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Richard Grinell, Coventry, England
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THE CIGARETTE BUTT

6/8/2017

 
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One of the smallest and most underrated pieces of evidence in the Cheri Jo Bates murder case is the cigarette butt recovered from the alleyway on October 31st 1966. At 9:30 pm on Sunday October 30th 1966, a female student was walking through the ill-fated alleyway where Cheri Jo Bates' body would ultimately be discovered, when she observed a man smoking a cigarette. The two exchanged pleasantries, unfortunately however, she was unable to furnish a facial description of the man as he was standing in the shadows. Clearly the police believed this a valid and significant sighting, as not only was this woman the last eyewitness before the murder but she was evidently able to specify the man's exact location, resulting in the police retrieving a cigarette butt from the alleyway, that years later would yield a DNA profile. The cigarette butt had a DNA concentration of 0.003 nanograms per microliter. Hair, believed to be from the killer, was found in a blood clot at the base of Cheri Jo Bates' right thumb, which also yielded DNA. If these two specimens were able to be matched then we could say that the killer of Cheri Jo Bates is the man responsible for discarding the cigarette retrieved. This may not necessarily be the man viewed by the female student, but there is a strong likelihood as she would have led or described to police the exact location she had encountered him, and seemingly this was the only cigarette butt tested. This opens up many possibilities.

The unidentified male had a line of sight to Cheri Jo Bates' Volkswagen Beetle parked on Terracina Drive, he was standing in the alleyway 30 minutes subsequent to the library closing its doors, and was the last person seen in the alleyway prior to screams being heard, approximately 45 to 60 minutes later by local residents. This is the most viable suspect in relation to the murder. We know Cheri Jo Bates was not present in the library at 9:00 pm and did not leave at closing time. If this was her murderer, he may have been under the impression Cheri Jo Bates was in the library when he arrived to the Riverside campus. He disabled her vehicle and waited for her to exit. By 9:30 pm he would have realized she hadn't exited the library, but with her vehicle close by knew she would be returning sooner rather than later, and the alleyway was the perfect vantage point. If this man was a random killer not familiar with Cheri Jo Bates, simply on the lookout for lone women, he certainly rejected the opportunity that presented itself at 9:30 pm when a young female student passed him in the alleyway. Does this, along with the disabling of Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle indicate he had a specific target in mind? It definitely points in this direction. 

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Does the fact that Riverside Police have consistently dismissed any link to the Zodiac Killer suggest a DNA comparison has been established. If the DNA retrieved from the Riverside crime scene has all but ruled out long standing suspect 'Bob Barnett,' then for anybody who believes the Cheri Jo Bates and Zodiac cases are connected, and have a 'favorite' suspect, then available DNA could effectively rule them out too.

The DNA comparison ruled out 'Bob Barnett', but how many of Cheri Jo Bates' colleagues, companions and friends of the day have latterly been screened and been eliminated or otherwise.
This crime has all the hallmarks of a killer who knew Cheri Jo Bates, knew where she was going that evening, knew her vehicle - and if the man in the alleyway was our killer, he was prepared to wait a substantial period of time to secure his objective. The answer to how close this person was to Cheri Jo Bates may lie in the discarded cigarette butt, how long he was prepared to lie in wait in the alleyway, and possibly his mistaken belief that Cheri Jo Bates was studying in the library until closing time. These, coupled with the disabling of the Volkswagen Beetle may point to the inner circle rather than a stranger.    

Brian Dalen
6/12/2017 05:09:56 pm

Could not the smoker have been serving the sa me function as the white Chevy on Lake Herman Rd? Why would he be standing in an alleyway between two deserted buildings? What was his business there? If he were Cheri's killer, he would have to assume she was in the library (in spite of the testimony of 65 witnesses) if he could spot her car from where he stood.
I enjoy your site and often find facts not available on there such sites. This new revelation of Riverside parallel Benicia to a staggering degree.

Richard
6/13/2017 12:10:58 am

The man, if he was Cheri's killer, would have likely been under the assumption she was in the library. When police interviewed the 65 library attendees, only one, the 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'. A male librarian at the college said he "thought he saw" Cheri. The point being there was no sighting of Cheri from 6.30-9.00 pm from people who attended the library. This suggests she had gone elsewhere, yet had chosen to leave her Volkswagen parked up on Terracina. Why would she do this? Common sense would suggest she would travel to a 2nd location without her vehicle if it was nearby, returning to her vehicle some 4 hours later around 10.15-10.30 pm when screams were heard. The duration of four hours (assuming she wasn't held captive), could suggest a close friend of hers or somebody she liked. The question would be therefore be, why didn't this person come forward after finding out about her murder. They probably feared they would have been thought of as prime suspect, so kept quiet. We know she was 'missing' from approximately 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm, and her car was left on Terracina. She must have spent time close by, within walking distance, before returning to her vehicle. This man in the alleyway was lying in wait....probably. That is why we need a DNA comparison of cigarette and blood clot on Cheri's thumb.
The white Chevrolet Impala at Lake Herman Road is curious, being parked up and empty for measurable period of time. This was a dark, cold (22 F), night. Clearly Bingo Wesner and the raccoon hunters were not familiar with the vehicle, so why would someone be wandering in pitch black in the middle of nowhere. Obviously the local ranches (Marshall and Borges) would have been asked if they had any friends with such a vehicle. Then again its location is odd from the standpoint of where the occupants of this vehicle went. This very well could have been the vehicle that later pulled into the turnout alongside Betty and David. The killer likely traveled along Lake Herman Road to Blue Rock Springs and basically scanned the area for potential victims. He likely did the same at Berryessa, either on foot or by vehicle. The Cheri Jo Bates seems to me anyway, a more targeted victim, somebody he knew and likely obsessed over. This cigarette butt at Riverside Brian, would go a long way to narrowing the timeline and suggest almost certainly the killer knew the victim. If this man in the alleyway wasn't our killer, he had to be somewhere close by. The specific targeting of her vehicle certainly points to malice of forethought, something planned and a personal hatred or fixation. I cannot believe the random stranger killer hypothesis. Thanks Brian for the compliment-hope you keep visiting.


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    The Zodiac Killer may have given us the answer almost word-for-word when he wrote PS. The Mt. Diablo Code concerns Radians & # inches along the radians. The code solution identified was Estimate: Four Radians and Five Inches To read more, click the image.
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