22h 30min, oct 30, 1966 y - Cheri Josephine Bates

Description:

Cheri Josephine "Cheri Jo" Bates was an 18-year-old student at Riverside City College. On Sunday, October 30, 1966, Cheri Jo left the Riverside City College library annex at 9pm, but never arrived home.

Oct. 31, 6:28am: her body was found between two abandoned houses near the library annex. She had been beaten and stabbed to death. The wires in her Volkswagen's distributor cap had been pulled out. A man's Timex watch with a torn wristband, stopped at 12:24, was found nearby.

Nov. 29: typewritten letters sent to Riverside police & Riverside Press-Enterprise claiming the author killed Bates

Mar. 13, 1971: Zodiac mailed letter to the LA Times, saying the police discovered his "Riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there." This was after Paul Avery had reported on the possibility of Cheri Jo being one of the Zodiac's victims.

Cheri Jo's case is thought to be potentially linked to those of Robin Graham (1970), Rose Tashman (1970), Cindy Lee Mellin (1970), Kathleen Johns (1970), Christine Marie Eastin (1971), Ernestine Francis Terrello (1972), and Mona Jean Gallegos (1975)

While Cheri Jo's murder is often brought up in conjunction with the Zodiac, I am also putting her case in the Bad Samaritan Murders category (see above) because it very much fits the MO.


Penumbral Lunar Eclipse visible in Riverside, CA from Oct. 29 at 12:55:28am to 5:29:13am, with maximum eclipse at 3:12:19am
There was a solar eclipse on Nov. 12, though it wasn't visible from CA

LUNAR PHASE: waning gibbous
ZODIAC SIGN: scorpio
DAY OF WEEK: Sunday
EVENTS: Oct. 31 = Halloween (1 day later)
Oct. 29: Full moon; penumbral lunar eclipse 2:13am; Moon Ascending Node
Oct. 31: Moon-Pleiades 00:01

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