Judith Hakari Judith Hakari (23) was abducted from the parking lot of the Markston Apartments on March 7th 1970 at approximately 11:30 pm, after returning home from her nurses shift at the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. Her partially buried body was discovered by two hikers on April 25th 1970 just 677 feet off Ponderosa Way, near Weimar. The location of her burial site was 43 miles from the site of her abduction and 3.1 miles from Interstate 80 at Weimar.
Her Mercury Cougar (discovered by her boyfriend) showed signs of foul play, with the passenger door open, her ignition keys on the floorboard, buttons scattered about and ripped strips of Cannon-brand towel, indicating that these may have been used to restrain the young woman. The same style toweling was discovered in the burial site of Judith Hakari seven weeks later and therefore provided a common link between both locations. Her body was found inside a canvas laundry bag, laying over a grey sweatshirt. She had been savagely beaten in the face, strangled and raped, with her bra torn in two and her underwear found beneath her.
Detectives stated that on March 13th 1970 (six days after her disappearance) the owner of the land where Judith Hakari was eventually discovered, noticed three sharply-dressed men in their late 20s at the site with the trunk of their vehicle open and digging into the ground. Their lame excuse of digging for bottles, while suspiciously closing the trunk of their vehicle seemed sinister. There is very good reason to believe these three men were involved in the murder and disposal of Judith Hakari. At the very least, one murderer and two accomplices after the fact. With little to go on after 50 years, an examination of the abduction and burial site can reveal so much about this crime.
Her Mercury Cougar (discovered by her boyfriend) showed signs of foul play, with the passenger door open, her ignition keys on the floorboard, buttons scattered about and ripped strips of Cannon-brand towel, indicating that these may have been used to restrain the young woman. The same style toweling was discovered in the burial site of Judith Hakari seven weeks later and therefore provided a common link between both locations. Her body was found inside a canvas laundry bag, laying over a grey sweatshirt. She had been savagely beaten in the face, strangled and raped, with her bra torn in two and her underwear found beneath her.
Detectives stated that on March 13th 1970 (six days after her disappearance) the owner of the land where Judith Hakari was eventually discovered, noticed three sharply-dressed men in their late 20s at the site with the trunk of their vehicle open and digging into the ground. Their lame excuse of digging for bottles, while suspiciously closing the trunk of their vehicle seemed sinister. There is very good reason to believe these three men were involved in the murder and disposal of Judith Hakari. At the very least, one murderer and two accomplices after the fact. With little to go on after 50 years, an examination of the abduction and burial site can reveal so much about this crime.
Click image above to view burial location
The presence of ripped toweling in Judith Hakari's vehicle indicated malice aforethought. The killer or killers had possibly pre-planned this abduction ahead of time with the primary goal of feeding their sexual peversion at the cost of a young and promising life. Judith Hakari had to travel a matter of seconds from her Mercury Cougar to the front door of her residence. We have to weigh up the odds of a random and opportunistic abduction in this slender window of time, to the possibility that somebody knew her routine and lay in wait. An attractive 23-year-old young woman, dressed in a nurses uniform, following a regular pattern to and from Sutter Memorial Hospital each day, always has the potential to draw in the sickest of predators. Judith Hakari arriving back to her apartment complex at a similar time each night may very well have been noticed by such an individual, who came pre-prepared with materials of restraint. This opens up the possibility that the perpetrator or perpetrators lived in the same Markston Apartments as Judith Hakari, or in close proximity to it. Or she was trailed from Sutter Memorial Hospital.
Nancy Bennallack Nancy Bennallack (28), a court reporter, was found brutally stabbed numerous times at the Tahitian Apartments on October 25th 1970. The Tahitian Apartments were just 830 feet from the Markston Apartments, where Judith Hakari was abducted just seven months earlier. Two young women attacked in and around their apartments opens up the possibility of a single perpetrator who specifically targeted both of these women. Update: Recent discoveries through genetic genealogy in 2022 has identified Richard John Davis as the murderer of Nancy Bennallack, who lived in the same apartment complex as the victim. Sadly, Richard Davis will elude justice because he died of an alcohol related illness in 1997.
We can now switch to the burial location of Judith Hakari, highly suggestive of somebody who had frequented this location before. The perpetrator or perpetrators of this murder had clearly used the canvas bag to transport the lifeless body of Judith Hakari - which if had been done by the three well-dressed men - must have been done six days after her abduction. Whether she was killed a short time after her abduction and stored, or held captive for several days, will likely never be known unless a resolution is found in the next few years. The notion of a killer distancing the body from his home location is not unusual, so as to shift the focus of the investigation to another area. But whoever abducted Judith Hakari made no attempt to disguise the fact she was the victim of foul play, leaving her vehicle in disarray outside of her apartment complex.
The killer or killers chose the extremely remote, hilly and winding road of Ponderosa Way. They could have pulled up their vehicle on the roadside edge and tossed the body of Judith Hakari in a matter of seconds down any steep ravine into dense woodland, where she may have gone undetected for months, years, or forever. They could have thrown her body into the North Fork American River, thereby destroying any remaining evidence on the body. Instead, they inexplicably chose to pull onto a dirt road off Ponderosa Way into an area containing wooden buildings, near an old deserted mine entrance. This appears to suggest that this location was known to them - and in relative seclusion away from the main roadway - it would allow them the time to dig a grave. So, what advantage was the killer or killers attempting to gain by delaying or preventing the discovery of the body? They certainly made no effort to disguise the abduction. Was it simply a case of no body, no murder?
We can now switch to the burial location of Judith Hakari, highly suggestive of somebody who had frequented this location before. The perpetrator or perpetrators of this murder had clearly used the canvas bag to transport the lifeless body of Judith Hakari - which if had been done by the three well-dressed men - must have been done six days after her abduction. Whether she was killed a short time after her abduction and stored, or held captive for several days, will likely never be known unless a resolution is found in the next few years. The notion of a killer distancing the body from his home location is not unusual, so as to shift the focus of the investigation to another area. But whoever abducted Judith Hakari made no attempt to disguise the fact she was the victim of foul play, leaving her vehicle in disarray outside of her apartment complex.
The killer or killers chose the extremely remote, hilly and winding road of Ponderosa Way. They could have pulled up their vehicle on the roadside edge and tossed the body of Judith Hakari in a matter of seconds down any steep ravine into dense woodland, where she may have gone undetected for months, years, or forever. They could have thrown her body into the North Fork American River, thereby destroying any remaining evidence on the body. Instead, they inexplicably chose to pull onto a dirt road off Ponderosa Way into an area containing wooden buildings, near an old deserted mine entrance. This appears to suggest that this location was known to them - and in relative seclusion away from the main roadway - it would allow them the time to dig a grave. So, what advantage was the killer or killers attempting to gain by delaying or preventing the discovery of the body? They certainly made no effort to disguise the abduction. Was it simply a case of no body, no murder?
The gravesite of Judith Hakari The likelihood is that the three young men were responsible for the burial of Judith Hakari, with at least one directly involved in her savage murder. The crime was undoubtedly pre-planned by somebody who had observed her routine and took full advantage of a dark, secluded parking lot at near midnight. Although not conclusive, it appears as though her abductor was either familiar with the young woman from Sutter Memorial Hospital or her comings and goings from the Markston Apartments. The canvas bag, manufactured in Sacramento for the San Juan Unified School District and the ripped toweling could provide a tenuous link to the people responsible.
There is little to suggest the abduction and murder of Judith Hakari has anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, despite the fact he may have latched onto her murder through the San Francisco Chronicle article on September 26th 1970, featuring the disappearance of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970. By mailing the Pines card on March 22nd 1971, he was effectively insinuating he was in the Lake Tahoe/Placer County area in the near timeframe. The murder and rape of Judith Hakari showed none of the features of the Zodiac killings, other than a propensity to rob young victims of their lives with no remorse.
There is a well-researched and informative documentary series on Youtube called Solve Crimes with Rick & Gavin, taking a deep dive into the story of Judith Hakari. If you want to extend your knowledge on the murder of Judith Hakari and hopefully forge a resolution to this 50-year-old case, please click the link above. Or visit their website here.
There is little to suggest the abduction and murder of Judith Hakari has anything to do with the Zodiac Killer, despite the fact he may have latched onto her murder through the San Francisco Chronicle article on September 26th 1970, featuring the disappearance of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970. By mailing the Pines card on March 22nd 1971, he was effectively insinuating he was in the Lake Tahoe/Placer County area in the near timeframe. The murder and rape of Judith Hakari showed none of the features of the Zodiac killings, other than a propensity to rob young victims of their lives with no remorse.
There is a well-researched and informative documentary series on Youtube called Solve Crimes with Rick & Gavin, taking a deep dive into the story of Judith Hakari. If you want to extend your knowledge on the murder of Judith Hakari and hopefully forge a resolution to this 50-year-old case, please click the link above. Or visit their website here.
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