Riverside Police Department letter One noticeable feature of the three Cheri Jo Bates letters mailed on April 30th 1967 is the distinct lack of care or thought exhibited in creating these communications. This doesn't necessarily mean they were mailed by a different author to the two typed Confession letters sent on November 29th 1966 (that were clearly more labor intensive) - because the apparent haste shown in these letters could suggest the author was impulsively responding to something they had just read in the newspapers.
The murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966 was now six months old, and the newspaper coverage of her brutal stabbing had sadly dwindled away. So it's clearly no coincidence that the three Bates letters on April 30th 1967 coincided with the release of a comprehensive newspaper article released by the Riverside Press-Enterprise on the same day, entitled "After Six Months Coed's Murder Remains Puzzle to Detectives". This is probably why these three letters were hastily written, and only contained eight words in each correspondence. The author may have been triggered into an immediate response by what they had read in Jack Mathews article.
The important section of text in the April 30th 1967 newspaper read "The last major piece of evidence came November 30 in the form of a confession letter sent to both the Riverside police department and the Press-Enterprise. The letter explained in detail how the writer allegedly tampered with Cheri's car, waited for her to return from the library and coaxed her away on the pretense of giving her a lift. The letter told of how she struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". Therefore, it's not difficult to contemplate somebody responding to the phrases "stabbed to death" and "there would be more" - and arriving at the wording "She had to die. There will be more" and "Bates had to die. There will be more" on the same day in three letters. The author was assuring us that the newspaper reporting of "there would be more" was to be realized by his statement of "there will be more". The writer was simply bringing things up to date (from the Confession letter to the Bates letters).
The murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966 was now six months old, and the newspaper coverage of her brutal stabbing had sadly dwindled away. So it's clearly no coincidence that the three Bates letters on April 30th 1967 coincided with the release of a comprehensive newspaper article released by the Riverside Press-Enterprise on the same day, entitled "After Six Months Coed's Murder Remains Puzzle to Detectives". This is probably why these three letters were hastily written, and only contained eight words in each correspondence. The author may have been triggered into an immediate response by what they had read in Jack Mathews article.
The important section of text in the April 30th 1967 newspaper read "The last major piece of evidence came November 30 in the form of a confession letter sent to both the Riverside police department and the Press-Enterprise. The letter explained in detail how the writer allegedly tampered with Cheri's car, waited for her to return from the library and coaxed her away on the pretense of giving her a lift. The letter told of how she struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". Therefore, it's not difficult to contemplate somebody responding to the phrases "stabbed to death" and "there would be more" - and arriving at the wording "She had to die. There will be more" and "Bates had to die. There will be more" on the same day in three letters. The author was assuring us that the newspaper reporting of "there would be more" was to be realized by his statement of "there will be more". The writer was simply bringing things up to date (from the Confession letter to the Bates letters).
The Confession letter did suggest "there would be more killings to come", however, it specifically referred to the possible killings as potential victims, by stating "She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victom. Maybe she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Or maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school".
The Press=Enterprise newspaper could easily have stated "there would be more victims to come". This may be one possible answer to the "signature" on two of the Bates letters, which "undersigns" the wording "She/Bates had to die. There will be more". If we complete the phrase, we get "She/Bates had to die. There will be more......more victims".
The Press=Enterprise newspaper could easily have stated "there would be more victims to come". This may be one possible answer to the "signature" on two of the Bates letters, which "undersigns" the wording "She/Bates had to die. There will be more". If we complete the phrase, we get "She/Bates had to die. There will be more......more victims".
DETECTIVE WAYNE DURRINGTON IN 1971 On might expect that a signature (such as the pseudonym "Zodiac") would feature more prominently at the foot of these letters, rather than the small and obscure offering given. The writings at the base of these two letters are consistent in nature, suggesting that these two designs were deliberately conceived. However, they were extremely small in comparison to the rest of the lettering in these communications, which seems to detract from any importance the author placed on them. If these really were the signatures of the killer (or author), it is unusual that they would design them in such an understated manner.
If the unresolved writing at the base of two of the letters was nothing more than an afterthought, then this may explain the rather insignificant way the author finalized each letter. Could they have been 2L and 3L, denoting two parts of a trinity of letters, as mentioned by the Zodiac Killer when he wrote "Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle" on July 31st 1969? The answer to the "signature" on the Bates letters may lie in the Press-Enterprise newspaper on April 30th 1967.
Two and a half months after the three Bates' letters were mailed promising "there will be more", a former Ramona High School classmate of Cheri Jo Bates (18) was strangled unconscious in the driveway of her home in Arlington, California, just 5 miles southwest of Terracina Drive, where Cheri was murdered in the driveway alongside the Riverside City College library. According to police the young 18-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, with Detective Wayne Durrington of the belief that her assailant lay in wait in some nearby tall bushes and attacked her shortly after she left her car at 10:30 pm when returning home from a nearby church function. After regaining consciousness, she was found screaming in a neighbor's yard and was transported to Parkview Hospital at 3865 Jackson Street in Riverside.
Arlington is only 1.4 miles from the once 4195 Via San Jose home of Cheri Jo Bates and her father. There is little to connect the two cases, despite the common thread of Ramona High School, and a strangulation/choking in a driveway at approximately 10:30 pm in both instances. The author of the Confession letter stated "maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school" and. "dont make it to easy for me. Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys. I am stalking your girls now". So the proximity of the two girls addresses is at the very least noteworthy, if both were deliberately targeted by an attacker stalking young women. Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle had seemingly been identified and disabled in advance by her killer, while in this case, on or around July 14th 1967, the assailant was apparently waiting in the bushes outside her home as she parked up in her car. It would be interesting to search for other possible attacks in the Riverside, Ramona and Arlington areas in the ensuing months and years. Two Ramona High School classmates aged 18, living approximately 1 1/2 miles apart, murdered and sexually assaulted (and both choked) within nine months of one another. It makes you wonder.
If the unresolved writing at the base of two of the letters was nothing more than an afterthought, then this may explain the rather insignificant way the author finalized each letter. Could they have been 2L and 3L, denoting two parts of a trinity of letters, as mentioned by the Zodiac Killer when he wrote "Here is a cyipher or that is part of one. the other 2 parts have been mailed to the S.F. Examiner + the S.F. Chronicle" on July 31st 1969? The answer to the "signature" on the Bates letters may lie in the Press-Enterprise newspaper on April 30th 1967.
Two and a half months after the three Bates' letters were mailed promising "there will be more", a former Ramona High School classmate of Cheri Jo Bates (18) was strangled unconscious in the driveway of her home in Arlington, California, just 5 miles southwest of Terracina Drive, where Cheri was murdered in the driveway alongside the Riverside City College library. According to police the young 18-year-old woman was sexually assaulted, with Detective Wayne Durrington of the belief that her assailant lay in wait in some nearby tall bushes and attacked her shortly after she left her car at 10:30 pm when returning home from a nearby church function. After regaining consciousness, she was found screaming in a neighbor's yard and was transported to Parkview Hospital at 3865 Jackson Street in Riverside.
Arlington is only 1.4 miles from the once 4195 Via San Jose home of Cheri Jo Bates and her father. There is little to connect the two cases, despite the common thread of Ramona High School, and a strangulation/choking in a driveway at approximately 10:30 pm in both instances. The author of the Confession letter stated "maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school" and. "dont make it to easy for me. Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys. I am stalking your girls now". So the proximity of the two girls addresses is at the very least noteworthy, if both were deliberately targeted by an attacker stalking young women. Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle had seemingly been identified and disabled in advance by her killer, while in this case, on or around July 14th 1967, the assailant was apparently waiting in the bushes outside her home as she parked up in her car. It would be interesting to search for other possible attacks in the Riverside, Ramona and Arlington areas in the ensuing months and years. Two Ramona High School classmates aged 18, living approximately 1 1/2 miles apart, murdered and sexually assaulted (and both choked) within nine months of one another. It makes you wonder.
PRESS-ENTERPRISE NEWSPAPER FROM JULY 19TH 1967
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