00:00:00
TV's number one drama, High Potential, returns with star Caitlyn Olsen as the crimesolving single mom with an IQ of
00:00:08
160. Every week, Morgan uses her unconventional style and brilliance to crack LAPD's most perplexing cases. It's
00:00:16
the perfect blend of humor and mystery. She's breaking the mold without breaking
00:00:21
a nail. New episodes of High Potential Tuesdays 10:9 central on ABC and stream on Hulu.
00:00:29
When it comes to delivering flowers for life's special occasions, trust the name
00:00:33
that's been setting the standard for nearly 50 years. 1800flowers.com. From breathtaking bouquets to one of a
00:00:39
kind arrangements, 1800 Flowers is your authority on quality blooms. Always fresh, always stunning, always delivered
00:00:46
with care. And right now, for a limited time, you can save up to 40% off your bouquet and make someone's day. Save up
00:00:52
to 40% off today at 1800flowers.com/sxm. That's 1800flowers.comsxm. [Music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever
00:01:41
you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me as always is a man who has the
00:01:48
filter setting at no. Here is the captain. No filter, full brew. That's the captain way. It's good to be seen
00:01:56
and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend. This week we are drinking Saddle Bronc
00:02:06
by the wild folks over at Black Tooth Brewing Company. While this is an English brown ale, it's also the one
00:02:14
with the bucking bronco and the cowboy on the can. It is from Wyoming after all. Saddle Bronc is toasty with malt
00:02:22
notes, hints of caramel, roasted nuts, and cocoa. And it finishes smooth. Garage grade three and 3/4 bottle caps
00:02:32
out of five. And let's give a shout out to some of these smooth criminals right here. First up, a cheers to Sue Pon in
00:02:40
Stanton, Virginia. >> And a big weaker like your jib goes out to Aya Kershaw, South Carolina. Here's a
00:02:47
hometown. Cheers to Michelle Osa Kovic in Westchester, Ohio. >> And a big tall hand can hands in there
00:02:54
goes out to Jamie O in Seattle, Washington. >> Getting a lot of Washington love this
00:02:59
week, Captain. Here's a cheers to Tay Swanson in Snowameish, Washington. And last, but certainly not least, we have
00:03:07
one of the garages favorite wild men of all time. So, a doublefisted cheers goes
00:03:12
out to the dude in Marquee in Wyoming. Everybody we just mentioned went to trimerg.com,
00:03:19
clicked on the pint glass, and helped us fill up the old garage fridge for this week. And for that, we thank you.
00:03:25
>> Yeah. BWR beer run. Dude, all I can say is I love the dude. And that's enough of
00:03:34
the business. >> All right, everybody, gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk
00:03:38
some true crime. [Music] Nearly 2 months after the discovery of Kim Allen's body, another beautiful
00:03:58
young girl went missing from this same area with eerie similarities. While sources reference Janette Kamahle as
00:04:10
both a confirmed and unconfirmed victim of the Santa Rosa hitchhiker's case, we are going to include the young Pacific
00:04:20
Islander here in this telling as her case is still open and should be discussed either way. So Janette, a
00:04:29
young woman of Hawaiian descent, was 20 years old when she went missing from Santa Rosa. Because of her father's
00:04:38
naval career, Janette had grown up overseas in Japan. After graduating from Yokohama American High School in 1970,
00:04:47
she opted to live stateside. Like Kim Allen, Janette was a student at Santa Rosa Junior College. And just like Kim,
00:04:57
Janette frequently got to where she was going by thumbming rides. Janette was last seen hitchhiking on the Kotati
00:05:06
on-ramp off Highway 101 in Santa Rosa, California. This on April 25th, 1972. So there's that highway again. Highway 101
00:05:17
mentioned another time in this story. This was a Tuesday. According to reports, she was picked up by a 20 to
00:05:25
30year-old Caucasian man with an afro who might have been driving a faded brown 1950 to 1952
00:05:36
Chevrolet pickup truck with a homemade camper. So, this is one of those cowboy campers, I'm guessing, that you put in
00:05:44
the bed of the truck. >> Yeah, the old creepy camper. Witnesses further described the driver as likely
00:05:50
being tall with mutton chop sideburns. I've also seen reports of stating that the man may have had a beard. Either
00:06:00
way, it seems that the detail here that is shared throughout most versions of the story is there's some form of facial
00:06:08
hair on the driver of this vehicle. >> Yeah. Old beardo. Weirdo. >> Beardo weirdo. shave them and feel and
00:06:16
cleanse yourself of the evil that could take you over. Janette was wearing a dark brown blouse or sweater, Levi
00:06:24
jeans, sandals, and gold post type earrings when she vanished. She had been carrying a brown leather purse as well.
00:06:33
Janette has black hair and brown eyes. She stood 5'5 in tall and weighed 120 lbs. Janette wears a dental bridge and
00:06:44
has a large birthark beneath her right breast. If still living, Janette would be 73 years of age today. But
00:06:54
tragically, Janette has never been heard from since the day she was last seen in
00:06:59
Santa Rosa and is classified as endangered and missing. After Janette's disappearance, months ticked by, months
00:07:10
ticked by mercifully without incident. But in November of 1972, 13-year-old Lorie Lee Kursa disappeared.
00:07:21
A habitual runaway, Lori was last seen by her mother while the two were grocery shopping at the used Save Mart on
00:07:29
November 11th before the girl decided to take off to visit some friends in Santa
00:07:36
Rosa. Now, despite her status, so she's only 13, but as reported by her family, she regularly would run away, would run
00:07:45
off, would take off without permission. This was something in her nature. And despite her status as a frequent
00:07:53
runaway, her mother did report the eighth grader, a student at Lawrence Cook Middle School, missing to the
00:08:01
police the same day that she vanished. She told them that when she ran off, Lori was wearing blue jeans, a brown
00:08:09
leather jacket, and brown suede cowboy boots, and had wire earrings in her ears. Lori was next reported as having
00:08:18
been seen presumably safe in Santa Rosa. This would have been on either November
00:08:24
20th or 21st. This was when she was staying at a friend's house. However, just a few days later, around November
00:08:34
30th, there's a witness that reported seeing Lori hitchhiking. Several days after that, another witness said that
00:08:41
they saw her on Parkhurst Drive, possibly being forced into a vehicle, forced into a van by two men, one of
00:08:50
whom was a white man with an afro. So, here again, we have Afroman popping up in our true crime story. A little
00:08:59
warning though to the listeners out there. I have reviewed several different versions of this story. They are all
00:09:07
slightly different, >> right? >> They all come from credible sources, which makes it even more difficult to
00:09:14
sift through and sort out. The two consistent details, however, Captain, present in each version of this story is
00:09:24
the white dude with the afro and the van. Yeah, but in 2025, white guy with afro, maybe not so common, but during
00:09:34
the times of this abduction or these eyewitness accounts of abduction, a little more common for a white guy to
00:09:42
have afro. >> Yeah, some of the other versions say bushy hair. Most versions say some type
00:09:49
of afro. The other thing that's aggravating to me with with some of these older cases that we cover and some
00:09:56
of the cases that are not from our region of the United States, if you go back in time, other regions, the word
00:10:03
van and truck are almost interchangeable in some areas of the country. So remember the the previous story where we
00:10:11
had a victim tied to this afro man was a truck with the bed camper in it. I also
00:10:19
think that given the generic shape of the two vehicles, one might be confused somewhat easily for the other and both
00:10:29
would presumably have doors on the back. >> Well, not to go down some crazy rabbit
00:10:35
hole here, but when you have a truck with a camper van on the back, that obviously looks similar to like a camper
00:10:44
van. And there's all kinds of different van conversions back in the day. The ones where they had the the extra
00:10:52
headroom so you could stand up in the van. So >> So us tall guys could uh >> just hang out in the van
00:10:59
>> all around. Here's the deal, right? And I like playing within I like coloring
00:11:05
within the lines. I like playing inside of the confines of the law. But dude, I hate those cowboy campers. I I love the
00:11:16
word cowboy. Love cowboys. Hate cowboy campers. State troopers, state police. >> Yeah.
00:11:22
>> Men and women who are guarding and protecting our highways and freeways in this country. Just pull every one of
00:11:28
those guys over. I I just don't believe any of them are up to any good at all. We move on, right? We got to move Unless
00:11:35
you're a teenager drive driving your father's creepy camper, there's no excuse cuz when you're a teenager, you
00:11:42
you'll essentially drive any >> anything gives you a car. >> Yeah. So, she's been seen by several
00:11:50
different witnesses during the time of after leaving her mother. >> And again, this is not her first time
00:11:58
doing so. So staying at a friend's house, that seems reasonable, seems believable and credible. And then we
00:12:06
have these other witnesses that may have seen her. The again, the one is being forced by two men into a van
00:12:15
>> like in the other case. Now we have these two individuals. They can provide alibis for each other.
00:12:21
>> So I hate this being forced into a van again because there's several versions
00:12:26
of this story. In one version, it's two ladies. In one version, she's walking with the two men, not being forced into
00:12:33
the vehicle. So, I mean, take it for what it is. It does, all of those different versions do play into well
00:12:42
into the series of cases that we're talking about here in the garage this week. I have a hard time reading too
00:12:50
much into this, but again, the seeing hearing the white dude with the afro again sets off alarm bells, but when you
00:12:59
have witnesses that cannot tell you what day that this presumed abduction took place,
00:13:08
>> right? >> I mean, I don't know how many abductions you're used to seeing, but if I see one,
00:13:12
I'm I'm going to I'm going to remember what day it is. and and not just that I'm going to go out of my way to report
00:13:17
it to somebody. >> Yeah. But again, in a lot of these cases, these eyewitnesses aren't being
00:13:22
nefarious by nature, but they're just trying to help. So, some of this is just made up
00:13:29
[ __ ] >> So, the best that I could trim this down to here, Captain, is that this took
00:13:36
place sometime between the 3rd of December and the 9th of December. The witness here says that after she gets
00:13:43
into the vehicle, whether it was forced or not, the vehicle did speed off heading north on Kalisoga Road. A second
00:13:52
witness supported this claim, describing seeing a girl resembling Lori in the company of a white male with bushy hair
00:13:59
driving a pickup truck. These reports were eerily similar to the eyewitness descriptions of the man who last was
00:14:06
last seen with Janette Kamahle, who had disappeared months earlier and hadn't been heard from since. Tragically, in
00:14:15
mid December of that year, Lorie Lee Kursa's naked body was found off of Kalisoga Road in Santa Rosa, just
00:14:24
minutes away from the downtown area. Her frozen remains were located in a ravine
00:14:30
about 50 f feet off of the road northeast in Rencon Valley. Her body had either fell or been pushed over an
00:14:39
embankment at least 30 feet down to the bottom of the ravine. So this is one detail within this particular story that
00:14:49
is dramatically different than the other that we have discussed so far. So, the pathologists confirmed that the young
00:14:58
teen had died a week or two being discovered, right? A week or two before the discovery of her body on December
00:15:05
14th, 1972. The cause of death was a broken neck with compression and hemorrhage of the
00:15:14
spinal cord. So, Lori was not raped. It was theorized that after being abducted and then stripped naked, she may have
00:15:24
either been pushed out from a moving van or vehicle by her captor or captors or leapt from the vehicle in order to
00:15:33
escape her abductors and then breaking her neck as a result. So, if she was attempting to escape, either she was
00:15:42
unaware or maybe didn't care, was willing to chance it and jumped and instead of
00:15:51
hitting the side of the road, she's now falling down this ravine. It's actually her death is really horrible, though.
00:15:58
Um, as all of these are, of course, but it's a different level of violence, potentially a different type of violence
00:16:06
here. But this type of injury, so she breaks her neck as a result of this fall. This type of injury would have
00:16:13
immobilized her, preventing her from escaping the ravine where she eventually would perish. So she she likely laid
00:16:20
there for a considerable amount of time. I want to talk about secret witness. We've had similar scenarios in other
00:16:29
cases. A lot of times you see a community will do something of this nature when they're starting to get
00:16:36
fearful that oh we have we really have something going on here. We have people disappearing. We have murder after
00:16:44
murder. We're finding body after body. You will see a community get wise band together and do something of this
00:16:52
nature. Here it appears it's the media that is attempting to help law enforcement and thus the community. So
00:17:01
shortly after Christmas 1972, local media announced the launch of a tip line program and reward for information
00:17:11
related to the murders of Kim Allen, Yavon Weber, Marine Sterling, and Lorie Kursa. So, of course, this is
00:17:22
after the time that that Weber and Sterling were finally found. An area newspaper, the Press Democrat that we've
00:17:29
mentioned earlier, launch a secret witness program in conjunction with radio stations KSR and KRVE.
00:17:40
This was of course endorsed by the Soma County Sheriff's Office, >> right? particularly Sheriff Don Stripek
00:17:49
who was leading the investigation. So what they did here, Captain, was they did a reward of $500 a piece that was
00:17:56
offered up for information regarding to those responsible for the murders of the
00:18:01
four girls, as well as information as to the whereabouts of a fifth, the still missing Janette Kamahle. So, the reward
00:18:10
I I like the way they did this, though, because it's $500 a piece. You're You can't confirm, nobody, no Stradamus
00:18:20
wouldn't be able to sort this out if these were connected or not, 100%. And so, what you're in a sense asking the
00:18:28
public to do is put your blinders on. If you know something about this one case,
00:18:33
this one missing girl, this one dead girl, don't concern yourself about the other cases. If you know something about
00:18:40
one of these cases, let us know. We are starved for breadcrumbs. We are looking for a breadcrumb trail. Not in all of
00:18:50
these murders, in each of these murders. >> Yeah. Question for you because it seems
00:18:55
like the community, the public, and media are connecting all these cases, but is law enforcement at the time
00:19:02
saying, "Hey, it's most likely that some of these are connected." >> Yeah. So you again I would imagine you
00:19:10
have a little bit of infighting behind closed doors but Sheriff Don Stripek did not did not shy away from the idea. In
00:19:18
fact, he he openly postulated that they were connected and and in some cases as the as these cases and investigations
00:19:28
drug on without a conclusion, without a good result, he would openly say that he
00:19:35
thought that they were connected. I've heard his name pronounced multiple ways. Stripic. Straic. Uh I'm going to go with
00:19:42
Stripic for now. Forgive me, my garage friends. The reward fund totaled $2,500. >> Mhm.
00:19:50
>> Which doesn't seem like a lot, but again, $500 a piece for each case, but $2,500 in 1972
00:19:58
is over $17,000 today. >> Not bad. >> Not bad. And it it's encouraging. If you if you've seen something, let us know.
00:20:07
So, but the way that this secret witness program works, because at some point, Captain, when you have case after case
00:20:14
after case, don't you a as law enforcement and anybody with a with a level head and a brain here, they're
00:20:22
starting to go, why isn't somebody coming forward? Why aren't more people coming forward? Somebody must have seen
00:20:27
something. These girls, every one of them, if if the story is as it's been told, they were on the side of the road
00:20:34
somewhere, presumably seen by several people, if not dozens of people. You start to wonder, why don't we have more
00:20:42
people coming forward? So, this secret witness program was a mailin tip line, a sort of precursor to Crimestoppers
00:20:50
tipline, if you will. So, anyone with information about the a crime or the crimes was asked to mail in a letter to
00:20:59
the secret witness program after typing up or writing out printing their information. tipsters were instructed to
00:21:07
not include their name, to not sign the letter, but instead sign the last page with a code comprised of three numerals
00:21:19
and three letters of their own choosing. Okay? So, you write this code, you come
00:21:25
up with your own code. NIC123 would be a good example or N1 C2I3 would be another good example. Three
00:21:36
letters, three numbers. You write this code on your information and on the last page of the information that you are
00:21:46
sending in. Write the code again. Then tear that corner off, the bottom right hand corner as instructed. tear the
00:21:54
bottom right hand corner of the last page off and save that so the people receiving your tip have the same code
00:22:03
that you have and then you mail it to a PO box in Santa Rosa. Certainly, this is
00:22:09
a noble attempt on the part of the media to assist law enforcement in gathering information. I couldn't find any sources
00:22:17
that reported whether this led to any viable leads that resulted from this program.
00:22:25
>> Also, you're asking these individuals to do too much work. It's hard enough to
00:22:30
get people to call in tips. >> Agreed. I think they're giving the public an anonymous option.
00:22:40
>> No, I Yeah, I understand what they're trying to do. I just think sometimes you
00:22:43
you're putting too much work. And if there's too much work that maybe some people just go, ah, it's not
00:22:49
worth my time. [Music] [Music] TV's number one drama, High Potential, returns with star Caitlyn Olsen as the
00:23:08
crimesolving single mom with an IQ of 160. Every week, Morgan uses her unconventional style and brilliance to
00:23:15
crack LAPD's most perplexing cases. It's the perfect blend of humor and mystery.
00:23:21
She's breaking the mold without breaking a nail. New episodes of High Potential Tuesdays 10:9 central on ABC and stream
00:23:29
on Hulu. While you're buying new school supplies and trying to plan a new schedule this
00:23:35
season, the last thing you want to factor in is a giant wireless bill. But with Mint Mobile, you can get the
00:23:43
coverage and speed you're used to for way less money. For a limited time, MintMo is offering three months of
00:23:49
unlimited premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. That's right, $15 a month for really great premium wireless
00:24:00
service. I love Mint Mobile. Why? because it's the same great service that I get with other providers that shall
00:24:07
not be named at a fraction of the price. So, great service, save money. That's MintMobile. Get this new customer offer
00:24:15
and your 3month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mittmobile.com/tcg.
00:24:25
That's mintmobile.com/tcg. Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month. Limited time
00:24:33
new customer offer for the first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35 GB on unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra.
00:24:42
See Mint Mobile for details. >> Thanks for selling your car to Carvana. Here's your check.
00:24:47
>> Whoa. When did I get here? >> What do you mean? >> I swear it was just moments ago that I
00:24:51
accepted a great offer from Carvana online. I must have timeraveled to the future.
00:24:55
>> It was just moments ago. We do same day pickup. Here's your check for that great
00:24:59
offer. >> It is the future. >> It's It's the present and just the convenience of Carvana. Sorry to blow
00:25:05
your mind. >> It's all good. Happens all the time. >> Sell your car the convenient way to
00:25:11
>> Carvana. Pickup times may vary and fees may apply. >> You just realized your business needed
00:25:18
to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring,
00:25:25
Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. Indeed sponsored jobs help you
00:25:32
stand out and hire fast. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so
00:25:38
you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed
00:25:45
have 45% more applications than non-sponsored jobs. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring
00:25:51
right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility
00:25:58
at indeed.com/mpodcast. Just go to indeed.com/mpodcast right now and support our show by saying
00:26:05
you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com/mpodcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring
00:26:13
Indeed is all you need. All right, thanks for joining us here in the garage each and every week. Make
00:26:32
sure you subscribe to the show. Tall cans in the air. Cheers to you, Colonel. >> Tall cans way up high. Let's see.
00:26:40
>> Way up high. So by now, Captain, the police were pretty much convinced that the four confirmed confirmed hitchhiking
00:26:47
murder victims along with the missing hitchhiker Janette Kamahle were linked. As said previously, they were openly
00:26:57
speculating about this with the media and the public and the community, but also in in a lot of cases pointing out
00:27:05
that this very likely is the scenario that we are forced to deal with. Now, whether the murders were the result of a
00:27:13
single perpetrator or multiple asalants, this they could not confirm nor 100% agree upon, which makes a lot of sense
00:27:23
considering how and where you're finding the bodies, right? You don't, especially with the ones that were
00:27:33
fully decomposed, it gets really difficult to try to say, "Hey, somebody pulled up on the side of this ravine at
00:27:41
the top of this ravine and uh on the side of the road and and got out, drugged the body out of their vehicle
00:27:48
and simply rolled it down the hillside." or where we have the scene where someone
00:27:56
is saying we we may have an injured perpetrator. Are they carrying them down? Making sure
00:28:03
that they're away from the roadside. Making sure that they are away from the old eyeballs that will be traveling
00:28:09
those routes so that they won't be found for considerable amount of time. Well, it's
00:28:16
difficult though, too, because we have eyewitnesses that see one individual, one suspect, and then we have other
00:28:23
eyewitnesses that possibly see two. And then the first case, we have these eyewitnesses that probably have more
00:28:31
details and and probably know more about this possible suspect if these are all connected. But we don't know if this
00:28:40
individual at the skating rink did he did he have a buddy in the van with him or a buddy in his truck with him? We
00:28:48
don't know that. >> Yeah. And of course it will be easier if there's more than one.
00:28:55
But here's the thing we're we got to be faced with. All right. Spoiler alert. It's 2025.
00:29:02
We still don't know who committed these murders. And it's not always the case, but often
00:29:10
the case is if there's more than one perpetrator, eventually somebody talks. And you're right, Captain, you're
00:29:17
absolutely right. based off of the eyewitness accounts, whether they are 100% factual or speculation or somewhere
00:29:25
in between. You have accounts where there's one person seen with the victim or in other
00:29:32
cases more than one, two to three people seen with the person that's no longer with us.
00:29:41
In the Press Democrat, there was this great article. The Soma County Sheriff Don Stripic reiterated his belief that
00:29:50
these unfortunate young women had fallen prey to the same killer or killers, citing the similarities between the
00:29:58
victims. One, all four were found nude. Two, their bodies had been discovered at
00:30:05
the bottom of steep embankments off of desolate country roads. Three, two of the girls were known to routinely
00:30:13
hitchhike and the other two were deemed likely to have accepted a ride. Four, clothing and jewelry known to be worn by
00:30:24
the victims were not recovered at the crime scene. But in the case of Kim, Moren, and Yavon, a single earring was
00:30:34
found at the scene. While it is was true that while it was true that the causes of death varied, strangulation, a broken
00:30:44
neck, and undetermined, that didn't necessarily rule out a connection in Sheriff Stripik's eyes. While some law
00:30:52
enforcement officials felt that the cases were unrelated, there simply wasn't enough evidence beyond gut
00:30:59
instinct to make a determination one way or another. Nevertheless, the investigation ramped up with a group of
00:31:07
up to eight investigators tasked with focusing upon the hitchhiker murders as well as sharing information with
00:31:15
neighboring counties in an attempt to crack the case. But that unfortunately is going to lead us captain to victim
00:31:24
number six. So, we have things that seem fairly quiet for a few months until 14-year-old Caroline Davis ran away from
00:31:34
her home in Shasta County, California. She runs away February 6th, 1973. She left a note for her mother telling her
00:31:43
not to worry, stating that she was leaving simply to get away. And it says something about
00:31:52
trying to stay alive. I'm I'm leaving to simply try to stay alive. And that may make a little more sense here as I get
00:32:00
further into the telling of this part of the story. So, the note as reported reads, "Dear mom, don't worry too much
00:32:08
about me. The only thing I'm going to be doing is keeping myself alive. Love, Carolyn." So, she drifted for 5 months.
00:32:17
What we do learn ultimately is for a good portion of that time she does stay with her sister. So her sister lives her
00:32:25
her adult sister lives in Garberville, California. So she stays with the sister for a while. The teen claimed to have
00:32:32
been witnessed to some type of double homicide that she said took place in Shasta County. And she says tells the
00:32:41
sister she's scared for her life. Now, her sister Judy would say that she was somewhat skeptical of of her sister
00:32:52
Carolyn's story about witnessing a murder, but she admitted her sister was clearly fearful and afraid of something
00:33:01
or someone to the point that Carolyn insisted upon sleeping on the floor of her older sister's bedroom closet. So,
00:33:14
she's sleeping in the closet on the floor at night. >> Isn't that some evidence of truth?
00:33:20
>> Well, that's what her sister's saying. Like, I don't I don't know that I fully
00:33:24
believe her story, but she clearly was afraid of something. Regardless, the older girl covered for her little sister
00:33:33
with the mother, you know, not not revealing the teen's whereabouts. She felt that 14-year-old Carolyn was
00:33:40
essentially mature, a good girl who had just gotten a bit lost and running a bit
00:33:46
wild. Now, Captain, let's fast forward a few months. So, we're going to go to the
00:33:51
summer of 1973. Carolyn spent a couple of weeks with her grandmother in July before deciding to
00:33:59
visit friends in Modesto, California. On July 15th, 1973, her grandmother dropped her off in
00:34:08
Garberville. This is where she was last seen hitching a ride near the southbound Highway 101
00:34:16
ramp. Carolyn's body was found on July 31st, 1973 in Santa Rosa, callously abandoned
00:34:26
down an embankment only three feet. Okay, so let's not get too hung up on the details here. Again, different
00:34:36
telling of this story. This version has her body being found abandoned down an embankment only 3 ft. Some sources say
00:34:46
less than 10 ft from where Yavon Weber and Moren Sterling's remains had been found the prior December. This look, if
00:34:55
it's the same killer >> or even if it's not, I don't this can't be an accident, right? This can't be
00:35:01
happen stance. >> Well, what what do we know about serial killers? They they like to use the same
00:35:07
areas as dumping grounds cuz they have cuz news flash, you can be caught abducting the person, you can be caught
00:35:15
killing the person, and then you can be caught disposing of the person. Yeah, we
00:35:21
will often see serial offenders and of course serial killers, they're they're they're working
00:35:29
often in times and there's somebody out there shaking their head right now going, "No, that's not true." Yeah, of
00:35:34
course there are serial killers that travel the country, travel state to state, travel great distances, but the
00:35:40
overwhelming majority of them work and operate within an area that they feel very comfortable moving in.
00:35:47
>> Yeah. Or there's some rhyme or reason. I mean, look at Rex Herman. He I think one dumped the bodies where
00:35:56
he did cuz he was familiar with the area. He felt like he couldn't get caught. But it was also or what they are
00:36:04
speculating is because there was something about it where he could just look over the water and go, "Yep, that's
00:36:10
where my victims are." >> Yep. And sometimes it's comes down to trial and error, right? Oh, I did it
00:36:17
this way once before and it worked, >> right? >> I got away with it. >> And that could be part of the their
00:36:24
fantasy, their sick fantasies. >> But with this one, this when when when I find a detail like this, okay, and this
00:36:34
is not a detail that you can argue. The only thing you can argue is the distance
00:36:40
between this body and the other two bodies. And I think that you're going to get these
00:36:47
natural discrepancies because there were two bodies that were previously found and they weren't side by side, right? We
00:36:53
we discussed how and they were positioned when they were found. So whether you read 3T, 4T or less than 10
00:37:01
ft, this body was right near where one of these other two bodies were found the prior December. So when I read this
00:37:10
detail here, Captain, where my mind goes, it goes back to the checkbook of one of our previous victims that was
00:37:17
mailed dropped into a mailbox 19 days after her body is found 20 days after she's abducted. This to me is
00:37:26
somebody doing this [ __ ] on purpose to play a game with the police. You're not
00:37:32
in charge here. I'm going to do what I want and I might make things conf confusing for you or embarrassing for
00:37:40
you along the way. Right? This is my show. This is my show, not not your guys's show. So, to further complicate
00:37:49
things here, they figure out that poor Carolyn, she had been poisoned with strick nine, likely about 10 to 14 days
00:37:57
before her body was discovered. It was unclear how the poison was administered to the victim, but there were no other
00:38:05
drugs found in her system. Regardless, it would have been a slow, torturous death, as strick nine poisoning would
00:38:14
produce particularly painful muscle spasms, finally resulting in a complete shutdown of the organs and eventual
00:38:24
exfixiation. The medical examiner determined Caroline had died on July 20th, only 5 days after
00:38:32
her grandmother dropped her off. Caroline's right earlobe had sustained an injury as if someone had
00:38:40
unsuccessfully tried to pierce her ear. Her left earlobe was untouched. They could not determine if she had been
00:38:49
sexually assaulted. So this play piece now with the earring, this purposely placing the body where
00:38:58
previous bodies were found, right? >> Again, you go back and you you want to look at things like the checkbook. Now,
00:39:05
here's one part of the story that I hate, >> but it is intriguing. Some say an occult
00:39:13
or witchcraft symbol was found near Carolyn's body. We can discuss this more if you wish, Captain, after this next
00:39:21
detail here. So, one of Carolyn's sisters later found a map belonging to Carolyn in a hotel room in
00:39:32
Anderson, California. So, her sister worked at this hotel as a cleaning lady, a housekeeping, and
00:39:43
finds this map in one of the hotel rooms. She knows that it belongs to her sister because
00:39:52
one side is a map. You flip it over and on the other side of the map, her sister
00:39:57
had written all over notes and where she was going and things like that. And if this young woman is hitchhiking on on
00:40:06
the daily, it makes sense that she would carry a map with her. So the sister does not
00:40:13
hesitate. She immediately gives the map to the local police. And she said that she also spoke with both the Shasta and
00:40:20
the Soma County investigators regarding this detail and everything she thought she knew about her sister or what could
00:40:27
have happened to her. So tell me more about this symbol that was found. >> Okay, so
00:40:35
forgive me. This is going to be a a bit of a winding road to get there, but this
00:40:40
is a really complicated part of the story. The reason why I said earlier that I hate this part of the story is
00:40:47
because I believe this particular item is really something that when you review the crime scene, it's just one of those
00:40:55
items that it's completely left open to interpretation. Really, it's anybody's guess what the hell this thing means, if
00:41:04
it holds any actual meaning at all. Or let's not forget, we also don't know who placed it there. Okay. So, what we do
00:41:13
know and what I think we can say with some level of certainty, this is not the first time that you're finding a body in
00:41:19
this location. And there's no report of this with the with their first findings in December. But months later, when you
00:41:25
find another body here, this item was found there. All right. So, I want to go to the newspapers for this so we don't
00:41:32
misconstrue any of this information. Let's let them do it if they did. Right. So, this comes from an article titled,
00:41:38
"Another slain girl found east of State Route." This is by James E. Reed, and I'm only going to read the first two
00:41:46
paragraphs of this article. And it reads, "The spectre of a maniacal killer with an insane sense of humor loomed
00:41:54
over Soma County this morning following the discovery of the body of a nude woman yesterday at the same spot off of
00:42:02
France Valley Road where the remains of two girls were found last December." quote, "She was lying face down, not 4
00:42:10
feet from the exact same spot," end quote, "where the skeletal remains of Moren Sterling, age 12, and Yavon Weber,
00:42:19
aged 13, were found," said Sheriff Don Stripek. "So, this article does not mention hide
00:42:27
nor hair of this so-called occult symbol. But later, many, including some in law enforcement, would actually
00:42:35
suggest a possible connection to the infamous Zodiac Killer >> who nobody, you know, he's not been
00:42:43
identified as of this story of these true crime stories, but still not been identified to the telling of
00:42:52
this story here in the garage in 2025. So maybe he's still out there killing this from the Press Democrat. If you
00:43:02
want to follow this case, you want to do a deep dive, the the Press Democrat is a
00:43:07
great source to go to, great resource to have here as they are the local Santa Rosa, California newspaper. Back in this
00:43:18
is an article from 75. So, we're going to fast forward a little bit to get the details that we want here on this
00:43:24
particular item, evidence or otherwise, in this one murder in the series. This article again by James E. Reed titled,
00:43:35
"Is Zodiac slaying young women?" And I'll read just a bit of it here for you. Bear with me here, Captain. And it
00:43:45
says, "Does a cunning psychotic killer stalk the western United States playing a cat and mouse game, leaving a trail of
00:43:54
nude young girls bodies for myopic homicide investigators in various areas. Sheriff Don Stribbik is convinced a
00:44:05
solitary loner killed six young girls whose remains were found in Soma County in 1972 and 1973.
00:44:16
But he now says the same killer may be responsible for the deaths of some 30 or more girls in the western states since
00:44:24
1969. Stripic was quoted in a Bay Area newspaper today as saying the killer quote makes Juan Corona look like a per.
00:44:36
Corona was sentenced to state prison in 1973 after being convicted of killing 25
00:44:42
farm laborers in Yoba City area. And because the killer's diabolical taunting attitude toward law enforcement, Stripic
00:44:53
said, quote, I think he could definitely be the Zodiac. It goes on to say, "Here
00:44:58
and in Washington, Washington State, they mean the remains of 10 young women were found in three common grave sites
00:45:06
as though the killer enjoyed rubbing the evidence of his murders in law men's faces. The zodiac uses references to
00:45:14
astrology in his cryptic messages to Bay Area authorities, but he also refers to
00:45:20
Gilbert and Sullivan operetses and talks of making slaves of his victims in the afterlife. Stripic has released
00:45:30
information on a witchcraft symbol made of sticks found at the spot near Devil's
00:45:36
Kitchen in France Valley where the body of Carolyn Maiden Davis, age 15, was found July 31st, 1973. The same place
00:45:46
where the remains of Yavon Weber, 13, and Moren Sterling, 12, were found December 28th, 1972.
00:45:54
The sign, two crude rectangles joined by a stick, is an old English witchcraft symbol which Stripic says was used in
00:46:04
connection with the death rituals, meaning to hurry the spirits on to the afterlife. H the last messages we got
00:46:13
from the Zodiac indicated he was going to continue his killings but vary them and bragged about collecting slaves for
00:46:22
his use in the next world. Stripic said two psychological profiles based on information collected by sheriff's
00:46:29
detectives have been developed by a psychiatrist and behavioral scientist to give an insight into the killer's
00:46:38
personality. Stripic plans to release information on these studies at a news conference later along with photographs
00:46:46
and details on the Soma County homicides. Dr. Edward Shrief of San Francisco says the Soma County killer apparently
00:46:57
slays his victims slowly for the necessary gratification and considers the young girl's garbage to be dumped
00:47:04
along the side of the road and not even receive a decent burial. But he also seems compelled to keep items of
00:47:12
clothing and jewelry from his victims which Shreve says could be for purposes of worship or to display the notches on
00:47:21
his gun. The killer may regard himself as a kind of messiah. Shrive went on to say his personality similar to the
00:47:29
religious fantasism of the Manson family type and believes he can resolve and cleanse the world of these fallen women.
00:47:38
Shreve went on to say, "Both Shrieve and Howard Taton of the FBI Behavioral Science Unit in Washington DC believe
00:47:47
the person responsible for the Sonoma County slangs lives in the area or at least is quite familiar with its more
00:47:55
remote areas where he has disposed of his victims." Now, that's quite a bit to chew on there.
00:48:03
>> Yes, chew on that fat. That is a little less than half of the news story that
00:48:08
ran in the press Democrat. It ran on page one, Wednesday, April 23rd, 1975. So, we're zooming ahead to 75 to get
00:48:20
details about some of the murders, bodies being found in 72 and 73, along with the speculation and some of the
00:48:29
insights of what the police were working on or their speculation about the case and the
00:48:36
perpetrator or perpetrators of these murders. >> So, we're six years in. Do do we have
00:48:42
the full profile? Has that been released to the public? It has the profile was released, but it was released, keep in
00:48:51
mind, it was released in 1975. And I know that we zoomed ahead here real quick. I'll get back to the profile
00:49:03
in just a second, but after this most recent victim, Caroline's death, as much as we have the detectives, the sheriff,
00:49:12
and others later saying that they're all connected, we have to keep in mind that
00:49:17
at this time in the timeline in 73, officially they're kind of struggling to find an absolute connection between
00:49:26
Carolyn's murder and that of the other victims, with the exception of the items that we mentioned. You know, they're
00:49:33
found nude and then her body with the a couple of the other bodies. They were attempting to definitively connect these
00:49:41
these cases, but to their frustration, it appears they were unable to do so. And this is regardless of Sheriff
00:49:49
Strip's firm belief that the cases were related, perhaps even more than originally
00:49:55
expected. He further suspected connections between these killings and up to 13 other
00:50:02
unsolved cases across the state of California and maybe even into other western states. Despite the lack of a
00:50:10
definite link, some similarities including the location where the bodies were found, the fact that the victims
00:50:15
were nude, like we said, and the lack of clothing, jewelry, except for a single earring
00:50:21
at the scene. I mean, that single earring, this guy's playing with you. This is difficult to
00:50:28
ignore. So, Carolyn Davis's murder was included in the list of the unfortunate Santa Rosa hitchhiker murder victims.
00:50:37
Several months after the terrible discovery of Carolyn Davis's remains, another California free spirit met a sad
00:50:45
and similarly tragic end. This is Teresa Diane Smith Walsh, nicknamed Terry. She's 23 years old, so she's a little
00:50:55
older than some of our other victims here. This takes us to the winter of 1973. She's married, but recently separated.
00:51:05
She did have a 2-year-old son with her ex-husband. She's telling everybody she needed a
00:51:12
break from the situation. So, she leaves her young son in the care of her mother
00:51:18
in a familiar place that we've heard before in this story, Garberville, California. So, Terry left her home in
00:51:26
Miranda, California, and headed south, seemingly unfased by any danger or warning as to what was going on in the
00:51:35
community with the bodies being found. The young mother hitchhiked her way across the state, frequently catching
00:51:41
rides off of Highway 101. By late December, she was in Malibu, but by then she was ready to go back home. Okay, so
00:51:48
it's late December 73. She wants to go home. She wants to spend Christmas with her mother and with her young son.
00:51:55
Before she could get there, however, she vanishes. Terry was last seen on December 22nd, 1973 while hitchhiking
00:52:04
from Zuma Beach in Malibu back to Northern California. Again, specifically, her destination is
00:52:11
Garberville, where she expected to spend Christmas. 6 days after she was last spotted, hitchhiking captain Terry's
00:52:18
partially submerged body was discovered by kayakers in Mark West Creek near Michelle, way outside of Santa Rosa.
00:52:28
Teresa's death was particularly gruesome. Her remains were found nude like the other victims. Prior to death,
00:52:35
she had been hog tied with a nylon clothesline rope. This is very detailed stuff here. This is when you find a body
00:52:45
like this and what was done to her prior to you finding. Someone spent a good amount of time with this victim and went
00:52:55
and took great efforts to make sure that she suffered. And this is a unique scene, a unique way to find a victim.
00:53:07
And you can't look past any of these details. So, prior to death, she had been hog tied with a nylon clothesline
00:53:13
rope type rope. Her thumbs, this is very odd, bound tightly together. She had an
00:53:20
injury to the back of her head and a bruise to her left eye. The rope that bound her was looped from her ankles to
00:53:28
form a noose around her neck. So, meaning she'd need to keep her body contorted in a way in order just to
00:53:37
breathe. But you have to do this in a way that it's unsustainable. You you can't keep doing that just to breathe.
00:53:45
So the natural positioning of Terry's body would result in her being slowly, methodically, and agonizingly strangled
00:53:53
to death as her muscles would be unable to remain flexed. So, it was theorized that after
00:54:01
sexually assaulting Terry and watching her slowly strangle, her asalent or asalants dumped her body in a a ways up
00:54:09
the creek before it washed to its final location during a heavy rainstorm where it was eventually found. Police would
00:54:15
consider Terry to be the seventh confirmed victim, if you include Janette Kamahle,
00:54:22
which we are, of the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders case. But there were multiple other victims that were
00:54:30
possibly related to the same killer or killers. Some that would go unidentified for long periods of time and maybe but
00:54:37
hopefully not forever. You asked about the the suspect profile here, Captain. So, you're going to get it, my friend.
00:54:45
It's pretty detailed, too. So, it appears while we zoomed ahead to 75, let's talk about 75 because in 1975, it
00:54:54
does not appear that they were any closer to solving this case than they were in 72 or 73. Sheriff Don Stripe
00:55:01
speculated as to whether the Santa Rosa murders were the handiwork of a serial killer. KR N TV news footage from April
00:55:10
25th, 1975 featured scenes from the press conference held by the sheriff in Santa Rosa regarding the hitchhiker
00:55:18
murders where they said at least six or seven young women were confirmed victims
00:55:23
who had been murdered while hitchhiking around Santa Rosa between 1972 and 1973.
00:55:29
Sheriff Stripic affirmed his belief that there were possible connections to 13 other unsolved California murders and
00:55:36
possibly even in other western states. A reporter explained that Stripic has been
00:55:42
consulting with an investigator and a quote witchcraft teaching psychiatrist to produce a composite of the suspect.
00:55:51
This reporter stated that the sheriff is careful in his references to the Zodiac
00:55:57
as many lawmakers disagree that the Zodiac killer is a possible suspect in the case, referencing the mystical
00:56:04
symbol discovered by Carolyn Davis's remains. Sheriff Stripek stated that the artifact related to medieval English
00:56:12
witchcraft and as we said was meant to speed the deceased to the afterlife. The profile developed by the psychologist
00:56:23
depicted a male offender who possessed at least a high school education growing up as a loner. He had a passive father
00:56:32
and a doineering mother whom he likely deeply hated as he did all women in general. As a child, this offender
00:56:41
tortured and killed animals and pets, perhaps by strangling or poisoning them. He has long-standing mental problems and
00:56:49
possesses a savior complex to the point he believes he is doing the world a favor by murdering these young women. He
00:56:59
may even have been responsible for creating his own religion like the deranged leader of the Manson clan. In
00:57:07
all likelihood, the profile reads, the perpetrator is white and he is apt to being proficient in mechanical pursuits.
00:57:17
Of the six female victims of the suspected Santa Rosa killer whose bodies have been recovered, all were under 30
00:57:24
years of age between ages 12 and 24. They were all found nude, their clothing missing, never to be found. The women
00:57:33
were all white, small to medium in stature, and had been wearing casual clothing when they disappeared. All of
00:57:40
the missing and murdered girls and women had long flowing hair, which may have initially caught the killer's eye. The
00:57:48
hair worn parted in the middle, and most had pierced ears. Each of the girls came
00:57:54
from what was then referred to as a broken home, which I don't I don't know how much we read into that. Some of
00:58:02
these were young ladies that had a pretty regular upbringing and had gone off to college. You know, they had
00:58:09
successful parents and gone off to college. And then two of the girls, >> yeah, you can say a broken home because
00:58:15
we have a a stepfather, but the she had a stepfather because her her biological father died in a tragic accident before
00:58:24
she was born. So yeah, I don't think victimology matters so much in cases like this because how is the murderer
00:58:33
getting to the victim? Well, >> it's more random. >> Exactly. And so if if this individual
00:58:40
was going to a mall, let's say, to hunt for his prey, well, then he can pick and
00:58:50
choose and go, "Well, I I prefer women with brown hair. as opposed to blonde. But when you're getting your victims
00:58:59
from women hitchhiking, you're basically just putting yourself in a situation so
00:59:06
you can have a crime of opportunity. So I don't think the victimology matters as
00:59:11
much. This is an interesting part of the profile because it will actually circle
00:59:19
around into something that is very psychological regarding the likely killer later in the
00:59:27
profile. So, let's just kind of put this on the back burner for now. The broken home thing.
00:59:34
Again, that I think that term is more loose than the way we're perceiving it to be.
00:59:40
>> Right. >> Okay. So, and of I'll continue on. Each of the girls came from what was then
00:59:45
referred to as a broken home, and of course, all were hitchhiking when they vanished from sight. The victims were
00:59:51
all known to have either hitchhiked extensively in the past, or they had last been seen getting into an unknown
00:59:57
vehicle. Four of the girls, Terresa Smith Walsh, Janette Kamahle, Carolyn Davis, and Kim Allen, were last
01:00:05
spotted thumbming a ride along Highway 101. So that regardless, this guy or these guys feel very comfortable with
01:00:14
operating on Highway 101 and close to it, right before they were all tragically murdered. And of course, all
01:00:21
the bodies had been discovered on lonely, isolated rural roads, typically at the foot of a steep embankment. Okay,
01:00:29
you and I already discussed the obvious, the randomness with these victims. When
01:00:35
you look at the totality of victims here, this part of is very intriguing says police, this is outside of the
01:00:44
profile, but they openly discussed this. Police believe that the perpetrator or perpetrators of the Santa Rosa murders
01:00:51
had interviewed, air quotes, interviewed potential victims before killing them as
01:00:56
mentioned in several news articles. This is thought to mean that after picking them up at random, they spoke with them
01:01:07
and kind of assessed the victims, >> right? >> And they were looking for certain
01:01:12
characteristics, behaviors or vulnerabilities before deciding to murder or rape and murder, torture these
01:01:21
girls and women. And we we have heard from like killers like Edmund Keer and and Bundy and other killers that have
01:01:29
picked up victims, talked to them, and for whatever reason through that conversation decided she is not a going
01:01:37
to be a victim of mine and they let them go. >> Yeah, this is one commonality that we've
01:01:42
seen across a batch of serial killers. Like we we've recently talked about Edmond Kemper from our Never- Ending
01:01:50
Mind Hunter coverage. I think we'll just cover that until the the garage closes for good. Uh whether it be Douglas's
01:01:58
books, wrestlers books, Anne Burgess's books, interviewing John Douglas, uh interviewing Anne Burgess, talking about
01:02:05
the TV show, what have you. But Ed Keer says told the FBI, like every time I took it a little bit further, I always
01:02:12
had somebody in my car. I was always talking to them. >> I just took it a little further and a
01:02:18
little further. Now, let's take it to the to another extreme. There's been more than one serial killer that told
01:02:25
the FBI, told detectives while confessing to crimes that sometimes they would make up scenarios to work
01:02:32
themselves up into it. I can't think of the particular killer. I think he was in
01:02:38
Pikipsy, but he would bring a woman back to his home and then accuse her of something he know he knew that she
01:02:45
didn't do. So he could work himself up into like angry and to give himself a reason to start to kick the fantasy off.
01:02:54
You know, he would accuse her of stealing something or lying to him. And so this could be the same thing that's
01:03:01
going on here. If this guy does hold some of the ideologies that they believe he he may have, how how messy and
01:03:11
screwed up as they may be, that he's interviewing them, he's talking with them, and some occasions the girl or the
01:03:20
woman gets to get out of the vehicle and walk away and on other occasions she does not. He is the one that gets to
01:03:28
decide. What's fascinating about this profile from an investigative standpoint, and I don't think they did a
01:03:37
good job of this, maybe they did. I wasn't alive in 75, so I can't say. I shouldn't judge. But what it sounds to
01:03:44
me like Captain here is that they need to openly be telling people we think that other women and girls got into this
01:03:52
guy's car or with these guys in a vehicle, talked to him, traveled, successfully made it from point A to
01:04:00
point B after hitching a ride. We want to talk to you. We need to talk to you. Tell us who picked you up, what kind of
01:04:07
vehicle it was, what was the person like, did they give you a name? That's how you're going to find this guy. And
01:04:12
every serial killer there is I'm I'm yet to find one. There is somebody that got
01:04:18
away. And that usually will lead you to the killer. If not provide you with some
01:04:24
detailed information about who the killer may be. [Music] Want to thank everybody so much for
01:04:39
joining us here in the garage. So much more to get to. Make sure you go to true crimegar.com and sign up on the
01:04:46
mailing list. And while you're there, go to the store page, pick you something up
01:04:52
so you can look good, feel good, treat yourself. Treat yourself. And if you want to go to Crime Con
01:04:59
2026, it's in Las Vegas. And our code is already up and rocking and rolling. You can use our code TCG.
01:05:10
Save yourself a little cash. Let Crime Con know that you love the captain and you kind of like the Colonel. But yeah,
01:05:17
that's our code for 2026. And until next episode, be good, be kind, and don't litter.
01:05:32
[Music] What does possibility mean to you? >> Um, that's a hard question. >> Something that you can strive for. that
01:06:05
I'm able to do anything I set my mind to. >> You're confident in yourself and you
01:06:09
believe in yourself. Stuff that you could achieve. >> I feel excited. Anything is possible
01:06:15
when you're more confident. >> Shoes are a huge part of that. They are the most important part of my style.
01:06:21
>> You can like express yourself in the right shoes. Anything is possible. >> DSW, countless shoes at bragworthy
01:06:27
prices. Imagine the possibilities.