Murder of Cheri Jo Bates

Cheri Josephine Bates was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on February 4, 1948.

She was the younger of two children born to Joseph and Irene (née Karolevitz) Bates.

The Bates family relocated to California in 1957, where her father found employment as a machinist at the Corona Naval Ordnance Laboratory.

Bates was a graduate of Ramona High School, where she had been a varsity cheerleader active in the student government, and an honor student.

Described as a "sweet, outgoing girl" by acquaintances, she aspired to become a flight attendant.

Following her graduation from Ramona High School, Bates enrolled at the Riverside City College (RCC) and found part-time employment at the Riverside National Bank.

Her savings, plus wages from this part-time employment, helped pay for a 1960 lime green Volkswagen Beetle, a vehicle she was proud to own.

Bates lived with her father at 4195 Via San Jose, her parents having divorced in 1965.

Her mother also lived in Riverside, and her older brother, Michael Bates, served in the United States Navy.

A subsequent eyewitness report given to Riverside investigators indicated Bates drove her Beetle in the direction of RCC at approximately 6:10 p.m. This eyewitness also claimed her vehicle was closely followed by a bronze 1965 or 1966 model Oldsmobile.

According to many eyewitnesses, Bates studied in the library until the normal closing time of 9:00 p.m. A subsequent witness statement obtained from a female RCC student would claim that a young man whose age she estimated to be either 19 or 20, and approximately 5 ft 11 in (71 in) in height, had been lurking in shadows across the street from Bates' vehicle and had been staring in the direction of her car around the same time the library closed.

Although this witness did not know the individual lurking within shaded areas aside the street, as she passed him the two had exchanged brief pleasantries.

Bates' father waited the entire night for his only daughter to return home before filing a missing person report with Riverside Police Department (RPD) at 5:43 a.m. He filed this report after phoning Guttman in the early morning hours, only to be informed that his daughter was not at her residence and had intended to study at the RCC library the previous evening, having held no plans to spend the evening away from home.

At approximately 6:28 a.m. on the morning of October 31, a groundskeeper named Cleophus Martin discovered Bates' body on the grounds of RCC.

Bates was found sprawled face down on a gravel path between two unoccupied houses on Terracina Drive, close to the library parking lot where she had parked her Beetle the previous evening.

She was still dressed in a long-sleeve pale yellow print blouse and faded red capri pants and her woven straw bag—containing both her identification and 56 cents—lay alongside her body.

Her clothing was undisturbed but was saturated in blood.

She had been repeatedly stabbed in the chest and left shoulder, and suffered several deep slash wounds to her face and neck.

Ten feet from Bates' body, investigators discovered a cheap, paint-spattered Timex brand wristwatch with a seven-inch circumference along with a footprint of a shoe produced by Leavenworth prisoners sold solely in military outlets.

The shoe size was between eight and ten inches.

Although only 5 ft in height, Bates had been an athletic woman.

Both an examination of the crime scene and Bates' subsequent autopsy revealed ample evidence of a ferocious physical struggle between Bates and her murderer; she having evidently scratched her assailant's arms, face and head and torn off his wristwatch.

Bates' Beetle was parked just 75 yards east of the location where her body was discovered.

The ignition wiring of the vehicle had been deliberately pulled loose, but the ignition key was in place and both the driver's side and passenger windows were rolled partly down.

Three library books on the subject of United States government were lying on the front seat, and several smeared, greasy palm prints and fingerprints were found upon the vehicle.

Investigators would determine these prints did not belong to Bates or any of her friends or relatives, and believe they may have belonged to her murderer.

An autopsy revealed Bates had been repeatedly kicked in the head in addition to having suffered two stab wounds to her chest, inflicted by a knife estimated to be one-and-a-half-inches wide and three-and-a-half-inches in length.

Her left cheek, upper lip, hands and arms had also been cut, with three slash wounds to her throat having severed her jugular vein and larynx and almost decapitating her.

Bates had evidently lain upon the ground when she had received the knife wounds to her left shoulder blade and neck.

The murder of Cheri Jo Bates occurred in Riverside, California, on October 30, 1966.

Bates, an 18-year-old college freshman, was stabbed and slashed to death on the grounds of Riverside City College.

Police determined the assailant had disabled the ignition coil wire and distributor of Bates' Volkswagen Beetle as a method to lure her from her car as she studied in the college library.

The murder itself remains one of Riverside's most infamous cold cases, and has been described by some locals as a murder which "stripped Riverside of its innocence".

Bates' murder was highly publicized due to both its graphically violent nature, and the fact she is considered by some investigators to have been the first murder victim of the Zodiac Killer, although this theory has never been definitively confirmed.

On the morning of October 30, 1966, Bates and her father attended Sunday Mass at the St. Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church before the two shared breakfast at a local restaurant.

In the early afternoon, Bates opted to visit the college library to both study and to work on a research paper.

She is known to have twice phoned a close friend named Stephanie Guttman (at 3:00 and 3:45 p.m. respectively), asking whether she would like to accompany her to the library to study and retrieve books, although on the occasion of the second phone call, her friend refused.

Bates is believed to have left her house to visit the library sometime between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. Her father returned home in the evening to find a note taped to the family refrigerator reading: "Dad—Went to RCC Library."

Shortly before Bates left her home, she phoned a co-worker at the Riverside National Bank inquiring as to whether she had seen a term paper bibliography she (Bates) had misplaced.

When her co-worker replied she had not, Bates replied: "Now I'll have to start all over on my note cards."