21 h, jul 1, 1973 y - Angela Thomas

Description:

16yo; last seen leaving the home of a friend who wasn't home at the time (Robert Garner) on Infantry Terrace in the Presidio of San Francisco walking away from the area at 9:00pm on July 1.
She had been dropped off at Garner's home on the assumption that he was there, but after speaking with his mother, Angela learned that her friend wasn't home at the time, so Angela left

July 2: found nude, smothered on the playground of Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in Dale City. A locket was recovered near the body




Comparisons were drawn to the strangulation deaths of Rosa Vasquez, Yvonne Quilantang, and Nancy Gidley




After Nancy's death, a spokesman for police stated at the time, "We're treating these cases as individuals. However, the similarities are sufficient that we cannot exclude the possibility we have one person involved."

All four victims — Rosa Vasquez, Yvonne Quilantang, Angela Thomas, and Nancy Gidley — were young women and girls who were found in public places in San Francisco, nude and strangled or smothered. There were no clothing articles at any of the scenes, and LE believed they had all been killed at a different location before being dumped where they were found. Several of them had "signs of minor injuries seemingly approximal to the time of death." All four also had connections to the military: in Angela's case, her father was an Army sergeant who had previously been stationed at the Presidio, which is where she was last seen visiting old friends.

On August 8, 1973, Chief of Police Donald M Scott of the San Francisco PD published an information bulletin regarding the four homicides, listing the similarities and summaries of each. The bulletin ordered that "All patrol units should pay particular attention to schoolyard areas during night watches and special attention given during weekends and holidays." It also provided contact info for anyone with information. The bulletin is available in the "Photos" section of Yvonne's FindAGrave page. The summary of Angela's case as detailed by the bulletin is as follows:

"Monday, July 2, 1973, the nude body of Angela Thomas, WFJ, 16 years, was found in the schoolyard of Benjamin Franklin Jr High in the early morning hours. Subject was last known to be alive during the evening hours of July 1 1973 in the Presidio of SF and several hours later was identified as exiting a vehicle (a 1972-73 Plymouth Duster, dark blue, 2-door with black racing stripe on the rear) in a gas station on Lombard Street. At that time she was nude and asked attendant for key to washroom. The occupants of the automobile were two WMAs, one with dishwater blond hair, longish, early 20s, 5'10 to 6 feet. No further description on the other suspect."

None of the four San Francisco cases were ever solved, including Angela's.

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In February 1975 the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) issued a special report titled "Unsolved Female Homicides: An Analysis of a Series of Related Murders in California and Western America." The report indicated that, "After evaluating more than one hundred murder cases involving female victims, it appears that thirteen of these crimes" — with fourteen victims total — "were committed by the same person. Each of the thirteen cases occurred in Northern California within the past five years. As of this writing, the suspect remains unknown and the cases unsolved" (pp4 of pdf). The report summarized all thirteen cases, noted observations and similarities, created a suspect profile, and included a map of all of the cases.

The cases were:
- The six then-known cases — with seven victims — of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders (1972-1973): Maureen Sterling & Yvonne Weber, Kim Wendy Allen, Lori Lee Kursa, Carolyn Davis, and Theresa Walsh.
- The four 1973 San Francisco victims: Rosa Vasquez, Yvonne Quilantang, Angela Thomas, and Nancy Gidley.
- The 1969 murder of Leona LaRell Roberts
- The 1970 murder of Marie Antoinette Anstey
- The 1974 murder of Donna Maria Braun
- And possibly the 1971 murder of Linda Susan Dudley (the pdf is incomplete)

The report's summary of Angela's case is as follows:
"On July 1, 1973, Angela Thomas was last seen leaving a friend's house in the city of San Francisco. Her nude body was discovered the following day, lying in the schoolyard at the Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in San Francisco. She had apparently been murdered by asphyxiation and dumped completely nude at the discovery site. Although none of her clothing has ever been located, she apparently had not been sexually molested."

Also included in the report was a possible out-of-state connection involving the disappearances of eight young women in Washington and Oregon since January 1974, as well as the murders of Janice Ott and Denise Naslund. The only copy of the report that I could find online has some of the last few (ten or so) pages missing, though other reports are also included in the pdf. Because of this, only a few of the Washington-Oregon cases remain: Janice Ott, Denise Naslund, Lynda Ann Healy, and Donna Gail Manson. All four of these young women were later determined to have been murdered by serial killer Ted Bundy.



FROM THE Aug 8 1973 SFPD BULLETIN (on her FindAGrave):
- has been linked to the deaths of Rosa Vasquez, Yvonne Quilantang, and Nancy Gidley from the beginning b/c all in SF over a short time frame (about a month and a half); all were either strangled or suffocated; all found nude, and dumped elsewhere; all found after either a weekend or holiday; in two cases sexual activity was apparent


FROM THE "CA DOJ Investigation" photo on her FindAGrave:
Female, Caucasian, 5'4, 113 (lbs), 16 years of age, long brown hair, brown eyes



Total solar eclipse on June 3, though not visible in CA
LUNAR PHASE: waxing crescent
ZODIAC SIGN: cancer
DAY OF WEEK: Sunday
EVENTS: July 4 = Independence Day (3 days later)
Venus 21.9*E; Mercury-Venus 4:22; Moon-Mercury 18:17; Moon-Venus 18:48

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