st, 1973 in Santa Rosa, callously abandoned
down an embankment only three feet. Okay, so let's not get too hung up on the details here. Again, different
telling of this story. This version has her body being found abandoned down an embankment only 3 ft. Some sources say
less than 10 ft from where Yavon Weber and Moren Sterling's remains had been found the prior December. This look, if
it's the same killer >> or even if it's not, I don't this can't be an accident, right? This can't be
happen stance. >> Well, what what do we know about serial killers? They they like to use the same
areas as dumping grounds cuz they have cuz news flash, you can be caught abducting the person, you can be caught
killing the person, and then you can be caught disposing of the person. Yeah, we
will often see serial offenders and of course serial killers, they're they're they're working
often in times and there's somebody out there shaking their head right now going, "No, that's not true." Yeah, of
course there are serial killers that travel the country, travel state to state, travel great distances, but the
overwhelming majority of them work and operate within an area that they feel very comfortable moving in.
>> Yeah. Or there's some rhyme or reason. I mean, look at Rex Herman. He I think one dumped the bodies where
he did cuz he was familiar with the area. He felt like he couldn't get caught. But it was also or what they are
speculating is because there was something about it where he could just look over the water and go, "Yep, that's
where my victims are." >> Yep. And sometimes it's comes down to trial and error, right? Oh, I did it
this way once before and it worked, >> right? >> I got away with it. >> And that could be part of the their
fantasy, their sick fantasies. >> But with this one, this when when when I find a detail like this, okay, and this
is not a detail that you can argue. The only thing you can argue is the distance
between this body and the other two bodies. And I think that you're going to get these
natural discrepancies because there were two bodies that were previously found and they weren't side by side, right? We
we discussed how and they were positioned when they were found. So whether you read 3T, 4T or less than 10
ft, this body was right near where one of these other two bodies were found the prior December. So when I read this
detail here, Captain, where my mind goes, it goes back to the checkbook of one of our previous victims that was
mailed dropped into a mailbox 19 days after her body is found 20 days after she's abducted. This to me is
somebody doing this [ __ ] on purpose to play a game with the police. You're not
in charge here. I'm going to do what I want and I might make things conf confusing for you or embarrassing for
you along the way. Right? This is my show. This is my show, not not your guys's show. So, to further complicate
things here, they figure out that poor Carolyn, she had been poisoned with strick nine, likely about 10 to 14 days
before her body was discovered. It was unclear how the poison was administered to the victim, but there were no other
drugs found in her system. Regardless, it would have been a slow, torturous death, as strick nine poisoning would
produce particularly painful muscle spasms, finally resulting in a complete shutdown of the organs and eventual
exfixiation. The medical examiner determined Caroline had died on July 20th, only 5 days after
her grandmother dropped her off. Caroline's right earlobe had sustained an injury as if someone had
unsuccessfully tried to pierce her ear. Her left earlobe was untouched. They could not determine if she had been
sexually assaulted. So this play piece now with the earring, this purposely placing the body where
previous bodies were found, right? >> Again, you go back and you you want to look at things like the checkbook. Now,
here's one part of the story that I hate, >> but it is intriguing. Some say an occult
or witchcraft symbol was found near Carolyn's body. We can discuss this more if you wish, Captain, after this next
detail here. So, one of Carolyn's sisters later found a map belonging to Carolyn in a hotel room in
Anderson, California. So, her sister worked at this hotel as a cleaning lady, a housekeeping, and
finds this map in one of the hotel rooms. She knows that it belongs to her sister because
one side is a map. You flip it over and on the other side of the map, her sister
had written all over notes and where she was going and things like that. And if this young woman is hitchhiking on on
the daily, it makes sense that she would carry a map with her. So the sister does not
hesitate. She immediately gives the map to the local police. And she said that she also spoke with both the Shasta and
the Soma County investigators regarding this detail and everything she thought she knew about her sister or what could
have happened to her. So tell me more about this symbol that was found. >> Okay, so
forgive me. This is going to be a a bit of a winding road to get there, but this
is a really complicated part of the story. The reason why I said earlier that I hate this part of the story is
because I believe this particular item is really something that when you review the crime scene, it's just one of those
items that it's completely left open to interpretation. Really, it's anybody's guess what the hell this thing means, if
it holds any actual meaning at all. Or let's not forget, we also don't know who placed it there. Okay. So, what we do
know and what I think we can say with some level of certainty, this is not the first time that you're finding a body in
this location. And there's no report of this with the with their first findings in December. But months later, when you
find another body here, this item was found there. All right. So, I want to go to the newspapers for this so we don't
misconstrue any of this information. Let's let them do it if they did. Right. So, this comes from an article titled,
"Another slain girl found east of State Route." This is by James E. Reed, and I'm only going to read the first two
paragraphs of this article. And it reads, "The spectre of a maniacal killer with an insane sense of humor loomed
over Soma County this morning following the discovery of the body of a nude woman yesterday at the same spot off of
France Valley Road where the remains of two girls were found last December." quote, "She was lying face down, not 4
feet from the exact same spot," end quote, "where the skeletal remains of Moren Sterling, age 12, and Yavon Weber,
aged 13, were found," said Sheriff Don Stripek. "So, this article does not mention hide
nor hair of this so-called occult symbol. But later, many, including some in law enforcement, would actually
suggest a possible connection to the infamous Zodiac Killer >> who nobody, you know, he's not been
identified as of this story of these true crime stories, but still not been identified to the telling of
this story here in the garage in 2025. So maybe he's still out there killing this from the Press Democrat. If you
want to follow this case, you want to do a deep dive, the the Press Democrat is a
great source to go to, great resource to have here as they are the local Santa Rosa, California newspaper. Back in this
is an article from 75. So, we're going to fast forward a little bit to get the details that we want here on this
particular item, evidence or otherwise, in this one murder in the series. This article again by James E. Reed titled,
"Is Zodiac slaying young women?" And I'll read just a bit of it here for you. Bear with me here, Captain. And it
says, "Does a cunning psychotic killer stalk the western United States playing a cat and mouse game, leaving a trail of
nude young girls bodies for myopic homicide investigators in various areas. Sheriff Don Stribbik is convinced a
solitary loner killed six young girls whose remains were found in Soma County in 1972 and 1973.
But he now says the same killer may be responsible for the deaths of some 30 or more girls in the western states since
1969. Stripic was quoted in a Bay Area newspaper today as saying the killer quote makes Juan Corona look like a per.
Corona was sentenced to state prison in 1973 after being convicted of killing 25
farm laborers in Yoba City area. And because the killer's diabolical taunting attitude toward law enforcement, Stripic
said, quote, I think he could definitely be the Zodiac. It goes on to say, "Here
and in Washington, Washington State, they mean the remains of 10 young women were found in three common grave sites
as though the killer enjoyed rubbing the evidence of his murders in law men's faces. The zodiac uses references to
astrology in his cryptic messages to Bay Area authorities, but he also refers to
Gilbert and Sullivan operetses and talks of making slaves of his victims in the afterlife. Stripic has released
information on a witchcraft symbol made of sticks found at the spot near Devil's
Kitchen in France Valley where the body of Carolyn Maiden Davis, age 15, was found July 31st, 1973. The same place
where the remains of Yavon Weber, 13, and Moren Sterling, 12, were found December 28th, 1972.
The sign, two crude rectangles joined by a stick, is an old English witchcraft symbol which Stripic says was used in
connection with the death rituals, meaning to hurry the spirits on to the afterlife. H the last messages we got
from the Zodiac indicated he was going to continue his killings but vary them and bragged about collecting slaves for
his use in the next world. Stripic said two psychological profiles based on information collected by sheriff's
detectives have been developed by a psychiatrist and behavioral scientist to give an insight into the killer's
personality. Stripic plans to release information on these studies at a news conference later along with photographs
and details on the Soma County homicides. Dr. Edward Shrief of San Francisco says the Soma County killer apparently
slays his victims slowly for the necessary gratification and considers the young girl's garbage to be dumped
along the side of the road and not even receive a decent burial. But he also seems compelled to keep items of
clothing and jewelry from his victims which Shreve says could be for purposes of worship or to display the notches on
his gun. The killer may regard himself as a kind of messiah. Shrive went on to say his personality similar to the
religious fantasism of the Manson family type and believes he can resolve and cleanse the world of these fallen women.
Shreve went on to say, "Both Shrieve and Howard Taton of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit in Washington DC believe
the person responsible for the Sonoma County slangs lives in the area or at least is quite familiar with its more
remote areas where he has disposed of his victims." Now, that's quite a bit to chew on there.
>> Yes, chew on that fat. That is a little less than half of the news story that
ran in the press Democrat. It ran on page one, Wednesday, April 23rd, 1975. So, we're zooming ahead to 75 to get
details about some of the murders, bodies being found in 72 and 73, along with the speculation and some of the
insights of what the police were working on or their speculation about the case and the
perpetrator or perpetrators of these murders. >> So, we're six years in. Do do we have
the full profile? Has that been released to the public? It has the profile was released, but it was released, keep in
mind, it was released in 1975. And I know that we zoomed ahead here real quick. I'll get back to the profile
in just a second, but after this most recent victim, Caroline's death, as much as we have the detectives, the sheriff,
and others later saying that they're all connected, we have to keep in mind that
at this time in the timeline in 73, officially they're kind of struggling to find an absolute connection between
Carolyn's murder and that of the other victims, with the exception of the items that we mentioned. You know, they're
found nude and then her body with the a couple of the other bodies. They were attempting to definitively connect these
these cases, but to their frustration, it appears they were unable to do so. And this is regardless of Sheriff
Strip's firm belief that the cases were related, perhaps even more than originally
expected. He further suspected connections between these killings and up to 13 other
unsolved cases across the state of California and maybe even into other western states. Despite the lack of a
definite link, some similarities including the location where the bodies were found, the fact that the victims
were nude, like we said, and the lack of clothing, jewelry, except for a single earring
at the scene. I mean, that single earring, this guy's playing with you. This is difficult to
ignore. So, Carolyn Davis's murder was included in the list of the unfortunate Santa Rosa hitchhiker murder victims.
Several months after the terrible discovery of Carolyn Davis's remains, another California free spirit met a sad
and similarly tragic end. This is Teresa Diane Smith Walsh, nicknamed Terry. She's 23 years old, so she's a little
older than some of our other victims here. This takes us to the winter of 1973. She's married, but recently separated.
She did have a 2-year-old son with her ex-husband. She's telling everybody she needed a
break from the situation. So, she leaves her young son in the care of her mother
in a familiar place that we've heard before in this story, Garberville, California. So, Terry left her home in
Miranda, California, and headed south, seemingly unfased by any danger or warning as to what was going on in the
community with the bodies being found. The young mother hitchhiked her way across the state, frequently catching
rides off of Highway 101. By late December, she was in Malibu, but by then she was ready to go back home. Okay, so
it's late December 73. She wants to go home. She wants to spend Christmas with her mother and with her young son.
Before she could get there, however, she vanishes. Terry was last seen on December 22nd, 1973 while hitchhiking
from Zuma Beach in Malibu back to Northern California. Again, specifically, her destination is
Garberville, where she expected to spend Christmas. 6 days after she was last spotted, hitchhiking captain Terry's
partially submerged body was discovered by kayakers in Mark West Creek near Michelle, way outside of Santa Rosa.
Teresa's death was particularly gruesome. Her remains were found nude like the other victims. Prior to death,
she had been hog tied with a nylon clothesline rope. This is very detailed stuff here. This is when you find a body
like this and what was done to her prior to you finding. Someone spent a good amount of time with this victim and went
and took great efforts to make sure that she suffered. And this is a unique scene, a unique way to find a victim.
And you can't look past any of these details. So, prior to death, she had been hog tied with a nylon clothesline
rope type rope. Her thumbs, this is very odd, bound tightly together. She had an
injury to the back of her head and a bruise to her left eye. The rope that bound her was looped from her ankles to
form a noose around her neck. So, meaning she'd need to keep her body contorted in a way in order just to
breathe. But you have to do this in a way that it's unsustainable. You you can't keep doing that just to breathe.
So the natural positioning of Terry's body would result in her being slowly, methodically, and agonizingly strangled
to death as her muscles would be unable to remain flexed. So, it was theorized that after
sexually assaulting Terry and watching her slowly strangle, her asalent or asalants dumped her body in a a ways up
the creek before it washed to its final location during a heavy rainstorm where it was eventually found. Police would
consider Terry to be the seventh confirmed victim, if you include Janette Kamahle,
which we are, of the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders case. But there were multiple other victims that were
possibly related to the same killer or killers. Some that would go unidentified for long periods of time and maybe but
hopefully not forever. You asked about the the suspect profile here, Captain. So, you're going to get it, my friend.
It's pretty detailed, too. So, it appears while we zoomed ahead to 75, let's talk about 75 because in 1975, it
does not appear that they were any closer to solving this case than they were in 72 or 73. Sheriff Don Stripe
speculated as to whether the Santa Rosa murders were the handiwork of a serial killer. KR N TV news footage from April
25th, 1975 featured scenes from the press conference held by the sheriff in Santa Rosa regarding the hitchhiker
murders where they said at least six or seven young women were confirmed victims
who had been murdered while hitchhiking around Santa Rosa between 1972 and 1973.
Sheriff Stripic affirmed his belief that there were possible connections to 13 other unsolved California murders and
possibly even in other western states. A reporter explained that Stripic has been
consulting with an investigator and a quote witchcraft teaching psychiatrist to produce a composite of the suspect.
This reporter stated that the sheriff is careful in his references to the Zodiac
as many lawmakers disagree that the Zodiac killer is a possible suspect in the case, referencing the mystical
symbol discovered by Carolyn Davis's remains. Sheriff Stripek stated that the artifact related to medieval English
witchcraft and as we said was meant to speed the deceased to the afterlife. The profile developed by the psychologist
depicted a male offender who possessed at least a high school education growing up as a loner. He had a passive father
and a doineering mother whom he likely deeply hated as he did all women in general. As a child, this offender
tortured and killed animals and pets, perhaps by strangling or poisoning them. He has long-standing mental problems and
possesses a savior complex to the point he believes he is doing the world a favor by murdering these young women. He
may even have been responsible for creating his own religion like the deranged leader of the Manson clan. In
all likelihood, the profile reads, the perpetrator is white and he is apt to being proficient in mechanical pursuits.
Of the six female victims of the suspected Santa Rosa killer whose bodies have been recovered, all were under 30
years of age between ages 12 and 24. They were all found nude, their clothing missing, never to be found. The women
were all white, small to medium in stature, and had been wearing casual clothing when they disappeared. All of
the missing and murdered girls and women had long flowing hair, which may have initially caught the killer's eye. The
hair worn parted in the middle, and most had pierced ears. Each of the girls came
from what was then referred to as a broken home, which I don't I don't know how much we read into that. Some of
these were young ladies that had a pretty regular upbringing and had gone off to college. You know, they had
successful parents and gone off to college. And then two of the girls, >> yeah, you can say a broken home because
we have a a stepfather, but the she had a stepfather because her her biological father died in a tragic accident before
she was born. So yeah, I don't think victimology matters so much in cases like this because how is the murderer
getting to the victim? Well, >> it's more random. >> Exactly. And so if if this individual
was going to a mall, let's say, to hunt for his prey, well, then he can pick and
choose and go, "Well, I I prefer women with brown hair. as opposed to blonde. But when you're getting your victims
from women hitchhiking, you're basically just putting yourself in a situation so
you can have a crime of opportunity. So I don't think the victimology matters as
much. This is an interesting part of the profile because it will actually circle
around into something that is very psychological regarding the likely killer later in the
profile. So, let's just kind of put this on the back burner for now. The broken home thing.
Again, that I think that term is more loose than the way we're perceiving it to be.
>> Right. >> Okay. So, and of I'll continue on. Each of the girls came from what was then
referred to as a broken home, and of course, all were hitchhiking when they vanished from sight. The victims were
all known to have either hitchhiked extensively in the past, or they had last been seen getting into an unknown
vehicle. Four of the girls, Terresa Smith Walsh, Janette Kamahle, Carolyn Davis, and Kim Allen, were last
spotted thumbming a ride along Highway 101. So that regardless, this guy or these guys feel very comfortable with
operating on Highway 101 and close to it, right before they were all tragically murdered. And of course, all
the bodies had been discovered on lonely, isolated rural roads, typically at the foot of a steep embankment. Okay,
you and I already discussed the obvious, the randomness with these victims. When
you look at the totality of victims here, this part of is very intriguing says police, this is outside of the
profile, but they openly discussed this. Police believe that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the Santa Rosa murders
had interviewed, air quotes, interviewed potential victims before killing them as
mentioned in several news articles. This is thought to mean that after picking them up at random, they spoke with them
and kind of assessed the victims, >> right? >> And they were looking for certain
characteristics, behaviors or vulnerabilities before deciding to murder or rape and murder, torture these
girls and women. And we we have heard from like killers like Edmund Keer and and Bundy and other killers that have
picked up victims, talked to them, and for whatever reason through that conversation decided she is not a going
to be a victim of mine and they let them go. >> Yeah, this is one commonality that we've
seen across a batch of serial killers. Like we we've recently talked about Edmond Kemper from our Never- Ending
Mind Hunter coverage. I think we'll just cover that until the the garage closes for good. Uh whether it be Douglas's
books, wrestlers books, Anne Burgess's books, interviewing John Douglas, uh interviewing Anne Burgess, talking about
the TV show, what have you. But Ed Keer says told the FBI, like every time I took it a little bit further, I always
had somebody in my car. I was always talking to them. >> I just took it a little further and a
little further. Now, let's take it to the to another extreme. There's been more than one serial killer that told
the FBI, told detectives while confessing to crimes that sometimes they would make up scenarios to work
themselves up into it. I can't think of the particular killer. I think he was in
Pikipsy, but he would bring a woman back to his home and then accuse her of something he know he knew that she
didn't do. So he could work himself up into like angry and to give himself a reason to start to kick the fantasy off.
You know, he would accuse her of stealing something or lying to him. And so this could be the same thing that's
going on here. If this guy does hold some of the ideologies that they believe he he may have, how how messy and
screwed up as they may be, that he's interviewing them, he's talking with them, and some occasions the girl or the
woman gets to get out of the vehicle and walk away and on other occasions she does not. He is the one that gets to
decide. What's fascinating about this profile from an investigative standpoint, and I don't think they did a
good job of this, maybe they did. I wasn't alive in 75, so I can't say. I shouldn't judge. But what it sounds to
me like Captain here is that they need to openly be telling people we think that other women and girls got into this
guy's car or with these guys in a vehicle, talked to him, traveled, successfully made it from point A to
point B after hitching a ride. We want to talk to you. We need to talk to you. Tell us who picked you up, what kind of
vehicle it was, what was the person like, did they give you a name? That's how you're going to find this guy. And
every serial killer there is I'm I'm yet to find one. There is somebody that got
away. And that usually will lead you to the killer. If not provide you with some
detailed information about who the killer may be. [Music] Want to thank everybody so much for
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Santa Rosa Murders ////// Hitchhiking Victims

Part 2 of 4

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The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders is a series of unsolved homicides of young women that took place in the early 1970s. Many of the victims were confirmed or believed to have been hitchhiking in or around the Santa Rosa, California area. High School girls and College students were not safe. Often times the women and girls were not found until several days later. Many discovered in rural areas. If you have any information regarding these cases please submit a tip at sheriff-coldcase@sonoma-county.org or please call the Sonoma County Sheriff’s cold case unit at 1707-565-2727

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders, focusing on multiple victims and the investigation's challenges.

Key points

Mysterious Disappearances. Two young women vanish under eerie similarities, raising alarm in Santa Rosa.
Tragic Discovery. Lorie Lee Kursa's body is found, revealing a grim fate after her disappearance.
Secret Witness Program Launched. Media and law enforcement team up to gather tips on the ongoing cases.
High Potential Returns. TV's number one drama is back with Caitlyn Olsen as a brilliant crime-solving mom.
The Convenience of Carvana. A humorous take on the ease of selling your car with Carvana.
Carolyn's Disturbing Note. A runaway teen's note reveals her fear and desperation to survive.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

If still living, Janette would be 73 years of age today.

Reflecting on the missing person case of Janette Kamahle.

6:44WatchSep 24, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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