Sandra Garcia (20) On Saturday February 21st 1970, John Franklin Hood (24), who had served decorated time in Vietnam with the 64th Armoured Division, discharged with the rank of staff sergeant in January after winning the Bronze Star, Silver Star and Purple Heart, and Sandra Garcia (20), who worked in the California Department of Motor Vehicles, decided to visit a stretch of beach overlooked by Santa Barbara Cemetery at 901 Channel Drive, located at the eastern tip of East Cabrillo Boulevard. About one mile west of the graveyard was the Santa Barbara Inn, and approximately 0.45 miles west at 625 Por La Mar, close to Ninos Drive, construction work had just got underway on the plush Park Cabrillo Apartments, with 312 units being built during the first phase.
Having visited this area previously, John Franklin Hood, after finishing work at the Wimpy's Drive-In on Saturday, left his parents home at 460 Helsam Avenue in Oxnard to visit his girlfriend Sandra, who lived with her parents at 3088 Calle Pinon in Santa Barbara, where they were last seen leaving for the beach at 6pm. The journey from here was a leisurely 12-15 minute drive to East Beach where they parked their vehicle at a beachfront parking lot.
I have yet to find the precise location where they parked but it was probably the one closest to their ultimate destination at "Cemetery Beach", which was located just under half a mile east of their vehicle. If they had traveled directly to the parking lot they would have arrived at approximately 6:15pm, with a casual stroll to "Cemetery Beach" placing them there at 6:30pm to 6:35pm, or thereabouts. On February 21st 1970 sunset was 5:47pm, so it was already dark when they began their journey eastwards along the beach. However, it was a full moon that evening, so there would have been limited illumination of 0.1 lux. At the point they reached "Cemetery Beach" the couple would have been 330 meters from East Cabrillo Boulevard, which lay to the north beyond the graveyard. Below is a map depicting the relevant locations.
Having visited this area previously, John Franklin Hood, after finishing work at the Wimpy's Drive-In on Saturday, left his parents home at 460 Helsam Avenue in Oxnard to visit his girlfriend Sandra, who lived with her parents at 3088 Calle Pinon in Santa Barbara, where they were last seen leaving for the beach at 6pm. The journey from here was a leisurely 12-15 minute drive to East Beach where they parked their vehicle at a beachfront parking lot.
I have yet to find the precise location where they parked but it was probably the one closest to their ultimate destination at "Cemetery Beach", which was located just under half a mile east of their vehicle. If they had traveled directly to the parking lot they would have arrived at approximately 6:15pm, with a casual stroll to "Cemetery Beach" placing them there at 6:30pm to 6:35pm, or thereabouts. On February 21st 1970 sunset was 5:47pm, so it was already dark when they began their journey eastwards along the beach. However, it was a full moon that evening, so there would have been limited illumination of 0.1 lux. At the point they reached "Cemetery Beach" the couple would have been 330 meters from East Cabrillo Boulevard, which lay to the north beyond the graveyard. Below is a map depicting the relevant locations.
CLICK ABOVE IMAGE TO ENTER GOOGLE MAPS
John Franklin Hood {24} At a time yet to be confirmed (but likely between 6:35pm and midnight) the couple were brutally stabbed and beaten (possibly by a fist or blunt instrument).by one or more assailants. John Franklin Hood suffered eleven knife wounds with the majority inflicted to his face and back, whereas Sandra Garcia received the brunt of the vicious attack leaving her almost unrecognizable in what appeared a senseless and motiveless crime. Robbery was effectively ruled out because John's wallet was still on his person and Sandra's pocketbook was left untouched. Their bodies - Hood in Levi's and a T-shirt, and Garcia in Levi's and a blouse - were discovered the following morning by beachgoers under a green blanket, Sandra was lying face up, with John lying face down in the sand.
Investigators found a four-inch bone-handled fish knife (with a saw blade and regular blade) buried in the sand about one foot from their bodies that they initially concluded must have played a part in the crime, but according to later newspaper reports uncertainty remained if it had any connection to the murders. It really shouldn't have been that difficult to test the knife for blood and answer this question, so I suspect this must have been established at some point in the future. It would have been an unusual coincidence had it been unrelated to the stabbings, although why would a murderer bury the murder weapon within one foot of the bodies rather than just tossing it into the ocean. Investigators stated "We don't know whose it is, but we know it didn't belong to the victims". On February 24th 1970 a newspaper headline entitled "Knife Linked To Murders" appeared to suggest we had clarity regarding the weapon used in the murders, despite immediately following this up with "a four inch blade apparently was the weapon used". This less than decisive language creates more questions than answers - so what happened to John and Sandra that evening or night?
The three likeliest possibilities are that John parked his vehicle in the parking lot and the couple were followed by an unknown number of individuals to "Cemetery Beach" and attacked, The second possibility is that their killer or killers just stumbled across them as they lay on the beach in the darkness. Or they inadvertently walked into an area where one or several undesirables were hanging around..The Santa Barbara Cemetery is shielded by steep cliffs from the beacfront except for its western edge, so if the topography was similar in 1970 it is likely the person/s arrived at the location of the murders from either the east or west.
Investigators found a four-inch bone-handled fish knife (with a saw blade and regular blade) buried in the sand about one foot from their bodies that they initially concluded must have played a part in the crime, but according to later newspaper reports uncertainty remained if it had any connection to the murders. It really shouldn't have been that difficult to test the knife for blood and answer this question, so I suspect this must have been established at some point in the future. It would have been an unusual coincidence had it been unrelated to the stabbings, although why would a murderer bury the murder weapon within one foot of the bodies rather than just tossing it into the ocean. Investigators stated "We don't know whose it is, but we know it didn't belong to the victims". On February 24th 1970 a newspaper headline entitled "Knife Linked To Murders" appeared to suggest we had clarity regarding the weapon used in the murders, despite immediately following this up with "a four inch blade apparently was the weapon used". This less than decisive language creates more questions than answers - so what happened to John and Sandra that evening or night?
The three likeliest possibilities are that John parked his vehicle in the parking lot and the couple were followed by an unknown number of individuals to "Cemetery Beach" and attacked, The second possibility is that their killer or killers just stumbled across them as they lay on the beach in the darkness. Or they inadvertently walked into an area where one or several undesirables were hanging around..The Santa Barbara Cemetery is shielded by steep cliffs from the beacfront except for its western edge, so if the topography was similar in 1970 it is likely the person/s arrived at the location of the murders from either the east or west.
Progress in solving this crime has been extremely limited and little to nothing about these murders has featured in the newspapers in the subsequent 54 years as of 2024. Almost immediately after the attack Detective Commander George told of reports from a nearby service station at approximately 1am on Sunday 22nd 1970 that two young men were seen washing wounds claimed to have been received from a fight at the beach, stating on February 24th 1970 that the individuals may have no connection to the murders, despite their desire to follow up on every clue, no matter how small. It is an obvious statement routinely trotted out by law enforcement, but the bottom line is that these two men may have had something to do with the murders, so this should have been the approach adopted with respect to these individuals until ruled out, not the contrary stance.
With no subsequent information available regarding this sighting it is reasonable to conclude these two youths were never found. Anybody tending wounds to their person in close proximity to a beach where two vicious murders had recently occurred, where the victims were brutally stabbed and beaten to death, should have been given high priority. John Franklin Hood was clearly a man who knew how to handle himself, so it's very likely it required two people to overpower the young couple. Investigators attempted to trace the movements of the slain couple before they went to the beach, but with Sandra telling her parents at 6pm they would be back soon, where would they have possibly gone, bearing in mind the beach was already shrouded in darkness before they left 3088 Calle Pinon in Santa Barbara? With no reported sightings from establishments in close proximity to the beach, it could be considered likely that they headed straight to "Cemetery Beach" with no detours.
With no subsequent information available regarding this sighting it is reasonable to conclude these two youths were never found. Anybody tending wounds to their person in close proximity to a beach where two vicious murders had recently occurred, where the victims were brutally stabbed and beaten to death, should have been given high priority. John Franklin Hood was clearly a man who knew how to handle himself, so it's very likely it required two people to overpower the young couple. Investigators attempted to trace the movements of the slain couple before they went to the beach, but with Sandra telling her parents at 6pm they would be back soon, where would they have possibly gone, bearing in mind the beach was already shrouded in darkness before they left 3088 Calle Pinon in Santa Barbara? With no reported sightings from establishments in close proximity to the beach, it could be considered likely that they headed straight to "Cemetery Beach" with no detours.
One unusual aspect of the crime was the green blanket devoid of any knife marks. After the killer or killers had beaten and stabbed their victims numerous times in what must have been a dynamic attack, why did they deem it necessary to place the victims alongside each other on the beach and cover them up with the couple's blanket? If they were unknown to the victims what purpose could this possibly serve in near complete darkness? Then, inexplicably, choose to bury the murder weapon next to the victims (assuming this knife was the one used in the attack}. The chances of the couple remaining perfectly aligned on the beach after such a brutal attack, in which John and Sandra must have fought vigorously for their lives, so that the perpetrator/s could neatly place a blanket on top of them requiring no movement of the bodies, I suspect is highly unlikely. Therefore, after the murders, this would have required the deliberate action of relocating the bodies before covering them up. Sandra Garcia was found face up, with John face down, just like the position of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards after their bodies were relocated and placed inside the shack in 1963, thirty miles west of this crime. For those people who consider the Gaviota Beach murders to be the signature of the Zodiac Killer, cannot fail to notice that this crime has equal, if not more relevance to the Lake Berryessa attack, with the "Cemetery Beach" murders occurring within the Zodiac timeline, in which the Bay Area murderer still sought victims nine and ten on December 20th 1969 , and then confirmed his ten victims on April 20th 1970, either side of this double murder. I don't believe the Gaviota or East Beach attacks were the work of the Zodiac Killer, but I don't understand why one can be accepted without the other,
Hope for a resolution in the Zodiac case was buoyed by the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo in 2018 through the use of genetic genealogy. The identification of the Golden State Killer gave hope to an ailing Zodiac investigation where many communications had the possibility of being tested and any DNA retrieved used to identify the family tree of our killer.
If the Hood and Garcia murders were ever linked to the Zodiac Killer, it would be strange quirk of fate that Robert Offerman and Debra Manning, a couple murdered by Joseph James DeAngelo in Goleta in 1979, would be buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery just a few hundred feet from the location where John Franklin Hood and Sandra Garcia lost their lives to the Zodiac Killer nine years earlier. However, that is a big if.
The Santa Barbara Cemetery is the resting place of many Hollywood stars, that unfortunately became the silent witness to the tragic final act of a young couple on February 21st 1970, whose lives may have ended, but whose story shouldn't be forgotten.
THE CEMETERY BEACH MURDERS OF 1970 (PT2)
Here are seven in depth articles examining the murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards. The Ballistics. The Shack. The Rope. The Beach. The Ammo. Pistol or Rifle? The Final Analysis.
If the Hood and Garcia murders were ever linked to the Zodiac Killer, it would be strange quirk of fate that Robert Offerman and Debra Manning, a couple murdered by Joseph James DeAngelo in Goleta in 1979, would be buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery just a few hundred feet from the location where John Franklin Hood and Sandra Garcia lost their lives to the Zodiac Killer nine years earlier. However, that is a big if.
The Santa Barbara Cemetery is the resting place of many Hollywood stars, that unfortunately became the silent witness to the tragic final act of a young couple on February 21st 1970, whose lives may have ended, but whose story shouldn't be forgotten.
THE CEMETERY BEACH MURDERS OF 1970 (PT2)
Here are seven in depth articles examining the murders of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards. The Ballistics. The Shack. The Rope. The Beach. The Ammo. Pistol or Rifle? The Final Analysis.
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