The nearly nude body of Nancy Darlene Feusi (23), a separated mother of five, was discovered by a fisherman at 6:30 am on July 22nd 1973 alongside Pleasant Grove Road and Steelhead Creek, approximately half a mile north of West Riego Road in Sutter County. Dressed in a miniskirt and bikini-style briefs, with a blouse discovered nearby, she had been brutally stabbed 29 times in the stomach, chest and arm in what appeared a sexually driven crime. Shoe prints and tire tracks were discovered close to where the young woman was found, opening up the possibility she was murdered elsewhere and transported to the scene of the crime.
Earlier that morning she had been dancing at Plumbers Hall, 5841 Newman Court in East Sacramento, with her last sighting alive at 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, about 2 miles southwest of Plumbers Hall. This sighting was only 3 1/2 hours prior to her body being discovered alongside Pleasant Grove Road, 15 miles north. It was clearly evident she had been transported to the location she was ultimately found by a vehicle, which investigators surmised would have been heavily bloodstained. Therefore, the location of her murder was considered to lie elsewhere, possibly close to the area she was last seen alive.
Below I have added the relevant locations regarding Nancy's last known movements that morning.
Earlier that morning she had been dancing at Plumbers Hall, 5841 Newman Court in East Sacramento, with her last sighting alive at 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, about 2 miles southwest of Plumbers Hall. This sighting was only 3 1/2 hours prior to her body being discovered alongside Pleasant Grove Road, 15 miles north. It was clearly evident she had been transported to the location she was ultimately found by a vehicle, which investigators surmised would have been heavily bloodstained. Therefore, the location of her murder was considered to lie elsewhere, possibly close to the area she was last seen alive.
Below I have added the relevant locations regarding Nancy's last known movements that morning.
The quickest route from downtown Sacramento to Pleasant Grove Road is via Interstate 5 and Highway 99, before turning east at the interchange of West Riego Road, traveling 2.74 miles to Pleasant Grove Road and then heading north for just half a mile to the body deposition site. Clearly, the murderer had many earlier opportunisties to dispose of her body on the 15-mile journey north, so one could be forgiven for believing that this location was familiar to the killer as a safe option. This opens up the possibility that the murderer was actually traveling home that morning and dropped off the body of the young woman, not only somewhere he had likely previously visited, but en route to his residence, slightly further north. Continuing north at the interchange for just 10 miles, brings you to the the census-designated place of East Nicolaus that may be familiar to some with respect to the murders of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Saelee.
On Tuesday April 22nd 1986, Laotian couple Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Saelee (40) were traveling back on the two-and-a-half hour journey to their residence in Dorman Road, Yuba City after visiting their son in a Merced CA hospital, situated in the area of the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. They were only 45 minutes from home when it was believed they had opted to take a rest on the roadside edge (or ushered over by a second vehicle), near the interchange of Highway 99 and I-5 Sacramento and attacked without remorse. How the killer approached is open to question, but the assailant unleashed a barrage of gunfire into their car blowing out both front side windows, testimony to which, was the 15 small caliber shell casings scattered and retrieved from beside the vehicle. The couple suffered multiple shots to the head. Two weeks later, a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle purportedly from the Zodiac Killer laying claim to the savage killings. There were reports in the newspaper that an unidentified "hitchiker" flagged down an East Nicolaus patrol officer and directed him to the murder site, although only describing it as a car accident. In the 1986 Letter the author stated "The Blue Meannies almost caught me", bringing forth the notion he was describing the encounter with the patrol officer and effectively taunting the police.
On Tuesday April 22nd 1986, Laotian couple Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Saelee (40) were traveling back on the two-and-a-half hour journey to their residence in Dorman Road, Yuba City after visiting their son in a Merced CA hospital, situated in the area of the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. They were only 45 minutes from home when it was believed they had opted to take a rest on the roadside edge (or ushered over by a second vehicle), near the interchange of Highway 99 and I-5 Sacramento and attacked without remorse. How the killer approached is open to question, but the assailant unleashed a barrage of gunfire into their car blowing out both front side windows, testimony to which, was the 15 small caliber shell casings scattered and retrieved from beside the vehicle. The couple suffered multiple shots to the head. Two weeks later, a letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle purportedly from the Zodiac Killer laying claim to the savage killings. There were reports in the newspaper that an unidentified "hitchiker" flagged down an East Nicolaus patrol officer and directed him to the murder site, although only describing it as a car accident. In the 1986 Letter the author stated "The Blue Meannies almost caught me", bringing forth the notion he was describing the encounter with the patrol officer and effectively taunting the police.
The distance between the crime scenes (as the crow flies) of Koy Ien Saechao and Choy Fow Saelee, to the deposition site of Nancy Feusi, is just 8 miles - and on both occasions the perpetrator may have been heading to East Nicolaus or somewhere nearby. Of course, the two crimes are separated by thirteen years and therefore probably unrelated to one another, but it was important to put the murder of Nancy Feusi into perspective from a Zodiac standpoint.
Police discover Judith Hakari's shallow grave Judith Hakari was a nurse at Sutter Hospital, who disappeared heading back to the Markston Apartments on March 7th 1970 and later discovered murdered. At 11:30 pm. Hakari calls her fiance to tell him she's leaving Sutter Memorial Hospital where she works as a nurse. By 1:30 in the morning, she has still not come home. Her fiance, waiting at her apartment, begins to worry. "He went out to the apartment complex parking lot and discovered her car was parked in the assigned space that she had," Links said. But Judith was nowhere to be seen. She was found one month later, strangled and bludgeoned to death. "Some hikers discovered a body in a shallow grave up in the town of Weimar, in Placer County. And during their investigation they determined that it was Judith Hakari," Links said.
Sutter Hospital is just two miles from the location where Nancy Feusi was last seen - although it appears the murderer in the respective cases headed in different directions to conceal the body.
Nancy Feusi was last seen at approximately 3:00 am on July 22nd 1973 and discovered at 6:30 am, just 3 1/2 hours later. The journey time by vehicle from 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in Sacramento to Pleasant Grove Road is about 30 minutes, thereby leaving a shortfall of 3 hours. Had she befriended her killer at Plumbers Hall while dancing and met her demise shortly afterwards? Had this been the case, it is likely the murderer headed to somewhere he was sure he wouldn't be spotted while disposing of the body, while minimizing the time he was driving around with a body in the bloodstained vehicle. The fact that he drove just 15 miles to this "out of the way" location, could suggest it was somebody familiar with the area and quite possibly somebody who didn't live too far beyond.
Sutter Hospital is just two miles from the location where Nancy Feusi was last seen - although it appears the murderer in the respective cases headed in different directions to conceal the body.
Nancy Feusi was last seen at approximately 3:00 am on July 22nd 1973 and discovered at 6:30 am, just 3 1/2 hours later. The journey time by vehicle from 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in Sacramento to Pleasant Grove Road is about 30 minutes, thereby leaving a shortfall of 3 hours. Had she befriended her killer at Plumbers Hall while dancing and met her demise shortly afterwards? Had this been the case, it is likely the murderer headed to somewhere he was sure he wouldn't be spotted while disposing of the body, while minimizing the time he was driving around with a body in the bloodstained vehicle. The fact that he drove just 15 miles to this "out of the way" location, could suggest it was somebody familiar with the area and quite possibly somebody who didn't live too far beyond.
Click image for Google Maps
Thanks to Chaucer from Zodiac Killer Site forum for bringing this case to my attention.
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