The following is a comprehensive analysis of the timeline of Cheri Jo Bates' movements and eyewitness testimony from the evening of October 30th 1966. It will not attempt to promote or discredit any of the reported statements. This timeline (slightly adapted) will incorporate the testimony of an Air Force man and a friend of Cheri Jo Bates at about 6:10 pm, taken from the book of Robert Graysmith.
A Mexican-American student: 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'.
The library opened at 6:00 pm - and it was only then he noticed Cheri Jo Bates, indicating that Cheri Jo entered the library close to opening time (or several minutes after). His attention to detail mentioning the 'blue spiral notebook' could easily have been verified by police in order to corroborate that he wasn't mistaken. In addition to the Mexican-American student, a male librarian at the college said he "thought he saw" Cheri Jo in the library that Sunday evening.
The library opened at 6:00 pm - and it was only then he noticed Cheri Jo Bates, indicating that Cheri Jo entered the library close to opening time (or several minutes after). His attention to detail mentioning the 'blue spiral notebook' could easily have been verified by police in order to corroborate that he wasn't mistaken. In addition to the Mexican-American student, a male librarian at the college said he "thought he saw" Cheri Jo in the library that Sunday evening.
Detective Sergeant David Bonine stated that a close friend of Cheri Jo Bates saw her drive past in her lime green Volkswagen Beetle at approximately 6:10 pm, heading toward the Riverside City College on Magnolia Avenue. The friend waved at her but apparently she failed to notice and did not reciprocate the gesture. A second report from about the same time period was relayed to police from an Air Force man who lived close to Riverside City College library. He was passed by a lime green Volkswagen Beetle, driven by a blond female up an alley parallel to Magnolia and east of the Shelly-Lynn Apartments. Her vehicle was being followed by a 1965-66 bronze Oldsmobile. This must have been slightly after 6:10 pm, indicating that Cheri Jo Bates was heading to the library to park up.
Her vehicle was ultimately found on Terracina Drive close to the library entrance, which joined Magnolia Avenue on its western edge. If we assume she discharged her own three library books, then she must have entered the library at approximately 6:15 pm. The above two eyewitnesses times are approximated, so if the Mexican-American student saw Cheri Jo Bates "in the library the night in question," shortly after it opened, it was likely closer to 6:15 pm. However, this is dependent on the account portrayed by Robert Graysmith being correct.
Her vehicle was ultimately found on Terracina Drive close to the library entrance, which joined Magnolia Avenue on its western edge. If we assume she discharged her own three library books, then she must have entered the library at approximately 6:15 pm. The above two eyewitnesses times are approximated, so if the Mexican-American student saw Cheri Jo Bates "in the library the night in question," shortly after it opened, it was likely closer to 6:15 pm. However, this is dependent on the account portrayed by Robert Graysmith being correct.
Shortly after 6:10 pm, four young men under police interrogation stated "they had seen Cheri Jo near her car the previous night". They didn't recall any suspicious activity around the Volkswagen Beetle that evening, so the claim she was abducted as she arrived on Terracina Drive, or had returned to a disabled Volkswagen Beetle could not have happened during the time they were sitting on the fence opposite her vehicle. They were later spotted by other eyewitnesses in exactly the same location. The time the four young men spotted Cheri Jo Bates has been approximated at 6:13 pm, likely when she had exited her vehicle to take the short walk to the library. It couldn't have been on her return, because if somebody had tampered with her vehicle during her absence and she had failed to start the Volkswagen Beetle, this would have been relayed to police by the four young men - which they apparently did not.
Cheri Jo Bates entered the Riverside City College library and took out three library books. The Mexican-American student noticed her outside the library. The male librarian thought he saw her in the library.
Extract from the November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter "I first cut 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".
The four young men sitting opposite Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle never saw anybody tamper with the engine. The four young men were still sitting on this fence at 7:15 pm, one hour after seeing Cheri Jo Bates park up. Therefore, the only way the author of the 'Confession' letter may be proved correct, is if the four young men left that location shortly after spotting Cheri Jo Bates leave her vehicle, only to return to the same spot some time later. In other words, the four men notice the young woman leave her vehicle, they walk away from the near vicinity - at which point the assailant disables the Volkswagen - who then waits for Cheri Jo Bates to offer her assistance, then murders her in the alleyway, likely before 6:30 pm. The four young men then return to the original location after 6:30 pm, and before 7:15 pm, hence see or hear nothing untoward. However, this is not possible, because a later eyewitness supposedly present in the alleyway at 9:30 pm saw no signs of murder.
Extract from the November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter "I first cut 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".
The four young men sitting opposite Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle never saw anybody tamper with the engine. The four young men were still sitting on this fence at 7:15 pm, one hour after seeing Cheri Jo Bates park up. Therefore, the only way the author of the 'Confession' letter may be proved correct, is if the four young men left that location shortly after spotting Cheri Jo Bates leave her vehicle, only to return to the same spot some time later. In other words, the four men notice the young woman leave her vehicle, they walk away from the near vicinity - at which point the assailant disables the Volkswagen - who then waits for Cheri Jo Bates to offer her assistance, then murders her in the alleyway, likely before 6:30 pm. The four young men then return to the original location after 6:30 pm, and before 7:15 pm, hence see or hear nothing untoward. However, this is not possible, because a later eyewitness supposedly present in the alleyway at 9:30 pm saw no signs of murder.
'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'. This suggests that Cheri Jo Bates had entered the library at approximately 6:15 pm, then had discharged her reading material and exited the vicinity of the library annex by 6:29 pm at the latest. Had she traveled back to her Volkswagen Beetle at this point, it is likely her friends would have spotted her by the stricken vehicle. Had she left the library slightly earlier at 6:20 pm, finding her car unresponsive, it is likely she would have returned to the library for assistance or to make a phone call. She could not have immediately been lured away and murdered in the alleyway, as her body was not lying in the alleyway up to 9:30 pm, which was apparently corroborated by a female eyewitness.
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'. This indicated that four young men were present from 6.15 pm through to 7:15 pm opposite Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle, or had left and returned by 7:15 pm. Walter Siebert and friends recall the four men, but not Cheri Jo Bates, further indicating that the four men must have spotted Cheri Jo at approximately 6:13 pm, when she arrived at Terracina Drive to enter the library. The vehicle had still yet to be disabled at this point.
The library shuts and the remaining patrons leave the building. There is still no sign of Cheri Jo Bates.
Zodiac Unmasked by Robert Graysmith: '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 was not there before'.
Some of this is clearly not true, because if nobody saw her, how could she have been seen returning to her vehicle at 9:00 pm. The mention of the Tucker Torpedo is interesting however, since only 51 vehicles were ever made before the company folded in 1949. The eyewitnesses may have mistaken the make of the vehicle - but if not - the screams heard later in the alleyway, closely followed by the sound of an old vehicle pulling away, may have a bearing.
The Daily Enterprise, Riverside 1966: '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 Drive 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'.
Since the Tucker Torpedo was supposedly spotted behind Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle when people were leaving the library, with both vehicles facing the library, it could be argued that the witnesses to the Tucker Torpedo only saw its front end. Both the Tucker Torpedo and Studebaker have similar aeroplane front end characteristics. Could these vehicles have been mistaken as one?
Zodiac Unmasked by Robert Graysmith: '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 was not there before'.
Some of this is clearly not true, because if nobody saw her, how could she have been seen returning to her vehicle at 9:00 pm. The mention of the Tucker Torpedo is interesting however, since only 51 vehicles were ever made before the company folded in 1949. The eyewitnesses may have mistaken the make of the vehicle - but if not - the screams heard later in the alleyway, closely followed by the sound of an old vehicle pulling away, may have a bearing.
The Daily Enterprise, Riverside 1966: '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 Drive 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'.
Since the Tucker Torpedo was supposedly spotted behind Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle when people were leaving the library, with both vehicles facing the library, it could be argued that the witnesses to the Tucker Torpedo only saw its front end. Both the Tucker Torpedo and Studebaker have similar aeroplane front end characteristics. Could these vehicles have been mistaken as one?
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. She later failed to identify anybody from a photographic line-up, including 'Bob Barnett', the prime suspect in the Riverside Police Department investigation. He would later be excluded using mitochondrial DNA retrieved from blood-clotted hair found at the base of Cheri Jo Bates' right thumb. The female student eyewitness was certainly credible enough to police, because they later retrieved a cigarette butt from the alleyway close to where the man was last seen standing. It was listed in the Riverside DNA evidence analysis report. The cigarette butt had a DNA concentration of 0.003 nanograms per microliter. The question is, could the cigarette DNA be ruled out from the DNA recovered from the base of Cheri Jo Bates' thumb? Was this man waiting in the alleyway for Cheri Jo Bates to return to her vehicle? Was he expecting her to have been in the library, but when she didn't exit the library at 9:00 pm he hung around the shadows of the alleyway with one eye on her vehicle?
Screams were heard coming from the vicinity of the alleyway sometime between 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm. The newspapers reported that 'A neighbor heard an awful scream between 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up. A man returning to the area at 10:30 pm told us he heard two screams then'. If these details are accurate, then was the killer returning to his old 1948 Tucker Torpedo parked just behind Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle? This would have been parked approximately 250 feet from the alleyway if the eyewitness report is to be believed. So why the two minutes of silence? Was he frantically searching in the darkness for the Timex watch yanked from his wrist?
In a magazine dated January 1969, it mentioned that "At the murder scene, drops of dried blood leading from the body to Terracina Drive were discovered indicated to the detective that the murderer had walked to the street following the slaying". This would certainly be the right direction to his vehicle, had he parked it behind the Volkswagen Beetle. A female earwitness described "an awful scream between 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up".
In a magazine dated January 1969, it mentioned that "At the murder scene, drops of dried blood leading from the body to Terracina Drive were discovered indicated to the detective that the murderer had walked to the street following the slaying". This would certainly be the right direction to his vehicle, had he parked it behind the Volkswagen Beetle. A female earwitness described "an awful scream between 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up".
On Halloween morning, groundskeeper Cleophus Martin (48) was traveling along Terracina Drive at 6:30 am, slightly west of the Riverside City College library annex, when he discovered the lifeless body of Cheri Jo Bates lying face down in the dirt driveway. She had been brutally stabbed and slashed with a knife. The young Ramona High School graduate had been 'missing' for just over 12 hours.
Five days later, her grief stricken father Joseph Bates collapsed at her funeral, inconsolable at the loss of a daughter who had so much to live for, but whose life was cruelly snatched away on October 30th 1966 by a coward who lurked in the shadows - and a coward that has remained there for over half a century.
Five days later, her grief stricken father Joseph Bates collapsed at her funeral, inconsolable at the loss of a daughter who had so much to live for, but whose life was cruelly snatched away on October 30th 1966 by a coward who lurked in the shadows - and a coward that has remained there for over half a century.
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