On July 5th 1970, three young men, Thomas Victor Dolan (17) of Manhattan Beach, Thomas Hayes (19) of Hermosa Beach and Homer Clyde Shadwick (19) of Saginaw, Michigan were discovered by a passer-by on a beach in Santa Barbara, that straddled the University of California Santa Barbara building at Campus Point. Two of the young men had succumbed to their injuries, while the third, Thomas Hayes had been rushed to hospital in nearby Goleta in critical condition, after the three appeared to have been subjected to a frenzied attack with a bladed weapon while camping out in their sleeping bags on the night of the July 4th 1970. Fortunately for Thomas Hayes, he survived the brutal assault. The three had hitchhiked back from fireworks celebrations at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The assailant/s took none of the victims possessions in an apparently motiveless attack.
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This attack came approximately four months after the Hood and Garcia Murders, who on Saturday February 21st 1970, 11 miles east of these attacks, fell victim to a knife wielding assassin on a quiet retreat of East Beach, Santa Barbara, a crime some believe had the hallmarks of the notorious Zodiac killer, who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As did the murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards on June 4th 1963, a couple who were brutally gunned down while fleeing for their lives from a remote beach, situated 3.32 miles east of Gaviota State Park and alongside Highway 101, approximately a five-hour drive from Vallejo, California.
Detectives drew parallels between the Sleeping Bag Murders and the Hood and Garcia slayings, yet to this day no arrests have been forthcoming in either case. Approaching her 80th birthday in 2004, Donna Dolan, the mother of Tommy Dolan asked police to re-open the case, fearing she may never see justice for her son. “[Investigators] have the hatchet", Donna Dolan said. “There was also a knife or a sword that have never been in the evidence room, but they know what it was because of the wounds. Any blood was from [Tommy Dolan and Homer Shadwick] – the perpetrators weren’t hurt in any way because the boys were sleeping in sleeping bags and they couldn’t even defend themselves … I was told by the detective at the Dept. of Justice that he would use anything he could find some DNA on". Read more at the Daily Nexus. This case entered the courts in the early 1970s, with respect to the culpability of the beach-front property owners allowing Thomas Victor Dolan and Thomas Hayes to stay there on the evening of July 4th 1970, resulting in serious injury and death of the two individuals. Here is part of the ruling, which was decided on December 13th 1973 in the Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 5 of California. On or about the evening of July 4, 1970, Hayes and Dolan entered the beach-front property located within the confines of the University of California Santa Barbara campus and remained there after dark. While they were on the beach, they were assaulted and beaten by a person or persons unknown, and as a result Hayes sustained severe personal injuries, and Dolan died. Plaintiffs alleged that the beach was owned, maintained, and supervised by respondents, and that persons entering the beach did so with the implied and express permission and encouragement of respondents; that the invitation to enter the beach area extended to the hours of darkness; and that respondents ‘did create and permit’ a dangerous condition to ‘come into existence and be created on the above described beach property in that the defendants, and each of them, knew, or should have known in the exercise of ordinary care that in addition to members of the general public that were expressly and/or impliedly invited to use the beach front property during the hours of darkness, as aforesaid, other highly undesirable people frequently used and frequented the above-described beach area during the hours of darkness and that serious and dangerous and harmful crimes had been committed in said area prior to the date in question; that the defendants, and each of them, with the above knowledge, either actual or implied, did fail to properly and adequately protect, patrol, police, govern or supervise the above-described area during the hours of darkness to prevent injury and damage to members of the general public occupying said property. Plaintiffs sought relief on the theory that respondents' activities with respect to this beach-front property created a dangerous condition, as defined in Government Code section 830(a). Respondents' general demurrer to the complaint was premised upon two contentions pertinent to the issues: (1) that Government Code section 845 affords governmental entities absolute immunity for their failure to provide adequate police protection; and (2) that the beach (the physical condition of the property) was not a dangerous condition as defined by the Government Code. link. The Hillside Daily News, Michigan July 14th 1970 'Detectives said Sunday the victim of a double slaying on a beach a week ago has been identified as an Army deserter carrying a friend’s identification so he wouldn’t be caught. Homer Clyde Shadwick, 19, of Saginaw, Michigan., was hacked to death as he slept on a University of California campus beach with two acquaintances after attending a Fourth of July fireworks display. A California youth also was slain, and another has been in critical condition since the attack. Officers first thought Shadwick was Larry Steve Hess, 20, of Lagrange, Indiana, because that was the name on all identification cards in his wallet. Fingerprints received from Florida, where Hess had an arrest record, proved the victim was not Hess. Final identification was made after the FBI was able to match the victim’s fingerprints with Shadwick’s. Shadwick’s sister was located in Seaside, California, and she identified the body. Detectives also found Hess living at the home of Shadwick’s sister and her husband. Hess said he was unaware he had been listed as the victim. Hess told officers he and Shadwick lived together in Saginaw before hitchhiking to the coast in June. Shadwick was listed as a deserter from Ft. Lewis, Washington, since October. He and Hess closely resembled each other, deputies said. Detectives did not know how Shadwick met up with Thomas Victor Dolan, 17, of Manhattan Beach, and Thomas M. Hayes, 19, of Hermosa Beach, but think they met while hitchhiking. The trio apparently decided to spend the night on the beach after watching a fireworks display. The bodies of Shadwick and Dolan, beaten and cut up by a knife and a machete like weapon, were found Sunday morning. Hayes has not fully regained consciousness. No arrests have been made in the case.' 7/6/70 The Press-Courier Two Youths Found Hacked to Death SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP)- An early morning beach stroller found two young men hacked to death in their sleeping bags and a third critically injured with multiple head gashes. Investigators said the three apparently were attacked as Ihey slept on a beach next to Ihe University of California at Santa Barbara. The blood-spattered bodies were found al sunup Sunday. The victims were identified as Larry Sieve Hess, 20, of La Grange, Indiana, and Thomas Victor Dolan, 17 of Manhattan Beach, Calif, Thomas M. Hayes, 19, Hermosa Beach, Calif, was reported in crilical condition but improving at Goleta Valley Hospital after five hours of surgery. Sheriff's deputies said Hayes remained unconscious and was under light security at the hospital. Hayes' parents said the youths were on a trip lo San Francisco. Officers said the death weapon apparently was a halchel or meat cleaver. The victims still had money and watches, officers added. Two other persons were killed last Feb. 22 on a Sanla Barbara County beach, 20 miles from the latest murder scene. John Franklin Hood, 24, of Oxnard, and Sandra Garcia, 19, of Sanla Barbara, were beaten and slabbed to death. Their murders remain unsolved. |
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1963 June 4th-The Domingos/Edwards Murders
1966 October 30th-The Cheri Jo Bates Murder 1966 November 29th -The Confession Letter 1966 December- The Riverside Desktop Poem 1967 April 30th- Bates Had to Die Letter 1968 December 20th-The Lake Herman Murders 1969 July 4th-The Blue Rock Springs Attack 1969 July 31st- Vallejo Times-Herald Letter and 408 Cipher Page1 (solved) 1969 July 31st- Examiner Letter and 408 Cipher Page 2 (solved) 1969 July 31st - Chronicle Letter and 408 Cipher Page 3 (87% solved) 1969 July 31st-The Complete 408 Cipher 1969 August 4th- Debut of Zodiac Letter 1969 August 10th- Concerned Citizen Card 1969 September 27th- The Lake Berryessa Attack 1969 October 7th- The Good Citizen Letter 1969 October 11th-The Presidio Heights Murder 1969 October 13th-The Paul Stine Letters 1969 October 22nd-Call to Chat Show 1969 November 8th-The Dripping Pen Card and 340 Cipher (solved in 2020) 1969 November 9th-The Bus Bomb Letter 1969 November 19th- The Riddler Notes 1969 November 21st-The San Jose Code Letter 1969 November 28th-The Betsy Aardsma Murder 1969 December 7th-The Fairfield Letter 1969 December 10th- Forecast for Cancer 1969 December 11th- Forecast for Leo 1969 December 16th-The Fairfield Letter 1969 December 20th-The Melvin Belli Letter 1970 Feb 21st- The Hood and Garcia Murders 1970 March 22nd-The Modesto Attack 1970 April 15th-The Robert Salem Murder 1970 April 20th-"My Name is" Letter, Cipher 3 and Bus Bomb Diagram 1970 April 28th-The Dragon Card 1970 June 26th-The Button Letter Cipher 4 (solved in 2019) and Map 1970 July 4th-The Sleeping Bag Murders 1970 July 24th-The Kathleen Johns Letter 1970 July 26th-The Little List Letter 1970 Sept 6th-The Donna Lass Disappearance 1970 October 5th-13 Hole Postcard 1970 October 17th- "You Are Next" Postcard 1970 October 27th-The Halloween Card 1971 March 13th-The Los Angeles Letter 1971 March 22nd-The Pines Card 1971 Unknown- The 148 Character Cipher 1971 July 13th-The Monticello Card 1973 August 1st- The Albany Letter 1974 January 29th-The Exorcist Letter 1974 February 3rd-The SLA Letter 1974 May 8th-The Citizen Card 1974 July 8th-The Red Phantom Letter 1974 December 27th- Christmas Card 1975 November 3rd- The Belmont Letter 1978 April 24th-The 1978 Letter 1978 May 2nd- The Channel Nine Letter 1978 July 19th- The Scotch Tape Letter 1981 March 8th- The Peachtree Letter 1986 May 6th- The Freeway Letter 1987 October 28th- The 1987 Letter 1988 February 1st- The McDonald's Letter 1988 February 8th- The McDonald's Letter [2] 1990 September 25th- The Celebrity Cypher 1990 December-American Greetings Card 2001 January 10th- Happy New Year Card Unknown DMV Letter (possibly November 1971) |
