Cheri Jo Bates, A Possible Zodiac Killer Victim
Riverside Police DepartmentCheri Jo Bates, one of the potential victims of the Zodiac Killer.
One of the possible, but unconfirmed, Zodiac Killer victims was Cheri Jo Bates. Bates was brutally murdered on Oct. 30, 1966 — two years before David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen became the first “official” victims of the Zodiac Killer. In the years since, some have come to believe that Bates was an early victim of the Zodiac Killer, if not his very first kill.
Bates, an 18-year-old freshman at Riverside City College, had spent her evening at the campus library. She left sometime before the library closed at 9 p.m., but didn’t return home that night. Her father reported her missing the next morning, and her body was found on campus around 6:30 a.m.
According to zodiackiller.com, Bates had been stabbed multiple times with a “short-bladed knife” and her killer had cut her throat. Investigators found some evidence at the scene, including a Timex watch and a “military-style heel print,” which possibly came from a shoe sold at a nearby Air Force base.
Then, on November 29th, both the Riverside Police Department and the Riverside Press-Enterprise received letters from someone who claimed to be Bates’ killer. The letters included specific details about Bates’ murder that had not been made public, and the letter writer claimed he had killed Bates because she had somehow spurned him in the past.
Public DomainThe area where Cheri Jo Bates’ body was found.
The letter read: “Only one thing was on my mind. Making her pay for the brush offs that she had given me during the years prior.” Another letter was sent in 1967, stating, “There will be more,” though this was deemed a hoax.
While some believe that Cheri Jo Bates is one of the Zodiac Killer’s victims, she is not considered an official victim. Her case remains unsolved.
