aug 30, 1965 - Diane Louise Gerrish

Description:

19yo; A beauty school student from Albany, Diane had been away from the home she shared with her family at 1042 Peralta Ave since the night of Fri., August 29. She left home that night after an argument with her parents over use of the family car. Her parents didn't report her missing, though her mother had begun to worry once they hadn't seen her in a day or two.

Diane was last seen alive at ~10pm on Sat., August 28 in Berkeley when she stopped in at Joseph's Liquors at 1882 Solano Ave to buy some gum and cigarettes. The clerk, Albert Fahmie, knew Diane because she sometimes stopped in the store, "to purchase cokes or potato chips while a student at the beauty college." Fahmie said that Diane gave no indication that anything was amiss when she was at the store on Saturday night. "She mentioned her boyfriend going overseas, and about the fact that she was going to take her beauty operator's test the next week." It was reported that her boyfriend, a sailor, was shipped to Hawaii on August 21. Fahmie said that he remembered Diane being dressed in a white sweater, white blouse, and an orange or red skirt on Saturday night. He also stated that after Diane bought the gum and cigarettes, he saw her jump into a silver-colored 1965 Chevrolet Malibu. He said he did not see who was driving the car, but he did see it take off toward the Northbrae tunnel going toward downtown Berkeley.

At about 7:30 or 7:50am on Monday, August 30, three soldiers -- Privates Bill Young, T.J. (or P.J.) Jones, & Jesus Garza -- were walking through the Presidio grounds in San Francisco, as they were, "detailed to clear litter from Lincoln Blvd where it winds through the military post and curves past the post cemetery" when they discovered a body in a bed of iceplant, in the bushes near Lincoln Boulevard, and/or "on a gentle grassy slope." Upon finding her body, Young, Jones, & Garza called the military police, who informed the FBI. Because the military post is federal property, the FBI was handling the murder investigation, and the SFPD has no jurisdiction. Diane's body was taken to Letterman hospital, and the coroner was called at about 11am.

She had been dead for 8-12hr, since sometime Sunday night; she is also described as having been killed at, "approximately midnight Sunday." The body was identified as that of Diane, who was blonde, 5'11, and 170lb. Her body was scratched and bruised, and she had been garroted; she died of strangulation She had been struck repeatedly, believed to be by a man's fists, and her body "was a welter of scratches"; she had extensive bruises on her head and face. She had not been raped but she had been sexually molested, according to the coroner.

Diane's leather jacket and plaid skirt had been ripped off of her. When the body was found, her torn skirt and suede jacket were flung across it. Her stockings and bra were wrapped around her neck "with a stick inserted to bring pressure", according to the first clipping about her death to be published. Later clippings, however, do not mention a stick being used to help garrote her; instead, they state that she had been (sexually) mutilated with the branch of a shrub. The coroner determined that the entire attack was sexually-driven.

Diane was a habitual nail-biter, and her fingernails were bitten to the quick at the time; she was likely unable to scratch her attacker because of this.

Diane's father Grant was the first to try to identify her body, though he was too distraught and refused to concede that it was definitely Diane. Instead, Diane's mother and sister, Dorothy and Joan, made positive identification of the corpse on August 30.

Diane's father, Grant, worked in the photo division at the Alameda County Court House in Oakland at the time, while her mother, Dorothy, was a teacher in Vallejo. Dorothy and Grant had one other daughter, Joan, who was 15yo at the time.

Diane had just completed a cosmetology course at the North Berkeley Beauty College and had applied for her license on June 29. She was supposed to take her operator's examination in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 31 (the day after her body was found). She was described as a friendly, kind girl, "although it was thought she frequented dances at the non-commissioned officers club at the Presidio" aka the Fort Scott Enlisted Men's Club, a log cabin lodge atop a Presidio hill, dances of which were open to the public, "and had a number of boyfriends in the service."

She may have had some problems with her parents, which "may have left [her] in need of affection." She was thought to have gone to the Presidio from her home Friday night after an argument with her parents over use of the family car. However, it is unknown where she had been between that time and approximately midnight Sunday when she was killed.


There have been various theories that she was killed by the Zodiac, Rodney Alcala, or EARONS (Joseph DeAngelo).

LUNAR PHASE: waxing crescent
ZODIAC SIGN: virgo
DAY OF WEEK: Monday

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