13h 15min, jan 4, 1974 y - Charlotte T Cook HOMICIDE

Description:

Charlotte, a 19-year-old Black girl, was last seen alive the afternoon of Thursday, January 3, 1974, when she left her Oakland, Alameda County, CA home to visit a sister in San Francisco. The day before her body was found, she had testified as a witness in a robbery case in Alameda County.

On January 4, 1974, at about 1:15pm, State Park Ranger Steven Gazzano looked up from his ranger station in Thornton Beach, Daly City, San Mateo County, CA and spotted a body ~195ft from the top of the cliff. The body was described as that of a young Black woman, about 5'5, 110lbs, with "short Afro-style hair."

When Charlotte's body was found she was wearing a light blue sleeveless blouse; a white suit; a white, red, blue, & orange waistband around the suit; and knee-high black leather boots with two-inch heels. She was also wearing an expensive camel hair coat. She was identified by her father, Neal Davis, of San Francisco. Neal Davis was contacted by an aunt who read a newspaper description of the expensive camel's hair coat the girl was wearing and informed the father.

Charlotte is estimated to have died early that same morning, and/or had been dead for 12-24hr (this latter initial estimated PMI is according to the first clipping); the 12-24hr estimate would put her death at about 1:15pm Jan. 3 to 1:15am Jan. 4. The first article to report the discovery stated that the body, "had apparently been thrown over the cliff from a parking lot during the night." She had been strangled to death with a brown cloth belt that was left looped around her neck.

Charlotte was a widow and mother. She was born Charlotte T Davis on December 8, 1954 in Mississippi. On March 3, 1971, at the age of 16, she married Paul Kenneth Cook (29yo) in Santa Clara, CA. A year earlier, Paul was paroled from San Quentin prison after serving time for second degree burglary. Originally from Washington, DC, Paul had spent "some 18 years in various prisons" by 1972. He was dedicated to prison reform, and spoke at many Bay Area high schools, churches, and other gatherings. In 1968 he started an education program for San Quentin inmates. When he married Charlotte he already had one daughter, likely from a prior marriage, named Oleta Cook who was born on August 4, 1969.

Charlotte and Paul had one daughter together: Freedom Odessa Cook was born on August 19, 1972 in Alameda County. On Saturday, October 14, 1972, Paul was shot to death in Alternative House, a halfway house for ex-convicts that he operated in Oakland. He was 31 years old.

There is very little information to be found online about Charlotte's case. It is known, however, that her murder is still unsolved, as she is featured on Daly City's Unsolved Crimes page. One user on a Zodiac forum has brought her up once before, stating, "Probably not a Zodiac victim, but it is possible. The ranger station is interesting."

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CONFIRMATION OF COMPLETION DATE: May 31, 2025
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JANUARY 4
LUNAR PHASE: waxing gibbous
ZODIAC SIGN: capricorn
DAY OF WEEK: Friday

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