The Zodiac Killer stated in the March 13th 1971 '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". The November 29th 1966 'Confession' letter stated "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" and "Beware....I am stalking your girls now". So, in the interest of impartiality, we shall look at a murder in the transition period between Riverside and the emergence of the Zodiac Killer.
Elizabeth Lurene Ernstein On March 19th 1968 Elizabeth Lurene Ernstein (14) was heading back to her home in Redlands, near San Bernardino from Moore Junior High School in Mentone. The young, brown-haired girl, wearing a blue dress with white flowers, dark olive corduroy reversible coat and tennis shoes was last seen leaving the school at approximately 3:40 pm. The Desert Sun newspaper described her route home: "Elizabeth's school day passed without incident. She attended her last class, then left school at 3:40 pm, to walk home, a two-mile route through blossoming orange groves. She never arrived home. Somewhere along the lonely street, Elizabeth Ernstein vanished. A Redlands businessman thought he saw a girl resembling Elizabeth walking toward the corner of the street on which she lived".
Her body was discovered in 1969 in a shallow grave near Wrightwood, 33 miles northwest of Redlands (as the crow flies). "Located in a pine covered valley in the San Gabriel Mountains, the area was first developed as cattle ranches in the 19th century by Nathan and Truman Swarthout, then later the main ranch, owned by Sumner Wright was broken up into residential and commercial lots and by the 1920s a community took roots. Early ski enthusiasts discovered the north facing slopes of the San Gabriels above the Swarthout Valley. Until 1937 the ski area, originally known as Big Pines were part of a Los Angeles County Park". Wikipedia. The murderer had clearly chosen a remote location to conceal her body, likely traveling Interstate 215 and 15 from Redlands.
Her body was discovered in 1969 in a shallow grave near Wrightwood, 33 miles northwest of Redlands (as the crow flies). "Located in a pine covered valley in the San Gabriel Mountains, the area was first developed as cattle ranches in the 19th century by Nathan and Truman Swarthout, then later the main ranch, owned by Sumner Wright was broken up into residential and commercial lots and by the 1920s a community took roots. Early ski enthusiasts discovered the north facing slopes of the San Gabriels above the Swarthout Valley. Until 1937 the ski area, originally known as Big Pines were part of a Los Angeles County Park". Wikipedia. The murderer had clearly chosen a remote location to conceal her body, likely traveling Interstate 215 and 15 from Redlands.
Elizabeth Ernstein's remains were unidentified until an exhumation in 2011, when DNA was matched to her younger brother, Jeff, finally completing the last but one missing piece of the jigsaw - who was the murderer of Elizabeth Ernstein? There is little, if anything, to connect this to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside on October 30th 1966, or the Zodiac Killer, however, it is an unsolved murder in which the family of Elizabeth would undoubtedly like to see resolved. The assumed location of her "vanishing" is situated 13 miles east (as the crow flies) from the alleyway where Cheri Jo Bates was discovered on the Halloween morning of 1966, and occurred 11 months after the Bates letters claiming "there will be more".
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