I highly recommend watching the latest Youtube video by Rick & Gavin from Solve Crimes, where they interview the birth daughter of Carol Beth Hilburn regarding her search for the identity of her mother and the sad realization of her early demise. Carol Beth Hilburn (22) was murdered by one or more perpetrators on November 14th 1970, after leaving Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento. Here is a brief introduction to the case featured in an earlier article: The Murder of Carol Beth Hilburn.

I will not reveal any of the content in the video, other than to say Rick & Gavin have made excellent progress in pushing the cases of Judith Hakari and Carol Beth Hilburn forward, with new information generated through diligent research, alongside interviews with family members and people close to each respective cold case. In previous episodes they conducted a running interview with Michael Willis (son of Raymond Willis, engaged to Judith Hakari at the time of her murder). In this episode they sensitively interviewed Lynda Sue Pinochi about the case of her mother.

Rick & Gavin must be commended on their approach to these extremely distant cold cases, when interviewing people with close ties to the victims of such horrible crimes. For many, these murders are often treated as nothing more than impersonal distant events, failing to understand these crimes have far-reaching effects on family members many decades after the crime. Rick & Gavin will undoubtedly convince many more people to come forward and share their stories through the compassionate and understanding manner they adopt.

The Youtube video series of Rick Tracewell and Gavin Fish, for me personally, is the correct way to approach these often forgotten and distant cold cases, where the person being interviewed is made to feel as comfortable as possible, despite the nature of the crimes discussed. The whole series is a breath of fresh air, in what can only be described as the stifling, oppressive and unsettling topic of true crime - in which often - these murders are not as cold to some as you are led to believe.

Carol Beth Hilburn (22) was last seen at Lloyd Hickey’s Forty Grand Club at 1819 Del Paso Boulevard in Sacramento (where she had previously worked) at approximately 5:00 am on Saturday, November 14th 1970. She was discovered murdered later that day, her near naked body beaten about the face, with a deep cut to her throat. The severity of her injuries were such, that her face was unrecognizable and had to be identified through dental records and fingerprints. Coroner George Nielsen reported that she was not sexually molested, but that seems difficult to believe when a naked and lifeless woman is discovered lying in a field beaten to death. The ferocity of the injuries to her face reminiscent of the destructive blows suffered by Judith Hakari, whose remains were discovered near Weimar on April 25th 1970. 

Carol Beth Hilburn was found lying in weeds, 30 feet south of West Ascot Avenue and West 4th Street near Rio Linda, just 6 miles (14 minutes) north along Rio Linda Boulevard from her last known location. Investigators concluded she had been bludgeoned to death, transported to this location and dragged naked through the field for approximately 30 feet and dumped in some weeds. With only one suede boot on her feet and her panties around one knee, it clearly indicates she was murdered elsewhere and transported to this location. 

Fishermen occasionally use the field where her body was discovered to park their vehicles and fish in the nearby Dry Creek. The nearest point of Dry Creek to the location her body was found is only 398 meters. The time between Carol Beth Hilburn going missing and being discovered, is 10 hours or less, leaving the perpetrator or perpetrators little time to consider where to dispose of her body. Often a murderer will choose somewhere remote and somewhere they are familiar with. Her body lay next to the 265 acre Hansen Ranch Park Site, through which the Dry Creek runs.

Carol Beth Hilburn had previously separated from her husband, Jay Hilburn (24) of Sebastopol, California, in what was described as an amicable separation only three months earlier. As the crow flies, 1819 Del Paso Boulevard is 2.6 miles from the Markston Apartments, where Judith Hakari was also snatched from the street and transported to a second location, while also suffering devastating injuries to her face and neck, as well as her underwear displaced. The noticeable difference between the two cases lies only in the time difference of the two women's discovery. Could Judith Hakari have been killed within hours of her abduction, buried inside of 10 hours, and the three men spotted on Ponderosa Way be unconnected to her abduction and burial? Or were the same three men cruising the nightlife along Del Paso Boulevard on November 14th 1970, emboldened by their "successful" exploits on March 7th 1970.

Add to the equation the murder of Nancy Bennallack on October 25th 1970, and we have three attractive young women murdered or abducted in eight months, within a 3-mile radius of one another. Denise Kathleen Anderson (22), who resided in Sacramento at 925 16th Street, also went missing and was last seen at 5:30 am on April 13th 1971 by her roommate. Her residence was 2.6 miles from the location Carol Beth Hilburn was last seen alive.