We have just passed the 52nd anniversary of the brutal slaying of Robert George Domingos and Linda Faye Edwards on a remote Santa Barbara beach 22 miles southeast of Lompoc, CA. One man, John Averitt, has fought diligently to keep the case in the public eye, hoping that one day justice will be served on the killer, or will at the very least be identified and bring some form of closure to all that knew the young couple.
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It is a tragic case of two young sweethearts who had set off around noon to a remote beach on June 4th 1963 for a spot of sunbathing, yet it was to have devastating consequences. The following day the bodies of Domingos and Edwards were discovered by Highway Patrolman Paul Schultz in shack close to the beach stacked on top of one another. Within the shack police found several lengths of pre-cut cord, several boxes of Winchester Western Super X long rifle ammunition and strewn matches, along with scorch marks to the shack, indicating there may have been an attempt to set fire to the shack once the bodies had been placed there.

From the crime scene evidence it was believed the killer may have attempted to bind the couple, probably forcing Linda Edwards to restrain Robert Domingos. However, as the killer moved in to tie Linda, it was thought Robert freed himself and after a brief struggle with the killer the young couple made a break for freedom, before being fired upon and struck several times in the back. In total the killer fired off 20 rounds, 19 of which found their target. It is thought the killer reloaded at least once.

It has been ascertained that once the couple had been felled by the original onslaught, the killer reloaded his weapon and stood over the victims before he fired off the remaining rounds at point blank range. Robert was struck 11 times and Linda 8 times. The killer was particularly merciless. Their bodies were then dragged at least 30 feet (10 yards) to the position they were found inside the shack. Drag injuries to the bodies suggested Robert Domingos was dragged face down and placed in the shack first, before Linda was dragged face up and positioned on top of Robert. The killer then cut the bathing suit of Linda Edwards exposing her breasts, although it is documented that no sexual interference took place. The modus operandi of this crime has inevitably drew parallels to the Zodiac Killer's Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and murder of Cecelia Shepard just over six years later on September 27th 1969. 

The most unusual aspect of this crime is the killer's need to have hauled each victim up an incline a distance of 30 feet. In other words, the perpetrator dragged both bodies a minimum of 60 feet (20 yards) in total through rough terrain. This is certainly not an easy task by any means, suggesting the killer was physically in good shape, or there was more than one assailant. Why not just leave the scene of the crime immediately? If the purpose of dragging the couple to the shack was to imply concealment, then why set fire to the shack and effectively draw attention to the location. The positioning of the bodies in the shack with Linda Edwards breasts exposed seemed designed to illicit a reaction when they were eventually discovered, however, the attempted destruction of the shack by fire effectively nullifies this premise. If the perpetrator/s were attempting to destroy evidence by burning down the shack, then it ultimately failed - so why did they just leave the boxes of ammunition and rope behind? Why would a killer carry boxes of ammunition to commit a crime, when a couple of clips would have sufficed (as testified to by the rounds fired), or was the responsible already at this location when Robert and Linda arrived? There are many unusual aspects of this crime that take some explaining.  

But what is clear, is that the shack was frequented by railroad hobos and a nomadic drifter called George Edward Gill (49 at the time of the murders), who constructed the lean-to shack. The shack was also not particularly visible from the area where the couple had been shot.

The couple had accessed the beach area by parking in the median of the northbound and southbound routes of Highway 101, which would have accommodated a few cars back in 1963. They would then have traversed the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, before negotiating the decline to the beach, a journey time of approximately 6-10 minutes (approximately 600 feet). It is notable that access to this remote beach area would not have been widely known to a stranger unfamiliar to the area, let alone the shack, suggesting our killer or killers may have had previous knowledge of this location. 

Would Linda and Robert, seeking privacy have entered the beach location with an unfamiliar car already parked in the median or other persons in the area? Was their 1957 Pontiac the only car in the median when they arrived? Did the killer arrive later, or were they trailed from Lompoc? The burning of the shack makes little sense from the perspective of the killer wanting a covert exit from the crime scene, unless performed primarily for evidence destruction. Additionally, there is nothing to suggest the attempt to burn down the shack was done by the killer immediately after the murders. The scorch marks evident on the shack may have been done at a previous time by children, transients or any visitor to the area, and subsequently assimilated into the crime scene of July 4th 1963. 

In the Los Angeles Letter mailed by the Zodiac Killer on March 13th 1971, he stated "This is the Zodiac speaking. Like I have allways said, I am crack proof. If the Blue Meannies are evere going to catch me, they had best get off their fat asses + do something. Because the longer they fiddle + fart around, the more slaves I will collect for my after life. 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 reason I'm writing to the Times is this, They don't bury me on the back pages like some of the others." 

​It was a sunny afternoon when the killer approached the couple from above, armed with what was thought to be a .22 caliber long rifle, a weapon ideal for target shooting with minimum recoil. The assailant had ready prepared cut lengths of binding rope, characteristics all too familiar in the Lake Berryessa attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard six years later, on September 27th 1969, but the apparel the killer wore on this occasion unfortunately may never be known.
He apparently coerced Linda Edwards to tie the hands of Robert Domingos, but after freeing himself and a possible brief altercation with the assailant, the young couple ran for their lives. Unfortunately it was a brief bid for freedom, as they were cut down by a succession of bullets. The killer then approached the position they fell and finished his cold blooded execution of the defenseless couple.
For reasons known only to the killer, he then proceeded to drag the bodies to a nearby shack, where he placed Linda's body on top of Robert's, cutting open her bathing suit with a knife, before attempting to set fire to a tarpaulin covering on the door of the shack, testified by scorch marks and strewn matches on the floor. Evidence in this crime was carelessly left at the scene, that included spent and unspent ammunition and the cut lengths of rope, by all accounts an excess required for the binding of two victims. This may have been the case during the Lake Berryessa Attack, if we believe that the unidentified mystery man that stood viewing the three girls sunbathing prior to the attack on Cecilia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell, was indeed the Zodiac Killer and had no predetermined number of victims in mind.
Interesting though was the unspent ammunition - 22 Caliber Western Super X long rifle.​

​The murders of Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday with a .22 caliber weapon, exalted by the Zodiac Killer in the San Francisco Chronicle letter on July 31st 1969, declared the use of Western Super X in his first confirmed contact with authorities. The unused ammunition boxes in the Domingos/Edwards murders had a lot number, sold locally, although not exclusively at the nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base, approximately 10 miles north of Lompoc, California, but crucially they were devoid of price tags, suggesting that they were possibly from a larger consignment. This would again raise the idea that the murderer at Lake Berryessa (Wing Walkers) and in this case, may have had a military connection.
The murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards have not widely been accepted as Zodiac Killer victims, probably due to the time period and location, however, many parallels exist between this case and the Zodiac Killer attack at Lake Berryessa. They were a lone couple on a remote beach, approached from above with a gun, the killer had prepared lengths of rope, he was in possession of a knife, robbery and a sexual motive was not the overriding factor, and a military connection was a real possibility. The murders of John Franklin Hood (24) and Sandra Garcia (20) on Saturday 21st February 1970, approximately 28 miles south, near Santa Barbara Cemetery also showed similar hallmarks to the above cases.
The Zodiac Killer may have twice previously indicated that the Lake Herman Road double murder may not have been his first brutal crime, stating in the Los Angeles Times Letter mailed on March 13th 1971  "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." and on the typed Confession Letter mailed on November 29th 1966 he boasted "She is not the first and will not be the last." 

To view five interesting videos, extensively covering the Domingos/Edwards case click here.