We will take a look at the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 strictly from the perspective of the vehicle used by the killer, obviously presuming he had used one that evening. Robert Graysmith made an unusual reference in his book 'Zodiac Unmasked' stating "Cheri Jo checked out three books from the local college library. Though her friends were at the small, cramped library between 7:15 pm and 8:57 pm, none recalled seeing her there. At 9.00 pm when the archives closed, she returned to her car to discover the engine would not catch. And here she had been working part-time at the Riverside National Bank. Parked behind her car was a Tucker Torpedo that had not been there before". 
Robert Graysmith would claim nobody recalled seeing Cheri Jo Bates in the cramped library between 7:15 pm and 8:57 pm, but somehow he surmised she had returned to her vehicle at 9:00 pm, where a Tucker Torpedo was observed parked directly behind her Volkswagen Beetle. This obviously flies in the face of everything we know about her movements that night. Robert Graysmith clearly embellished many sections of his book, blurring the line between fact and fiction, but to pluck a Tucker Torpedo out of thin air for no apparent reason, could suggest a semblance of truth - particularly when we consider only 51 Tucker Torpedo's were ever made before the company folded in 1949. Also, based on the very small production of this vehicle, it may be extremely likely that this vehicle was mistaken for an altogether more common make of car.      

Although the front end grill is different, it is conceivable that the person who originated the Tucker Torpedo sighting was an attendee at the Riverside City College library on that fateful night and gave this description to police during the library reconstruction on November 13th 1966. A young student, more familiar with current day automobiles, could easily have made an error in identifying a vehicle 18 years old. Parked behind Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle in relative darkness, the Studebaker vehicle shown above exhibits similarities to the Tucker Torpedo. This vehicle parked facing westwards toward the library entrance would most likely have been observed from its front end as students were leaving the library annex. The sheer fact this vehicle was highlighted by Robert Graysmith is of particular interest when we consider the sighting of a 1947-1952 Studebaker on Riverside Avenue on the evening of the murder.    

After the library reconstruction an article appeared in the Daily Enterprise on November 1966. It stated "Detectives investigating the murder of Cheri Bates are looking for a car almost identical to this one. Police say a 1947-52 model Studebaker with light-colored, oxidized paint was parked on Riverside avenue just south of Terracina about 7 p.m. on the night that the Riverside City College freshman was stabbed to death. Detectives said a recent re-enactment of the murder at the college campus provided this information. They ask anyone who knows of a car similar to this one, used by police to stage this photograph, to contact the Police Department".

Although it is possible this information was given by a student attending the library reconstruction, Riverside Avenue sat just around the corner from Terracina Drive in 1966, and it is possible that this vehicle would not have been noticed by a student as anything suspicious at around 7:00 pm while passing a random vehicle parked on a street. I took a cursory look into Riverside Avenue on street view in Google maps and discovered this is a fairly affluent and scenic road, with properties in the order of $400,000. The very place that a homeowner would notice an old oxidized vehicle sitting outside their property for any length of time. Had they read the Daily Enterprise in November, it is certainly feasible they had contacted the Riverside Police Department and shared this information of a suspicious, out of place vehicle sitting idle for a noticeable time period. If this were the same vehicle parked behind Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle just two hours later, misidentified as a Tucker Torpedo (built in the same time frame of the 40s), then this is at the very least noteworthy. The Studebaker was described as a 1947-1952 model, suggesting the person who described the vehicle knew their cars. This may add weight to a resident of Riverside Avenue, with a decent income and more mature in years, being knowledgeable enough to specify the exact years of 1947-1952 when the Studebaker Champion third generation was manufactured in a completely redesigned fashion.  

These sightings would not necessarily be significant, if it wasn't for the fact of an earwitness to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates later that night, described in the newspapers as "a neighbor who heard an 'awful scream' between 10.15 and 10.45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up." They obviously felt it significant enough to describe the vehicle as an "old car", which ordinarily wouldn't catch the attention, but for the two previous sightings mentioned by Robert Graysmith and the witness in the Daily Enterprise newspaper. The final thing to examine, is whether this brief audible recollection of an old vehicle starting up approximately two minutes after the scream, tallies with the location of the old vehicle (Tucker Torpedo or Studebaker) parked behind Cheri Jo Bates' lime green Volkswagen Beetle.  

As shown in the diagram above, we can see that if the murderer parked his vehicle behind the Volkswagen Beetle, then he had a 325 foot journey back to his vehicle after leaving the crime scene. Average walking pace is approximately 4.5 feet per second, so we will raise this to 5.0 feet per second for somebody leaving the scene of a crime. Our perpetrator should take about 70 seconds to reach his vehicle just beyond the Volkswagen Beetle. We will now use the 'Confession' letter mailed on November 29th 1966 (assuming it was typed by the killer) to determine the time period from the scream to when he departed the crime scene. It stated "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up. I plunged the knife into her and it broke. I then finished the job out cutting her throat". This suggests that after Cheri Jo Bates had screamed, she was thrown to the ground, where the perpetrator performed three actions [1] Kicked her in the head [2] Plunged the knife into her back (the only wound to the rear of her body), and [3] cut her throat. Allowing approximately 20 seconds to achieve what he stated, he proceeds to walk the 70 seconds to his vehicle. To enter his vehicle and start the engine roughly another 20 seconds. The total time elapsed from the scream to the engine starting is now approximately 110 seconds, or 1 minute and 50 seconds, exactly matching the "about two minutes of silence" described by the earwitness close to the alleyway. This would corroborate the unknown eyewitness who described an old 40s vehicle parked behind the Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates.   

If all these three vehicles described are actually one and the same, it is then a matter of formulating the movement of this vehicle between the 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm sighting. Did the killer park his vehicle a distance from the library and walk to the Riverside College to disable Cheri Jo Bates Volkswagen Beetle, thereby reducing the chances of his vehicle being noticed by passing library traffic, only getting into position closer to the time the library closed? Did he drive to the library briefly (before 7:15 pm), disable her vehicle and then drive away (parking up at various locations in the vicinity, such as Riverside Avenue), before returning into position to be the first 'good Samaritan' to offer Cheri Jo Bates his help? There could be any number of possibilities. There is every chance these vehicles are completely irrelevant to the murder of the young college student, but with so little to go on, it is certainly worthy of consideration.     

Some of the questioned Zodiac communications address certain individuals using the lower case format, and the March 13th 1971 'Los Angeles' letter refers to Riverside in the same fashion: "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". The Riverside Desktop Poem, written sometime in 1966 and believed to have been signed off with the author's initials, also featured two lower case letters. The clue to "rh" may lie in the poem itself and in the first correspondence by the Zodiac Killer on July 31st 1969 - assuming you believe a connection between Riverside and the Bay Area murders. That is because there is a real possibility the Riverside Desktop Poem was authored prior to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966. If you believe that Cheri Jo Bates was stalked surreptitiously in the weeks or months before her death, then the Desktop Poem is the precursor or warning, and the Confession letter is the completion of that threat. 

If we look at the wording on the Riverside Desktop Poem (below) from the standpoint of somebody stalking Cheri Jo Bates, then it is perfectly conceivable that at some point in time the wannabe killer has noticed the young woman wearing a red dress and fantasized about making her pay for the "perceived brush-offs" he has endured. But what is noticeable, is that the author states "she won't die this time, someone'll find her". If the young woman was to be stabbed, why would someone necessarily find her? If his mind is seeing his fantasy in the present during school hours and in the context of a busy Riverside City College campus, then one could easily see how she could be rescued and survive. However, in the next line he is projecting his mind to the future by stating "just wait till next time". The only way "next time" could conceivably have a different outcome, is if he lures Cheri Jo Bates away from the Riverside City College campus - and this is exactly what he said he was attempting to do when he typed the November 29th 1966 Confession letter, thirty days after Cheri Jo Bates' murder. He stated "I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home".  

If the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates had made a promise to seek her out "next time" in the Riverside Desktop Poem, and had some connection to the college, or was in her near or outer circle, is it really realistic he would give his true initials at the foot of the Desktop Poem to give law enforcement a helping hand? On the other hand, if they weren't really his initials and he had just placed two random letters together, then it is a rather pointless exercise. The Zodiac Killer wrote "riverside" in the 1971 'Los Angeles' letter and "halloween"/"Halloween" in the questioned 1987 correspondence, showing yet again his ability to ignore the upper case form of these titles. It is these two words that may give us the meaning to the "rh" at the foot of the Desktop Poem. The poem indicated the necessity of the killer to separate Cheri Jo Bates from the college campus so somebody wouldn't find her in time, thereby resulting in her death. Had he achieved such an objective, then her death may very well have occurred past the midnight of October 30th, rather than around 10:30 pm when screams were heard emanating from the campus alleyway. He was ultimately thwarted by Cheri Jo Bates, who likely fought back vigorously when she was being coerced towards his vehicle. The killer ultimately boasted that this was not the case by stating "I said it was about time. She asked me 'about time for what'. I said it was about time for her to die".  This was clearly a line pulled straight from his imagination, to give the impression he was in complete control throughout. Had Cheri Jo Bates not fought valiantly against her abduction, then the prophecy of "rh" would have been realized: "Just wait till next time, riverside halloween".

On July 31st 1969, the Zodiac Killer wrote "If you do not print this cipher by the afternoon of Fry.1st of Aug 69, I will go on a kill ram-Page Fry. night. I will cruse around all weekend killing lone people in the night then move on to kill again, until I end up with a dozen people over the weekend". The Bay Area murderer was always promising more bloodshed in the future - and the Riverside Desktop Poem was no different. But on that occasion he gave us the exact time and place.    

Whether the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates (18) in Riverside on October 30th 1966 has been widely debated. The young woman was found brutally stabbed on Halloween morning by groundskeeper Cleophus Martin. The Zodiac Killer would lay claim to this murder on March 13th 1971 when he stated in the 'Los Angeles' letter "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity, but they are only finding the easy ones, there are a hell of a lot more down there". This made it curious that the Zodiac Killer's previous communication was the October 27th 1970 'Halloween' card and its obvious implications of a murder related to Halloween. Sandwiched between the 'Halloween' card and 'Los Angeles' communications was the November 16th 1970 Paul Avery article in the San Francisco Chronicle declaring there was 'New Evidence in the Zodiac Killings.'  This seemed rather convenient timing immediately after a card based around Halloween.

The Riverside and Zodiac connection was first proffered by Phil Sins, who Michael Morford was fortunate enough to interview in 2012. He stated "that as far as he can remember, he initially asked Avery to contact Riverside Police, and that he only got involved directly with Riverside Police Department after he made contact with Avery. He stated that he linked the two cases just by the overall similarity in the taunting letters. It also got his attention that Bates was killed on Halloween Eve and Zodiac sent a Halloween card. He told Avery to look into it, and get a writing expert as there were writing samples in Riverside. He says he has monitored the case since making the connection. He himself never had any suspects nor did he have any theories in particular". This peaked my interest regarding the design of the Halloween card, and whether the Zodiac Killer was finally incorporating Cheri Jo Bates into his running victim total (now 14), whether or not he was responsible for her murder or not. If Phil Sins drew a connection between the 'Halloween' card and Riverside, what else may he have observed?      

The pumpkin placed over the first skeleton has always been a curiosity - unless of course - the Zodiac Killer is effectively 'date stamping' this claimed fourteenth victim. He placed the number 14 on the hand of the skeleton and placed a pumpkin over the pelvic region, not only associating this victim with Halloween, but scoring the victim count of 14 onto the skeleton itself. Bearing in mind the murder of Cheri Jo Bates was four years prior, was this choice of imagery relevant?

David Faraday (17), Betty Lou Jensen (16) and Michael Mageau (19) were three teenage victims of the Zodiac Killer, despite the fact that Michael Mageau survived the attack at Blue Rock Springs. Cheri Jo Bates (18) was also a teenager. The Zodiac Killer wrote the number 14 on the hand of the first skeleton, so could easily have written this number again over the skull of the skeleton on the card inner (shown right). He could have written "fourteen", but deliberately chose to separate the "4" and "TEEN", indicating that these offerings were to be interpreted as two separate words. In the spoken word, this could mean FOUR TEEN or FOR TEEN. The Zodiac Killer placed twelve eyes onto the 'Halloween' card (one was already present at manufacture), suggesting that these held an important significance to the message the card was attempting to prompt from the reader. The simplest answer, when we consider the addition above the skeleton's head, is "look for teen". In totality, the Zodiac Killer is effectively saying "look for teen, who I have inscribed as my fourteenth victim, discovered on Halloween". The pumpkin attached to the skeleton should be the biggest clue in this regard. 

Phil Sins contacted Paul Avery regarding the taunting letters and the 'Halloween' card observation, so it is no surprise that the Paul Avery article surfaced on November 16th 1970 putting forth a possible connection between the Zodiac murders and the brutal stabbing of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside. But was the Zodiac Killer telling the truth when he stated "I do have to give them credit for stumbling across my riverside activity", and was the 'Halloween' card the prompt, subsequently interpreted by Phil Sins? 

Here is an extract from the letter sent by the Riverside City College library staff regarding their favorite 'suspect' Ross Sullivan. The first thing we notice, is that even they admit that police told them Ross Sullivan had an alibi for the time period of Cheri Jo Bates' murder. This clearly wasn't enough for the amateur sleuths of the Riverside City College library (we have to assume the police are just lying) who went on to compile a horrifying list of infractions and suspicious behavior perpetrated by Ross Sullivan. These include:

[1] His "potential for doing harm" - although we have no cited examples of harm inflicted upon any of the library staff. However, what he potentially could have done, is possibly a cause for concern. 
 
[2] Bragged about escaping over the wall from Patton State Mental Hospital, which doesn't equate to being a murderer.

[3] The library staff member stated "I wish I could remember the poem about the cataloging boss he and I both had. I remember that she did not understand the poem he wrote. I didn't either but was frightened by it". Frightened by a poem you neither understand and can't remember, is terrifying enough on its own

[4] "We could see him from the cataloging department. He was like a statue - always there". Clearly he was a menacing statue - not moving - but an ominous presence nevertheless.

5] "When the murder happened, I stated to my fellow workers that when Ross reappeared on campus (because he was not around the day after the murder), and if he had on different clothes, then he would be guilty in my mind, until someone proved him innocent". I really hope this person never sat on a jury. Whatever happened to those good old values of 'innocent until proven guilty'? Whatever happened to 'beyond a reasonable doubt'? I hereby sentence you to 50 years for buying new clothes.

[6] "Sure enough, it was a few weeks before he reappeared at his spot on the pit wall and he had on a totally new set of clothes". Guilty as charged Sir - how dare you wear a different set of clothes after a few weeks.

[7] "One rainy night after he was back in Riverside, I stopped at a liquor store in Market Street. I pulled up alongside a car that was parked just in front of the store doors. I ran inside but left the doors locked as I always do. When I ran back to my car something told me to do a very strange thing. I ran around to the passenger side and in a flash I had the door open and was inside and the door locked behind me. Just at that instant Ross came from a large hedge in front of my car door and walked between the two cars and out of the parking lot. He did not look at me. Needless to say I drove out of there as quickly as possible". This is called historical narrative building - creating a sensationalized and novelistic reconstruction of events that never happened. The person is selling you a story. Using the introduction of "one rainy night" is unnecessary to the story, used for dramatic effect. She just happened to pull up to a liquor store where Ross was hiding behind a bush in the rain, then coincidentally "something told her to do a very strange thing" - get in the wrong door of her vehicle, just before Ross "instantly" emerged from a large bush. What told her to do a very strange thing? - a sixth sense of impending doom, before she raced away fearing for her life. The fact of the matter, is that nothing happened - and if Ross Sullivan was there, he was likely just walking by without even noticing her. Had he glared at her menacingly from his sodden, furrowed brow, with dastardly intent, the story may have been a bit more compelling. Or, if he had he leaped from the bush wielding a dripping axe and mumbling incoherently. 
 
[8] "Ross apparently parked a motorbike close to one of the faculty members car each day during the fall of 1966. That faculty member also put Ross at the top of his list as a suspect in the murder. Didn't apartment residents near the murder site recall hearing a motorbike start up just after the screams". No they didn't, so it is probably advisable to read up on the facts of the murder, before establishing Ross Sullivan at the top of your suspect list - guilty of parking his motorbike close to a car in the parking lot. Was it menacingly close, bordering on threatening? Did it get closer each day, inching to a dramatic conclusion? Was it raining each day?

[9] "There are half dozen or so of us at Riverside City College that agree on a suspect - but it isn't one that the police are interested in". I will probably side with the police on this one, who actually did a proper investigation and stated he had an alibi. On the flip side, the library staff may have a compelling case to bring to court  - Ross Sullivan was smelly, changed his clothes at least once, allegedly hopped from a bush in the rain without an axe, threateningly parked his motorbike in the campus grounds, wrote poems nobody can remember and moved as fast as a statue, apart from when he was vaulting mental hospital walls. In his spare time he murdered five people in the Bay Area, despite the fact nobody can place him within 75 miles of any crime scene. On a rainy night, maybe he rode stealthily into the Bay Area on his old Triumph motorbike four times, placing the executioner's costume in the top box on September 27th 1969 for the return journey to Santa Cruz. Or maybe some evidence would help. 

Many attempts have been made to conclusively link the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966, along with the accompanying communications, to the Zodiac Killer. The three 'Bates' letters, on April 30th 1967, ended the Riverside chapter, with the three July 31st 1969 letters to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and Vallejo Times-Herald, beginning the Zodiac chapter. But is the hidden identity contained within the 408 cipher (if it exists) somehow connected to the hidden author of the November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter? It is paramount to make a distinction between name and identity when attempting to formulate any cohesive link between the Confession letter and 408 cipher, because the Zodiac Killer claimed he wouldn't give us his name in the decoded 408 cipher, but did claim it would reveal his identity.

​When we take a close look at the decoded 408 cipher, it can be argued that he made a fundamental error when he encoded his original message, accidentally omitting the word "people" in the ciphertext. This is explained in 'The 18 Unsolved Characters [Pt3]'  This effectively created a shortfall of 6 characters in his 408 cipher, which had he not done, would only have left 12 unsolved characters at the end of the message. In view of the Bay Area murderer identifying himself as "Zodiac" just four days later, it was considered that his impatience may have compelled him to reveal his identity earlier than he would have liked, and "Zodiac" was integral to his identity in the 12 characters at the end of the 408 cipher. The hidden identity, therefore being the "Zodiac Killer". 

Had the 408 cipher read "the best part of it, is that when I die I will be reborn in paradice and all the people I have killed will become my slaves", and the last 12 characters contained his identity, then by extension, we should be looking backwards to Riverside for the previous time he used a form of cryptic or hidden message. The only letter that contained such an instance, was the November 29th 1966 letter beginning "The Confession by - - - - - - - - - - - -".  The Confession letter to the Press-Enterprise contained 12 underscores of, presumably, the hidden name or identity of the killer. For those believing a connection from Riverside to the Bay Area, the potential murderer of Cheri Jo Bates may have cloaked his identity behind 12 underscores in this particular Riverside Confession letter and 12 characters in his communication with the San Francisco Chronicle on July 31st 1969.  The 'Bates' letters correlated via a trinity of letters, whereby the Confession letter correlated through the identity of twelve. However, the length of the underscores on the Confession letter to Riverside police appears notably longer. See here. 

This analysis fundamentally fails to successfully bridge the divide from Riverside to the Bay Area, as many arguments have before - and the connection between the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and associated communications, to the Zodiac Killer, will remain a hot button topic for many years to come no doubt - but the search goes on.

The most detailed description of the Zodiac Killer was presented in the days after the murder of Paul Stine in Presidio Heights, likely arrived upon by an amalgamation of two sets of eyewitnesses. The final age range estimated at between 35-45 years of age and semi-corroborated by Officer Donald Fouke, who described the suspect as 'graying in the rear' in his November 12th 1969 memorandum. The age of the killer may be relevant, when we consider the dramatic change in writing style from November 29th 1966/April 30th 1967 to the beginning of the Zodiac letters in 1969, just two years later. Is it possible to examine the linguistics from correspondence in the Cheri Jo Bates murder to the later writings and determine if they were authored by the same individual?  

The Zodiac Killer never bragged or labored the point about his four canonical attacks or five murders with respect to the victims. The closest he came was describing the attack on Michael Mageau, stating "When I fired the first shot at his head, he leaped backwards at the same time, thus spoiling my aim. He ended up on the back seat then the floor in back thashing out very violently with his legs; that's how I shot him in the knee."  But on this occasion he was prompted for more details about the crimes by Vallejo Police Chief Jack Stiltz, and duly responded. 
However, in the 'Confession' and Bates letters, just 2 to 3 years earlier, the author seemed to be relishing in the pain and misery he inflicted on Cheri Jo Bates and her family.
With statements such as "I said it was about time for her to die, she squirmed and shook as I chocked her and her lips twiched, and I then finished the job out cutting her throat," it had all the hallmarks of a killer who enjoyed reliving the events of that night, as well as exacerbating the heartbreak and suffering felt by family and friends. The author, not only named his victim in both letters, something the Zodiac Killer always steered away from, but he also mailed a letter to the father of the victim, Joseph Bates.
The addresses of the victims in the Zodiac crimes were routinely published in the newspapers, yet the Bay Area murderer failed to make contact with any of the victims families through mailed correspondence. The killer seemed to almost depersonalize the victims, only referring to them as kids, teenagers, boy, girl, woman, man, taxicab driver and people. When it came to his adversaries such as newspaper reporters, columnists, attorneys and police, then he had little problem naming Paul Avery, Marc H Spinelli, Herb Caen, Melvin Belli and David Toschi (depending on the validity of the correspondence).
Were the crimes simply his requirement to be taken seriously, so he could begin his letter writing campaign? In other words, they were not his primary focus, and why the attacks apparently ended after only 10 months.  

The most sexually explicit reference in the confirmed Zodiac letters was his statement of "man is the most dangerous animal of all to kill something gives me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a girl" in the deciphered 408 cryptogram. However, even this is downgrading sex below murder.
The 'Confession' letter is altogether different, referencing lying awake thinking about beautiful women, stating "Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands, her lips twiched, keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys, I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see and I am stalking your girls now." 
The emphasis of the letter is based solely on women, not couples, men or children. It also has a sexual component, not particularly evident in the Zodiac letters.
On March 13th 1971 the Zodiac Killer part-indicated his involvement in the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates, but even then he couldn't refer to her by name - something he supposedly had no problem doing in both the Riverside correspondences a few years earlier. So, was the Riverside murderer really the Zodiac Killer?    ​

On the morning of October 31st 1966 at 6:30 am, Cleophus F. Martin (49), a groundskeeper at the Riverside City College discovered the stricken body of Cheri Jo Bates in an alleyway between two vacant properties. He was also described as a janitor on the website Find A Grave. Cleophus Martin died in 1975. Whether or not he is the same person who discovered the 'Riverside Desktop Poem' is open to speculation. Four years earlier, on February 28th 1962, the San Bernardino County Sun ran an article entitled 'San Bernardino Youth Knifed in Wild Attack on Redlands Road'. Here is the article text.    

"Three men were held for questioning in the knifing of a 19-year-old San Bernardino youth Monday after a highway incident that wound up in a wild, four-mile chase with occupants of one vehicle throwing rocks and debris at the other vehicle.
Charles Albert Schuler, 19, of 7695 Merito Avenue, was treated at Community Hospital for cuts on the shoulder, right elbow and left hand that he said was inflicted by a curved flooring knife.
His companions, Perry Lee Thomas and Bill Roan, both of San Bernardino, and Robert Claude Cockrell said they were attacked at Highway 99 and Alabama Street on the outskirts of Redlands about 5 pm Monday.
They said their three assailants, occupants of a pick-up truck, pushed in the windows of the hardtop in which the four were riding, and one of the assailants shoved in a pocket knife and started swinging it.
The four said they then got out of their car, but were chased by the other three, all of whom had knives. Witnesses said that Schuler was chased through heavy traffic. His shirt was cut to ribbons by his knife-swinging assailant.
After dodging knives for a while, the four youths got back in their car and fled. They said the three in the pick-up truck loaded the truck bed with rocks and debris, and chased the car four miles to Tippecanoe and Central.
One of their assailants rode in the truck bed and the other on a running board, hurling rocks and debris at the car, the four said. The truck was identified through a license number and three men were later picked up by Detective Jay D. Hughes.
Booked in the County Jail for questioning were Booker T. Washington (47), his son, John T. Washington (26) and Cleophus Martin (43) of 1577 Vine Street, all of San Bernardino. Detective William Paterson of the homicide division is investigating."   

Cleophus Martin was born on 15th October 1917, which would have him 44 years of age on February 28th 1962, not 43, as referenced in the newspaper. Due to the rarity of the name and the location of San Bernardino, it could be argued that this was the groundskeeper/janitor who discovered the body of Cheri Jo Bates. This man likely had nothing to do with the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, and was unfortunate enough to discover the terrible events of the previous night, nevertheless, it begs the question of how familiar the perpetrator was in respect to the Riverside City College campus.

Was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates familiar enough with the Riverside City College campus to know that the two properties either side of the attack site were empty? Did he have access to the Riverside library storage room to write on the underside of the desktop in relative anonymity? Did he use paper acquired from the Riverside college?  "A photocopying machine, where students could secure 8 1/2 X 11 inch black and white copy of printed or typed material, was available at the library for ten cents." The photocopying machine would have been acquired by the college library to accommodate the paper likely used by the college staff and students. The three Bates letters mailed on April 30th 1967 measured 8 1/2 X 11 inches, identical to the size offered by the photocopier in the library. 

Credit to ZodiacKillerIdentified on Youtube.

When Stephanie Guttman turned down the opportunity to accompany Cheri Jo Bates to the Riverside City College library on the afternoon of October 30th 1966, did she make alternative arrangements that ultimately led to her early demise. Despite entering the library to acquire her reading material shortly after opening time, she left within minutes. Nobody remembers seeing the young girl from 6:30 pm to 9.00 pm that evening, indicating she exited the library and went elsewhere. She wasn't murdered until approximately 10:30 pm that night, when screams were heard in the vicinity of the alleyway. At approximately 9:30 pm a female student purportedly noticed a man standing in the fateful alleyway smoking a cigarette and exchanged brief greetings with him. It is therefore clear that Cheri Jo Bates had been murdered subsequent to this encounter. The following observations take a new approach to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates, based upon the structure and wording of the 'Confession' letter mailed one month later. 

Everything contained in the 'Confession' letter was information readily available in the newspapers, however, this doesn't necessarily indicate that the author of the letter wasn't the killer. But there is a narrative in the letter that completely flies in the face of what was possible. The author of the 'Confession' letter described the middle wire of the distributor being pulled, the small knife and the cutting of the throat, which were all reported in the newspapers and totally correct, yet gave the impression that everything happened in one continuous timeline, which was impossible. The impression given, is of a woman who enters the library while her vehicle is being disabled, and then exits to find her car won't start. The good Samaritan then offers her assistance and escorts her to a promise of a lift in his vehicle just down the street, before stabbing her. We know Cheri Jo Bates wasn't murdered between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm, so why does the author cover all his bases in convincing the reader he is the killer, but fail so horribly with the timeline?

Many details of the crime were printed in the newspapers, including an "awful scream between 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm and then a loud sound like an old car starting up". The author of the letter uses this scream in his letter, stating "she let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head," along with the presence of his vehicle: "I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home".  However, if he knew she had exited the library to find her car disabled, then his story doesn't work from the standpoint of a 10:15 pm to 10:45 pm attack, as the library closed at 9:00 pm. Besides, he stated he followed her out of the library after about 2 minutes, and we know she left prior to 6:30 pm. Why is the author (if the killer) trying to give the impression that Cheri Jo Bates never left the campus that evening, when clearly her movements were unknown for approximately 4 hours?

The author blatantly disregards the time of 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm in his continuous timeline, but certainly makes use of the scream and vehicle, to give us the impression he had killed Cheri Jo Bates moments after she exited the library. Does he weave his vehicle into the story to convince us he had to travel a reasonable distance to arrive near the alleyway, and therefore lives a reasonable distance away, when in actual fact he lived within walking distance of the Riverside campus. If the author of the 'Confession' letter was the Zodiac Killer, he may have used this tactic nearly three years later, when using his vehicle as evidence he didn't live close to the payphone at Springs and Tuolumne after the attack at Blue Rock Springs.

If Cheri Jo Bates had left the library annex voluntarily before 6:30 pm and hooked up with somebody who lived nearby - who then escorted her back to her vehicle at around 10:30 pm, then the disabling of her vehicle could have taken place while she was present during an altercation. This would explain both windows rolled down, the right door being possibly ajar and the keys present in the ignition. A murder at approximately 10:30 pm with little passing traffic is an altogether more likely scenario, particularly when we consider the screams heard by eyewitnesses.

The author and killer would have been unaware at the point of writing, of a female student and man present in the alleyway with no body, and was desperate to shift the timeline 4 hours earlier, thereby ruling out any possibility of Cheri Jo Bates having ever left the campus to a nearby residence with somebody she knew. The use of his vehicle in the letter was the window dressing, to paint a completely different picture to the one that really happened that night - that Cheri Jo Bates was escorted from the campus on foot at around 6:30 pm by somebody she trusted. Somebody that would eventually betray that trust a mere 4 hours later.

The idea that the murderer of JonBenet Patricia Ramsey on 25/26th December 1996 would break into the Ramsey household, write a two and a half page ransom note using a notepad and pen found within the house (taking in excess of 22 minutes to compose), rather than write the note beforehand, and then not actually kidnap the young girl, but kill her in the basement, beggars belief.
Analysis of the note and the language contained within it, tends to indicate that it was written by a female.

Mr. Ramsey,
Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We do respect your bussiness but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession. She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter.
You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account. $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence a earlier delivery pick-up of your daughter.
Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for proper burial. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them. Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies. You can try to deceive us but be warned that we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back.
You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities. Don't try to grow a brain John. You are not the only fat cat around so don't think that killing will be difficult. Don't underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours. It is up to you now John!
Victory!
S.B.T.C  Youtube.

This will be an exploration into the premise that the November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter, the Riverside 'Desktop Poem' and the three Bates letters were written by a female, consumed with hatred and jealousy towards her fellow womenfolk, and not by the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, brutally stabbed and beaten in a Riverside alleyway on October 30th 1966. Here is the wording contained within the typed 'Confession' letter:
​
She was young and beautiful. But now she is battered and dead. She is not the first and she will not be the last. I lay awake nights thinking about my next victon. May'be she will be the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven. Maybe she will be the shapely blue eyed brunett that said xxx no when I asked her for a date in high school. But maybe it will not be either. But I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see. So dont make it to easy for me. Keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys. Miss Bates was stupid. She went to the slaghter like a lamb. She did not put up a struggle. But I did. It was a ball. I first pulled the middle wire from the distributor. Then I waited for her in the library and followed her out after about two minutes. The battery must have been about dead by then. I then offered to help. She was then very willing to talk to me. I told her that my car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home. When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die. I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat. She went very willingly. Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands. But only one thing was on my mind. Making her pay for all the brush offs that she had given me during the years prior. She died hard. She squirmed and shook as I chocked her. And her lips twiched. She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up. I plunged the knife into her and it broke. I then finished the job out cutting her throat. I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game. This letter should be published for all to read it. It just might save that girl in the alley. But that's up to you. It will be on your conscience. Not mine. Yes I did make that call to you also. It was just a warning. Beware....I am stalking your girls now.
CC.
Chief of Police Enterprise.

Although not wholly scientific, the wording from the 'Confession' letter was placed into two online tools to determine the gender of its author. Textgain, a web service for predictive text analytics, predicted a female of 25 years or over, with 75% confidence. Hacker Factor, in formal genre, scored 849 for female and 428 for male, and a weak emphasis for European origin.

This analysis is not pushing the idea that the author of the Riverside communications was a female, simply considering it a possibility based on the language used - particularly within the 'Confession' letter and Riverside 'Desktop Poem'. 

The 'Confession' letter author appears to be reveling in the murder and demise of Cheri Jo Bates, a trait not exhibited by the Zodiac Killer, who not only never mentioned his victims by name, but didn't dwell on the nature of the murders themselves. Here, the author is positively wallowing in the details of their achievement, opening with the lines "She was young and beautiful. But now she is battered and dead". In addition to being morally bankrupt, the author is going out of their way to exhibit a spiteful and malicious streak in the tone of the letter. Providing details of the crime to prove their connection to it, which they ultimately failed to do, appears of secondary importance to the author.  

Scouring any piece of text to discover the gender of its author is similar to handwriting comparison - it's subjective and dependent on the observer - and therefore cannot be scientifically validated. This is important to remember when reading the following observations. Would a male individual have used the language contained within the 'Confession' letter? Just like the JonBenet Ramsey ransom note, the author appears to be selling a story - how "the shapely blue eyed brunett said no when I asked her for a date in high school" or maybe they will kill "the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store and walks down the dark alley each evening about seven". Phrases such as "the shapely blue eyed brunett", "the beautiful blond that babysits near the little store", "she went very willingly. Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands", "keep your sisters, daughters and wives off the streets and alleys" and "it just might save that girl in the alley. But that's up to you. It will be on your conscience. Not mine", raises some questions as to the gender of the 'Confession' letter typist, who is adding superfluous detail into the story behind the murder of Cheri Jo Bates. In addition to this, making sure we understood that 'he' was rejected "by the shapely blue eyed brunett" and was "brushed off" by Cheri Jo Bates many times in 'his' pursuit of a heterosexual relationship. 

For those who believe a Riverside connection to the Zodiac Killer, another factor must be considered. Despite the addresses of the Bay Area victims being widely publicized in the newspapers, not once did the Zodiac Killer write to the family members of the victims, such as David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin, to name but three - as typified by the author of the Joseph Bates letter, in what can only be described as a cruel and unnecessary act. The mailing of the Joseph Bates letter, again exemplified the callousness of an individual who seemingly bathed in the misery of the murder itself, something evidently absent from the Zodiac communications.

Are these observations, particularly regarding the 'Confession' letter, suggestive of a female author, or a male of effeminate tendencies or inadequacies who just got "brushed off". Or possibly a complete stranger. Your thoughts on either the 'Confession' letter or the JonBenet Ramsey ransom note would be welcome.      

Without a DNA or fingerprint connection apparently linking Riverside and the Zodiac Killer, many have tried to link the two through his correspondence. Was the Zodiac Killer responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966, and if so, was he a well-read individual with connections to the campus library?

David Oranchak of ZodiacKillerCiphers highlighted the text of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, present in the 408 Cipher, in his article entitled 'Throw the book at him, Part 3'. The section of text is from a book called 'The life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon, lord high chancellor of England: Volume 2': ​Forty-six consecutive letters from this text corresponds with a section of the 408 cipher. Dave Oranchak, the foremost expert on the Zodiac ciphers, commented on this "So, only one piece of text, from a vast collection of eleven billion pieces of text, fit into this chunk of cipher text. A one in eleven billion chance seems to suggest some significance. But don’t be fooled by this. Just because this rare event occurred, doesn’t mean it is anything more than a simple coincidence. If we didn’t already know the real solution to the 408, how do we know that this chunk of old and obscure text isn’t the correct solution?" I wanted to validate or refute whether this was a simple coincidence or not by examining whether the works of Edward, Earl of Clarendon featured anywhere else in Zodiac or Riverside correspondence. One wouldn't envisage many American criminals using the writings of a seventeenth century English statesman to form part of their serial murder exploits, and certainly not without access to a comprehensive library of books.

This is when I noticed another piece of obscure text from Edward, Earl of Clarendon and flew back to the last piece of notable text from the presumed Zodiac Killer on the Riverside desktop - the title of which was "sick of living/unwilling to die." One of Edward Hyde's quotes was “They who are most weary of life, and yet are most unwilling to die, are such who have lived to no purpose, — who have rather breathed than lived.” http://izquotes.com/quote/385232. ​Although not perfect, I couldn't help wondering if the Zodiac Killer was recalling from memory, as he did his paraphrasing of 'The Mikado'. Had he plagiarized "weary of life, unwilling to die" to "sick of living, unwilling to die," and would then later hide another section of Edward Hyde's text in the 408 cipher, as a form of link between the murder in Riverside and the Bay Area.

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon was also an avid user of ciphers as revealed here in literary manuscripts; 
"Naturally a substantial portion of Clarendon's surviving manuscripts comprises his personal correspondence — both letters received by him from numerous correspondents and his own letters, written or signed by him, whether drafts, retained copies, or the letters actually sent. Among many notable examples are his letters written in August 1646 to William, Lord Widdrington, and to Sir John Berkeley, announcing the beginnings of his History of the Rebellion, and the letter he wrote on 12 November 1646, to Sir Edward Nicholas, describing his plan for the work and stating that he had already completed sixty sheets of it. Some of his letters, particularly those dating from the Civil War period, are wholly or partly in cipher or make use of pseudonyms in both salutations and signatures. The codes to sixteen such ciphers used by the Royalists are written out in Bodleian, MS Clarendon 94, and see also British Library,"

However, are there any alternatives to Edward Hyde - someone that possibly connects the 'Confession' letter and Riverside 'Desktop Poem' together, using the title of each communication. I have always believed the Zodiac Killer was driven by some form of warped religion - one that drove him to the confession box after each crime and manifested in the form of letters mailed to the newspapers and police. Using the Riverside library as our primary focus once again, did the works of an early Christian theologian and philosopher influence the writings of Zodiac?
 
'Peter A Fiore concludes that John Milton (an English poet, author of Paradise Lost, polemicist, man of letters, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England) like many humanists, Christian philosophers, Reformers, and theologians of every variety in the early seventeenth century, drew widely from Augustine and that such indebtedness gave a richer and fuller theological dimension to his epic of lost paradise and enhanced the meaning of the poem.' 
link  The Augustine he is referring to is St Augustine of Hippo (13 November 354 - 28 August 430), a Roman African, Christian theologian, whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western Philosophy. His work was translated by many individuals, but here are a few examples:

1] "Now is not the time for asking questions but for confessing to You. I was wretched, just as every mortal soul is wretched who is bound to the friendship of mortals. We are torn to pieces when we lose them, and so become aware of how wretched we were, even before we lost them. This is the way it was with me. I wept bitterly, and found rest only by weeping. I was so wretched that I held that life of wretchedness to be more dear to me than the friend for whom I wept. Even though I wanted to change it, I was more unwilling to lose it than I had been to lose my friend. Actually, I doubt that I would be willing to lose it even for him, as it is said of Orestes and Pylades, if that is true, that they would have gladly died for each other, or both died at the same time, rather than living part from each other. But I had begun to be afflicted with a strange kind of feeling, different from theirs. I cannot explain it, but I was tired of living and yet, I was afraid to die." link.​

2] "I do not know whether I would have been willing to die for him in the way that Orestes and Pylades, if the story is true, were willing to die together for each other. And yet a strange feeling had grown in me, and it was very different from theirs; I was sick and tired of living but I was too afraid to die." link.

​3] "But in me there was an odd kind of feeling, the exact opposite of theirs, for I was at once utterly weary of life and in great fear of death." link.
​
4] "I was at the same time thoroughly tired of living and extremely frightened of dying.”
link.
​
Was this a case of the Zodiac Killer recalling the literary work of another, as he did with Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, but paraphrasing it. However, in this instance, the author chose sick of living/unwilling to die as his title of the 'Desktop Poem'. On its own, this connection could appear a little unconvincing, but the author of the Riverside 'Desktop Poem' may have mailed correspondence to the Riverside Homicide Detail and Riverside Press Enterprise on November 29th 1966, in the form of letters entitled 'The Confession'.

Two weeks after the October 30th 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates, the Riverside Police staged a library reconstruction of the crime on November 13th 1966. The probable murderer then mailed the 'Confession' letters. St Augustine of Hippo wrote the Confessions (in which the above examples of text are contained), an autobiographical piece of work consisting of 13 books. "The Confessions of Saint Augustine in order to distinguish the book from other books with similar titles. Its original title was Confessions in Thirteen Books, and it was composed to be read out loud with each book being a complete unit. Confessions is generally considered one of Augustine's most important texts. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the Middle Ages. Professor Henry Chadwick wrote that Confessions will "always rank among the great masterpieces of western literature." link.  St Augustine of Hippo was born on November 13th, the exact date of the library reconstruction. 

"The City of God Against the Pagans (Latin: De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called The City of God, is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome and is considered one of Augustine's most important works, standing alongside The Confessions, The Enchiridion, On Christian Doctrine and On the Trinity. As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, The City of God is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many profound questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin. Shortly before Augustine's death, the Vandals, a Germanic tribe that had converted to Arianism, invaded Roman Africa. The Vandals besieged Hippo in the spring of 430, when Augustine entered his final illness. According to Possidius, one of the few miracles attributed to Augustine, the healing of an ill man, took place during the siege. According to Possidius, Augustine spent his final days in prayer and repentance, requesting that the penitential Psalms of David be hung on his walls so that he could read them. He directed that the library of the church in Hippo and all the books therein should be carefully preserved. He died on 28 August 430. Shortly after his death, the Vandals lifted the siege of Hippo, but they returned not long thereafter and burned the city. They destroyed all of it but Augustine's cathedral and library, which they left untouched."  Wikipedia.

​Was the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates somehow connected to the Riverside library, a well-read individual, who subtly introduced sections of text from St Augustine of Hippo into the titles of both the 'Riverside Desktop Poem' and 'The Confession' letter in order to give himself a feeling of superiority over the police and newspapers, as he would ultimately do several years later?

"SICK OF LIVING, UNWILLING TO DIE" 

In light of the possible capture of the Golden State Killer on April 24th 2018, there has been renewed excitement in recent weeks concerning the possible DNA left by the Zodiac Killer when he mailed his many correspondences. Other sources that may have harbored DNA have been mentioned, such as the car door, bottle and Zodiac bindings at Lake Berryessa, the gloves from Presidio Heights, along with potential blood from the killer deposited on the clothing of Cheri Jo Bates at Riverside on October 30th 1966. This may or may not be a Zodiac crime, but it is still an avenue that must be pursued.
 
Michael Cole, who runs the 'Zodiac Revisited' website, details the mitochondrial DNA findings of 1999, obtained by Michael Morford and pertaining to the case of Cheri Jo Bates. But the hope is now, that a full DNA profile can be obtained and cross checked using genealogy websites and familial DNA linkage. Separating any blood from the killer on Cheri Jo Bates clothing by locating Y-markers has always presented a challenge to forensic investigators in a mixed sample, however, there is a possibility that we may, or could have had the blood of the killer at Riverside from somewhere other than the clothing of Cheri Jo Bates. "The Y chromosome is currently by far the most popular marker in genetic genealogy that combines genetic data and family history. This popularity is based on its haploid character and its close association with the patrilineage and paternal inherited surname." PubMed.

Riverside Police were meticulous in their evidence gathering, performing a library reconstruction of events the night of the murder and taking fingerprints and hair samples from attendees of the library on Sunday October 30th 1966. They retrieved a hair sample from a blood clot at the base of Cheri Jo Bates' right thumb, recovered a cigarette butt from the alleyway floor and took fingernail scrapings from the victim. They also clearly considered the possibility that the killer of Cheri Jo Bates may have cut himself during the attack with a less than sturdy knife, described by Captain Cross as a pocket knife with a "3-inch blade or less". Even the author of the 'Confession' letter on November 29th 1966 (whether the killer or not) claimed that the knife broke towards the end of the attack. Was this the pivotal moment that ended the callous attack on the defenseless young woman?

The 'Inside Detective' magazine revealed one crucial piece of evidence from the Riverside alleyway crime scene. It stated "The driveway adjacent to 3680 Terracina Street was so churned up it looked like a tractor had been over the ground. The girl, who was very athletic, put up a terrific struggle. At the murder scene, drops of blood leading from the body to Terracina Street indicated to the detectives, that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying". Using an old overhead view of the campus in 1966 (not shown here) and the fact she was positioned between the two vacant properties of 3680 and 3692 Terracina Drive, it is possible to calculate how far Cheri Jo Bates' body lay up the alleyway from Terracina Drive. Below I have placed all the relevant distances.     

Cheri Jo Bates was lying approximately 100 feet southwest of Terracina Drive, shown in relation to the football field and scoreboard in the distance. That is an extensive blood trail leading away from the body, if the interpretation of the police statement is correct. ​The 'Confession' letter stated "When we were away from the library walking, I said it was about time. She asked me "about time for what". I said it was about time for her to die. I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat. She went very willingly". If the attack began in the vicinity of where her body was discovered, we are left with two possibilities: The blood trail to Terracina Drive was the victim's blood, dripping from the killer, or the killer's blood dripping from a cut hand. The blood trail, if significant enough to be noticed by detectives and was continuous to the sidewalk of Terracina Drive, then it could be argued to be blood secreted from a continuously bleeding hand, as opposed to a killer having blood on his person (absorbed by his clothing) or a small knife. Presumably, the killer would have pocketed the knife in advance of reaching the street. This must have been considered by investigators who visited the crime scene. But was this blood gathered from the alleyway floor and stored for 'future use?"

Cheri Jo Bates' blood type detailed at autopsy is rare in the USA population. It was AB RhD positive, which accounts for only 3.4% of the American population. Even with the limited forensic capabilities in 1966, this testing was a simple affair, and could have determined whether the blood trail extending toward Terracina Drive was that of the killer's or from the victim.
The pattern or tail of the blood drops could certainly have determined the direction of the killer within the alleyway. Since detectives concluded that the "drops of blood leading from the body to Terracina Street indicated to the detectives, that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying", then it remains a possibility that the killer injured himself during the attack, allowing the trail of blood to extend the full 100 feet in distance, as opposed to the limited blood secretion possible from a small pocket knife or clothing. If the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates cut himself when he delivered the stab wound to the young woman's back during the latter part of the attack, there may be limited blood transfer to her clothing, however, there may be have been far more present in the vicinity of the crime scene, during his 100 foot journey to exit the alleyway. By odds alone, it is unlikely the killer had an AB RhD positive blood type, making it easy to determine the origin of the blood on the alleyway floor, and whether it was from Cheri Jo Bates or even the Zodiac Killer himself. 

Here we will take one final look at the October 30th 1966 Cheri Jo Bates murder in Riverside, utilizing the 3D graphics of Google maps to give an overview of the crime scene that evening or night. Cheri Jo Bates lime green Volkswagen Beetle was discovered on October 31st 1966 parked 30 yards past the library entrance, and 75 yards east of the ill-fated alleyway. Whether it remained in this position from the moment she arrived at the library just before opening time, until being discovered by investigators the following day, is open to question. Below is a representation of the Volkswagen Beetle, library annex, the alleyway (drawn into its approximate position), and the movements of Cheri Jo Bates (1 to 5) from the perspective of the November 29th 'Confession' letter.        

A Mexican-American student noticed Cheri Jo Bates close to opening time and shortly after: who stated "he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen" in her blue spiral school notebook". The boy told us he was outside about 5:30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6, and it was then he saw the girl". Other students who were acquainted with Cheri Jo said they were in the library between 6:30 pm and 6:40 pm, and did not see the girl during that time.

Walter Siebert stated that "he and a few friends were in the library from 7:15 pm until 9, but did not see Miss Bates, whom they all knew. They said they saw four men dressed in work clothes sitting on a fence across from the spot where Miss Bates' car was found, but they did not know them".
​
If we believe the 'Confession' letter and tie it alongside these statements, a picture unravels of a woman who likely discharged her books and left the library within a very short time - leaving prior to 6:30 pm. However, according to the author of the 'Confession' letter, he would have effectively disabled her vehicle extremely close to the library entrance sometime between 6:00 pm and when she exited the library. She would then have discovered her disabled Volkswagen and taken up the offer of assistance by this unknown person, walking back past the library entrance, completely dismissing the option of assistance from anybody inside the library, including making a phone call, and traveling into a dark alleyway (despite being afraid of the dark), while simultaneously leaving her car keys in the ignition, windows rolled down and car doors unlocked. Not withstanding the fact, a female eyewitness saw no body in the alleyway circa 9:30 pm, and screams were heard from that location by two earwitnesses around 10:30 pm. One could argue, that if these observations make no sense, then the story depicted by the 'Confession' letter is fiction regarding the timeline it suggests.       

There is no guarantee that the Volkswagen Beetle remained in this position upwards of 12 hours until its discovery on the morning of the 31st. Since detectives seemingly operated upon the assumption it did, one could infer that eyewitnesses leaving the library on the evening and night of the murder, saw the Volkswagen Beetle in exactly the same position it was ultimately discovered on the Monday. If this were the case, and with screams heard around 10:30 pm - then other than abduction - she must have left willingly on foot after departing the library to a secondary destination, either on her own or with an unknown person or party. The problems began four hours later just before the screams were heard.

The 'Confession' letter gives the impression of a good Samaritan "offering to help" when Cheri Jo Bates failed to start her vehicle, and she blissfully wandered off with him into a dark alleyway. The added suggestion of "brush offs" in the letter may have wanted to infer that the killer and victim were known to one another and hence her willingness to walk alongside him. Yet this seems too obvious a conclusion to be drawn, focusing the investigation inward to friends and relations, and thereby would not have been wholly relied upon as the truth by investigators - who could easily have formed an opposite stance.
 
But if Cheri Jo Bates willingly left the library with somebody she knew or had arranged to meet shortly after opening time, and had returned to her vehicle circa 10:30 pm with this person, then it is conceivable the confrontation or disagreement began by her vehicle, and the disabling of her vehicle was integral to it. The condition of her vehicle the following morning may suggest she was preparing to leave for home that night when things took a turn. The sabotaging of her distributor not distinct and separate to her discovering her disabled vehicle, but part of one continuous sequence. Left with little option but to seek help, she headed off to ring for assistance, leaving her vehicle in a condition she otherwise would never have done. She is dragged or forced into the alleyway and the rest is history. 

The 'Inside Detective' magazine stated "Two young girls who said they knew Cheri Jo, gave a taped interview to a crew from a Los Angeles television station. The girls in the interview, said that Cheri Jo had told them Sunday that she was "going to the library to meet her boyfriend. However, Sgt Gren said that while Cheri Jo had met her boyfriend in San Francisco the weekend prior to her murder, the boy was still in the Bay Area at the time of her death. The statements of the two girls were based on hearsay and not on fact Captain Cross told newsmen". However, were the two young girls referring to Dennis Highland or somebody else. If Cheri Jo Bates had made alternative plans to meet somebody that evening, could this be our murderer? He may certainly have been known to the young girl and more crucially to the friends of Cheri Jo Bates.   

Many have toyed with the idea of a Zodiac Killer in Riverside, California, responsible for the murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 or at the very least the author of the Confession and Bates letters. There are tantalizing threads in regards to the three Bates letters allying with his 'trinity' of communications mailed to the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner on July 31st 1969, just over two years later. The double postage was evident, and the threat of "more victims" was apparent in both. The April 30th 1967 Bates letters stated "Bates had to die, there will be more". The Vallejo Times-Herald communication carried a similar threat: "I will cruse around and pick of all stray people or coupples that are alone then move on to kill some more untill I have killed over a dozen people". It is also pointed out that the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the Bates letters because he signed off two of the letters with a Z-like alphabetical character - the Z representing Zodiac. The following will cast some doubt on this supposition and hopefully give us the exact date the Zodiac Killer first thought up his pseudonym Zodiac. In other words, the pseudonym Zodiac didn't exist for this individual in 1967 and therefore the alphabetical Z wasn't representative of Zodiac, or the precursor to it.​ 

On the right is an excerpt from the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle dated August 3rd 1969. The Vallejo Police Chief Jack E. Stiltz "urged the writer yesterday to send more letters with more facts to prove his connections with the crimes". The Bay Area murderer duly obliged with the 'Debut of Zodiac' letter, received by the San Francisco Examiner on August 4th 1969. It was called the "Debut" letter for good reason - it was the day the Bay Area murderer revealed his pseudonym to the world, opening with the now infamous line "This is the Zodiac speaking". But if Chief Jack E. Stiltz had not requested more details, it is extremely unlikely this correspondence would have been mailed at all. We would have had to wait over two months until the October 13th 1969 Paul Stine letter for Zodiac to introduce his pseudonym into the public domain, if ever at all. 

The 'Debut of Zodiac' letter only existed because of Chief Jack E. Stiltz - and this communication is the only reason our knowledge of the killer as Zodiac existed at this point in time. The choice of the pseudonym being revealed in this letter was not a choice made by the killer, because he wouldn't have written it, if not pressed into action by reading this newspaper column. In fact, the Zodiac Killer may never have existed under this name, if it wasn't for this publication by the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle on August 3rd 1969. There is further evidence that the American public played a key role in igniting the killer's choice of pseudonym.

If the Z on the Bates letters really stood for Zodiac, then the murderer of Cheri Jo Bates, David Faraday, Betty Lou Jensen and Darlene Ferrin had almost three years to create an appropriate pseudonym before the July 31st 1969 'trinity' of communications proclaiming his collection of slaves for the afterlife. He had six and a half months from the December 20th 1968 double murder until the attack at Blue Rock Springs Park. He had 27 days from the July 4th 1969 attack until the mailing of the July 31st 1969 'trinity.'.  This was his arrival to the world, yet he didn't sign off any of these letters with 'Zodiac' or even a 'Z'.

If he was surreptitiously operating under the name of Zodiac at this point, he clearly didn't give this impression when he opened up two of his communications with the rather unoriginal opening line of "I am the killer of the 2 teen-agers last Christmass at Lake Herman and the Girl last 4th of July" to the Vallejo Times-Herald and San Francisco Examiner. The San Francisco Chronicle was equally devoid of any pseudonym or initial, beginning with "This is the murderer of the 2 teenagers last Christmass at Lake Herman + the girl on the 4th of July near the golf course in Vallejo".  The reason behind this, being that he hadn't formulated the pseudonym Zodiac at this juncture. The prompt was to come just three days later on Sunday August 3rd 1969- the day the 'Zodiac Killer' was born in the mind of the killer. 

The San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle opened with the lines "A self-accused killer failed to keep a threat of mass murder here, but there was no slackening of tension or mystery caused by the warning. The police department telephone system was clogged at times by anxious callers asking if the "cipher killer" had been caught". The killer likely read this publication and was probably dismayed at the pseudonym of "cipher killer" attributed to him. He sat back in his armchair and was likely sparked into action to create his own pseudonym. He thumbed through the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle of August 3rd 1969 during the day, until he arrived at the Zodiac horoscope page, and a light went on. This was the day the 'Zodiac Killer' was born.    

We will take a look at the 'Confession' letter - and with the consideration of one murderer in mind - examine its contents in relation to the autopsy findings by pathologist Rene Modglin, in respect to the brutal murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966. This may go someway to determining whether or not the 'Confession' letter was authored by the killer. 

On the right is a representation of the wound pattern inflicted upon Cheri Jo Bates. One can see that all the lacerations noted in the post-mortem findings were effectively delivered by the killer from the breasts upwards, with the ferocity of the attack centered around the neck and face (the hands and arms raised to protect these vital areas). Some may say, that with six injuries to the face and seven lacerations to the neck, the killer's intention was to wipe away the identity of the pretty young student in a distinctly personal attack, but I will leave that to the observer to consider.

The lacerations and their directions have a story to tell - one that doesn't indicate an overhand knife attack from the front in a downwards motion or an underhand grip from the front in a straight, or upwards motion - an argument  strengthened somewhat by the evident lack of injuries to the area of the abdomen. The 'Confession' letter stated "I said it was about time for her to die. I grabbed her round the neck with my hand over her mouth and my other hand with a small knife at her throat". The killer was effectively gaining control from the beginning of the attack rather than performing an uncontrolled full frontal assault, stabbing wildly. If we base this analysis on one assailant as the letter implies, it is reasonable to deduce the assailant had grabbed Cheri Jo Bates around the neck and mouth with his left arm in a form of choke-hold.

Cheri Jo Bates' autopsy findings showed numerous petechiae in the forehead (broken capillary blood vessels). Petechiae are commonly present in the eyes or eyelids as a result of manual compression of the neck area, but not always, and can also be present on the face, especially the forehead. The manual force compressing the neck increases the vascular pressure causing the blood vessels to rupture. The assailant can now use his right hand to stab and slash the young girl, in effect, reaching over her right shoulder and directing the knife back towards himself (possibly an underhand grip), causing the three injuries to her breast region and several to her face. Clearly, at this point, Cheri Jo Bates is using her hands and arms in a defensive motion to protect her upper torso and face (eleven injuries noted to her hands and fingers, including lacerations and abrasions), as noted in the diagram. The small knife is being deflected as it's delivered, resulting in lacerations running laterally across her body. There must have been a violent struggle at this point with Cheri Jo Bates trying desperately to secure her release, and the attacker resisting her escape, resulting in the alleyway floor being disturbed by their footwear as described in the 'Inside Detective' magazine by law enforcement: "The driveway adjacent to 3680 Terracina Street was so churned up it looked like a tractor had been over the ground. The girl, who was very athletic, put up a terrific struggle".     

The 'Confession' letter continued: "Her breast felt very warm and firm under my hands, but only one thing was on my mind. Making her pay for all the brush off's that she had given me during the years prior. She died hard. She squirmed and shook as I choked her, and her lips twitched". The squirming being her attempt to break free from his clutches. The sheer terror and exertion, coupled with the compression applied to her neck, resulted in the petechial hemorrhaging to her forehead. It may have been at this point (or quite possibly later) that the assailant, in an attempt to gain control, shifted his grip from around her neck and started to slash (or stab) her throat.

One must also note the correlation between the wounds inflicted to her breasts, his reference in the letter to "her breast felt very warm and firm" and his promise to "cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". In addition, if her breast felt very warm, was this indicative of an assailant who was not wearing gloves and who had earlier deposited fingerprints on her lime green Volkswagen Beetle. The 'Confession' letter then stated: "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". If this were true, then clearly, he cannot kick her in the head standing upright behind her, while she is upright too. Bearing in mind the position she was found in the alleyway the following day - face down - she may likely have been thrust forward at this point, onto the alleyway floor, thus causing abrasions to her hands (noted at autopsy). Free from the choke-hold she is able to let out a scream, which resulted in the assailant kicking her in the face. Whether this action ever took place is debatable - but here are three excerpts from the autopsy to consider: [1] "A 2 cm oblique ragged edge gaping laceration of the upper lip on the left side that angles laterally from above and extends completely through the thickness of the lip. The teeth behind are not loose or broken". [2] "A dark blue-gray, slightly swollen discoloration of mainly the mucocutaneous portions of the upper and lower lips on the right side involving a 2 cm greatest diameter". [3] "An area of dark blue-gray discoloration of the skin of the left cheek angling from above in front slightly downward and posteriorly. The overall length is 3 cm".

None of the injuries thus far, despite being extensive, are necessarily terminal at this juncture. With Cheri Jo Bates having been forced, face-down into the alleyway floor, the 'Confession' letter kicks in again: "I plunged the knife into her and it broke". The assailant likely atop and astride the young woman, plunges the knife into her left upper back (shown in blue in the diagram above). The back region being very firm, coupled with an extensive attack using a small pocket knife, may well have caused the hinge mechanism to fail, resulting in the blade closing and quite possibly injuring the hand or fingers of the assailant. The History Channel documentary 'The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer' alluded to the fact the killer's blood may have dripped onto the attire of Cheri Jo Bates. This is a very real possibility and likely resulted in the end of the attack on the young woman - but for the final coup de grace: "I finished the job by cutting her throat".

The cause of death listed in the autopsy was laceration of the right carotid artery. There was in fact extensive marking to the neck, all of which may have played a factor. The full description in the report was as follows: "The anterior neck skin extensively and irregularly lacerated with marked gaping. A deep cut is in the thyroid cartilage on both sides and the right common carotid is completely transected as well as the right superficial jugular vein". ​If this cut (shown on the right) originated on the left side of the thyroid cartilage near the midline and extended in one motion to the right side of the neck, this would be indicative of a right-handed assailant kneeling above Cheri Jo Bates (who is lying face down) and drawing the blade from left to right. This ultimately, is where her valiant fight for life abruptly ended.

However, she could before this happened, have reached back with her right hand and grabbed the hair of her attacker. The autopsy stated "Considerable partially dried blood over the hand and especially about the fingers and under the unpainted moderately long but not carefully manicured fingernails".  When Cheri Jo Bates grabbed her assailant's hair, the extensive blood on her dominant hand trapped the hair at the base of her right thumb, resulting in crucial evidence that would later be used to extract mitochondrial DNA from her murderer.  
 
There is one more important thing to consider, other than finding foreign DNA on the clothes of Cheri Jo Bates - and that is blood tying. In the 'Inside Detective' magazine it stated "At the murder scene, drops of blood leading from the body to Terracina Street indicated to the detectives, that the murderer had walked back to the street following the slaying".
This may have been the blood of the victim dripping from the knife or assailant. But, there surely must have been consideration from investigators that this may have been blood from the murderer's cut right hand, which is common during attacks with bladed instruments. This blood was either collected and stored, or completely disregarded as originating from the victim, which could have been a big mistake.

Cheri Jo Bates' blood type detailed at autopsy is rare in the USA population. It was AB RhD positive, which accounts for only 3.4% of the American population. Even with the limited forensic capabilities in 1966, this testing was a simple affair, and could have determined whether the blood trail extending towards Terracina Drive was that of the killer's, and subsequently stored appropriately for future testing. Different samples could also have been retrieved from the clothing of Cheri Jo Bates and stored separately. What are the chances the killer also possessed this very rare blood group? Whether or not this trail of blood was tested and stored in controlled conditions, and ruled out, we may never know. But if it wasn't, then this story could possibly have had a very different ending from the one it's likely to have.

Inspired by the first episode of the Zodiac Killer docudrama, which aired on November 14th 2017, we will take a completely fresh look at the Cheri Jo Bates murder using only newspaper and magazine articles as our guide, and completely disregard anything contained in the material provided by Robert Graysmith. It will also disregard any preconceptions of the crime formulated by investigators and the 'Confession' letter sent on November 29th 1966, approximately one month after the brutal murder.

​The 'Confession' letter author likely played into the suppositions of investigators, who almost immediately ran with the narrative that Cheri Jo Bates had her Volkswagen Beetle tampered with while she was in the library, despite the fact little supports this conclusion. Let us start in and around the library annex just before opening time.

The 'Inside Detective' magazine recalled that a Mexican-American student noticed Cheri Jo Bates close to opening time and shortly after - who stated 'he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen" in her blue spiral school notebook." The boy told us he was outside about 5:30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6, and it was then he saw the girl.' It clearly states he had 'noticed her in the library the night in question' - therefore presumably after 6:00 pm. 

The 'Inside Detective' Magazine also stated "The participants in the reenactment at the detectives' request, wore the same clothing and sat in the same seats that they had occupied the Sunday night of the murder. They were also asked to park their cars in the same places they had on the night of October 30. It had been determined that Cheri Jo (or a girl resembling her and in similar clothes) had arrived at the library about 5:40 pm and waited for about 20 minutes for the doors to be opened. The girl apparently entered the library as soon as the doors were opened at 6.00 pm, and checked out the books she had come for".

Taking this completely at face value, and the fact her library books were discovered on the passenger side seat of her vehicle, we will assume she entered the library at opening time and discharged her reading material. Sergeant Gren stated "The girl was definitely in the library as she checked out the books. She must have been contacted by the murderer as soon as she received her books". The key words here, are she "checked out her books". The article continued "However, other students who were acquainted with Cheri Jo said they were in the library between 6:30 and 6:40 pm- and did not see the girl during that time." Neither did Walter Siebert, who stated that "he and a few friends were in the library from 7:15 pm until 9, but did not see Miss Bates, whom they all knew. They said they saw four men dressed in work clothes sitting on a fence across from the spot where Miss Bates' car was found, but they did not know them".
 
It is therefore extremely likely Cheri Jo Bates entered the library at 6:00 pm and left before 6:30 pm, having checked out her books. The four men in work clothes are crucial. They stated to investigators that "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night". But what time and where? It is reasonable to assume it may have been slightly before 5:30 pm, since the Mexican-American student and the female eyewitness saw Cheri Jo Bates at 5:30 pm, 5:40 pm and the time she entered the library at 6:00 pm.

​The Riverside City College was undergoing renovation at the time, so these four men may have been passing the area of the college campus around this time - probably working within the college campus on a Sunday, at a time when certain areas were free from student activity. This may be a reasonable supposition, because they were still in the vicinity when Walter Siebert arrived at 7:15 pm, at which time they were sitting on a fence on the north side of Terracina Drive. They may have been taking a break. Walter Siebert and friends never laid eyes on Cheri Jo Bates that evening, nor did they, or any other person familiar with the young girl, spot her striking lime green Volkswagen Beetle (or at the very least was it wasn't reported), despite the fact it was supposedly parked only 30 yards or 90 feet east of the library entrance. Walter Siebert and friends said "they saw four men dressed in work clothes sitting on a fence across from the spot where Miss Bates' car was found, but they did not know them". Walter Siebert only said the four men were located across from the position the vehicle "was found", not from the position of the vehicle that evening. Indicating they never saw her vehicle on the evening of October 30th 1966. In fact, not one of the attendees to the library that evening or night stated they spotted Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle in the position it was found. "They were also asked to park their cars in the same places they had on the night of October 30", yet apparently not one parked near the lime green Volkswagen Beetle, or noted its position on Terracina Drive.​  

Is it possible they didn't notice her vehicle because it wasn't there? Cheri Jo Bates parked her vehicle up that evening, and was noticed by the four men (but not necessarily exactly 30 yards east of the library), who said "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night". She then entered the library, "checked out her books," left before 6:30 pm and possibly drove away, bucking the supposition of detectives, who assumed the perpetrator disabled her vehicle while she was in the library, and wrongly concluded her vehicle remained idle from the moment she parked up, to the following morning when her vehicle was ultimately discovered. 

A perpetrator disabling her vehicle, would had to have done so approximately 90 feet from the library entrance, risking being spotted and then killed her within minutes, despite the fact the young woman's body would have lain in the alleyway for around 4 hours that evening, without anybody walking down the alleyway, and completely negating the screams being heard around 10:30 pm by at least two earwitnesses. It makes little sense, and therefore is highly unlikely.

This is why the 'Confession' letter is highly suspect. It is simply parroting what investigators immediately concluded after discovering the disabled Volkswagen Beetle, and what was widely reported in the newspapers in the aftermath of the murder. The 'Confession' letter revealed no details only privy to the murderer - and even if its author was the killer of Cheri Jo Bates, he was only too happy to concur with the conclusions of the police investigation, especially if it steered the investigators away from what really happened on October 30th 1966, and even more importantly, centered the focus around the library annex and college campus. The 'Confession' letter should have been called the 'Confirmation' letter, as it effectively confirmed to police what they already believed, whereas the truth likely lay elsewhere. 

The 'Inside Detective' magazine also stated 'Two young girls who said they knew Cheri Jo, gave a taped interview to a crew from a Los Angeles television station. The girls in the interview, said that Cheri Jo had told them Sunday that she was "going to the library to meet her boyfriend." However, Sgt Gren said that while Cheri Jo had met her boyfriend in San Francisco the weekend prior to her murder, the boy was still in the Bay Area at the time of her death. The statements of the two girls were based on hearsay and not on fact Captain Cross told newsmen". It is clear this statement was prematurely dismissed by police, because according to the two girls, Cheri Jo Bates was supposedly "going to the library to meet her boyfriend". This cannot be misinterpreted as going to San Francisco to meet her boyfriend Dennis Highland, unless she was meeting him at a library in San Francisco. 
  
This is from Zodiackiller.com: "The relationship between Barnett and Cheri soured after Cheri returned from San Francisco, where she had visited her steady boyfriend. Cheri informed Barnett that she had accepted this boyfriend's wedding proposal and that she and Barnett could no longer date. (This conversation with Barnett occurred less than a week before her murder)". It is clear that the relationships of Cheri Jo Bates were less than clear cut, so it is by no means out of the question that Cheri Jo Bates may have made alternative plans that Sunday evening, once her friend Stephanie Guttmann declined her offer at 3:45 pm that day, to accompany her to the library. Cheri Jo Bates may have originally planned to meet a "boyfriend" after the library closed that evening, but her plans could have changed when Stephanie decided not to go to the library.     

Cheri Jo Bates was spotted near her vehicle by the four workmen just before 5:30 pm. We don't know where exactly she parked. The men may simply have walked past her somewhere near the college, and noticed her alongside the vehicle. It may have been in the near area it was eventually found. This would make sense, because investigators presumably asked the four men where they spotted Cheri Jo Bates and her vehicle, and it likely near concurred with the position of the vehicle the following morning, thereby not raising any red flags.

​Later, Walter Siebert and friends noticed the same four men sitting on a fence, likely taking a break, around 7:15 pm, but they didn't notice Cheri Jo Bates or her vehicle. Therefore, it is unlikely the four men  spotted Cheri Jo Bates alongside her vehicle at 7:15 pm, because if they had, Walter Siebert and friends would likely have noticed her and the Volkswagen Beetle too, which they didn't. Additionally, if investigators tied the two stories together, and assumed the four men noticed Cheri Jo Bates by her vehicle at 7:15 pm, then she would have supposedly been leaving the library. Had she been arriving at the library, then Walter Siebert and friends would have seen her in the library between 7:15 pm and 9:00 pm. But she couldn't have been leaving the library either, because Cheri Jo Bates had apparently entered at opening time and wasn't even spotted in the library between 6:30 pm and 6:40 pm, 

If Cheri Jo Bates checked out her books prior to 6:30 pm, why would she still be next to her vehicle at 7:15 pm. Had it been tampered with while in the library, she could have simply sought assistance inside the library or from her arriving friends. The whole scenario doesn't stack up. The four men must have spotted Cheri Jo Bates on her arrival to the library just before 5:30 pm and relayed this to police, that "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night".  At 7:15 pm, when the four men were spotted by Walter Siebert, Cheri Jo Bates and her vehicle were gone. Investigators likely assumed Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle remained throughout, as they had done from the very beginning, and the vehicle simply went unnoticed by Walter Siebert and company.

​Originally her plans were to visit the library to study with Stephanie Guttmann, but possibly her plans changed and she decided to meet with this "boyfriend". The eventual murder had all the hallmarks of a spurned admirer and 'crime of passion'.
The problem we have, is why would Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle have left the library and returned to effectively the same position some 4 hours later. Had she arranged to meet the 'mystery man' outside the library just after checking her books out, gone to a secondary location, before returning her 'passenger' where she picked him up. If so, did he live nearby and was familiar with the college campus, including the two empty houses along the alleyway. The fact that both windows were rolled down, with the keys in the ignition and doors unlocked, may suggest something erupted on their arrival back at the library. ​If he is carrying her books for her, the 'mystery man' may have exited the vehicle, placed the books on the seat, closed the right door, inadvertently leaving it slightly ajar, and then proceeded to disable her vehicle in the heat of the moment to prevent her leaving. This may explain her eagerness to vacate the vehicle and seek help. She is dragged into the alleyway, and the attack begins circa 10:30 pm. The author of the 'Confession' letter, if the killer, knew that by playing into the police narrative of the crime, the investigation would remain squarely around the college campus and make his confession completely worthwhile.