The Nancy Drew YouTube channel recently highlighted an individual called Flake Crawford Casto, who graduated from Ramona High School in Riverside in 1965, the year before Cheri Jo Bates. He was involved with varsity football in 1964-1965, while Cheri was a cheerleader during those years. They both had connections to St Catherine's Church, 7005 Brockton Avenue in Riverside. Cheri Jo Bates had attended mass there with her father on the morning of her death, on October 30th 1966. One week earlier, on October 22nd 1966, Flake Casto got married at St Catherine's church to Kathleen Corcoran. In "The Press" newspaper it reported on November 14th 1966 that the newlyweds were now living in San Diego, where Flake Castro was stationed in the Navy. Curiously, the Casto family lived at the 4195 Via San Jose address (until 1958) before Joseph Bates and Cheri.
On January 21st 1968, The San Diego Union and Daily Bee newspaper reported on the arrest of Flake Casto (21) in Clairemont, San Diego for the rape of two women near the University of California, San Diego. He was now the father of a month-old boy (born December 19th 1967) and worked at the Miramar Naval Air Station in Clairemont. He was captured by Thomas Hudson of 3260 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard Detective Guerin of the police sex crime detail stated that Casto was suspected of the rape of two 19-year-old girls on December 3rd 1967 and January 1st 1968. Just over a year previous, on November 22nd 1966, a male was reported by a woman, also 19 years old, who was walking towards the University of California, Riverside, when she was approached by a man driving a vehicle and subjected to an apparent rape. She stated that she had been held captive for more than two hours before making her escape. Her abductor remarked on the recent murder of Cheri Jo Bates and used language seemingly mimicked by the Confession letter author five days after the November 24th 1966 newspaper article describing this encounter.
On January 21st 1968, The San Diego Union and Daily Bee newspaper reported on the arrest of Flake Casto (21) in Clairemont, San Diego for the rape of two women near the University of California, San Diego. He was now the father of a month-old boy (born December 19th 1967) and worked at the Miramar Naval Air Station in Clairemont. He was captured by Thomas Hudson of 3260 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard Detective Guerin of the police sex crime detail stated that Casto was suspected of the rape of two 19-year-old girls on December 3rd 1967 and January 1st 1968. Just over a year previous, on November 22nd 1966, a male was reported by a woman, also 19 years old, who was walking towards the University of California, Riverside, when she was approached by a man driving a vehicle and subjected to an apparent rape. She stated that she had been held captive for more than two hours before making her escape. Her abductor remarked on the recent murder of Cheri Jo Bates and used language seemingly mimicked by the Confession letter author five days after the November 24th 1966 newspaper article describing this encounter.
Press-Enterprise newspaper, April 30th 1967 The author of the confession letter on November 29th 1966 apparently took inspiration from the Press-Enterprise newspaper on November 24th 1966 (see below). The newspaper article stated that the man "grabbed her around the neck". The confession letter author typed "I grabbed her around the neck with my hand over her mouth". The newspaper article stated "I could just hit you in the head with this piece of wood". The confession letter author typed "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up". The assailant mentioned in the newspaper stated "I'm not Jack the Ripper". The confession letter author typed "But I shall cut off her female parts and deposit them for the whole city to see". At one point the assailant offered to "take her home", with the confession letter author typing he "would give her a lift home". The woman was first approached by the man on Linden Street, just 2.5 miles from the murder location of Cheri Jo Bates.
The following year, on April 30th 1967, the author of the three Bates' letters again seemingly mimicked the Press-Enterprise newspaper from the same day. Jack Matthews, the Staff Writer of the Press-Enterprise newspaper, wrote about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and the content in the confession letter, stating "The letter told of how Cheri struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". The author of the Bates' letters mimicked this wording by writing "Bates had to die, there will be more".
The following year, on April 30th 1967, the author of the three Bates' letters again seemingly mimicked the Press-Enterprise newspaper from the same day. Jack Matthews, the Staff Writer of the Press-Enterprise newspaper, wrote about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and the content in the confession letter, stating "The letter told of how Cheri struggled while she was being stabbed to death and the writer said there would be more killings to come". The author of the Bates' letters mimicked this wording by writing "Bates had to die, there will be more".
The day after the Bates' letters that claimed "there will be more", on May 1st 1967, Nikki Alexandra Benedict (14) had left her friend Kathie Gomski's house in Halper Road, Poway shortly after 6:00 pm, to walk the 2 1/2 mile journey to her home at 13530 Olive Tree Lane, when approximately 25 minutes into her journey her life was cruelly snatched away. She was just passing the intersection of 12784 Poway and Carriage Road, traveling along a dirt pathway that straddled the Poway Road, when an unknown assailant, presumed to be laying in wait, leapt from a grassy depression and viciously attacked the young teenage girl with a short-bladed knife. She had a knife wound to her neck and bruises on her elbows and knees, but the fatal injuries were two stab wounds that penetrated her heart. The young girl did not succumb to her injuries immediately, with a trail of blood extending 200 yards to the west side of Carriage Road as she desperately sought help near a local shopping center. At approximately 6:30 pm, an 11-year-old boy, Ronald Fisk, discovered the critically injured girl and raced away on his bicycle to seek help from his father, who worked at a nearby market store. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of responding personnel, Nikki Benedict would be pronounced dead upon her arrival at Palomar Hospital.
Flake Crawford Casto lived at 12021 Pomerado Road, only 1 1/2 miles from the location where Nikki Benedict was attacked. In fact, Pomerado Road bisected Poway Road just 921 meters from the attack site. An eyewitness described a young man running away from the crime scene. Flake Casto would have been 20 years of age on May 1st 1967. His first suspected rape attack in Clairemont on December 3rd 1967 was seven months after the murder of Nikki Benedict. The rape occurred sixteen days before his wife gave birth at Knollwood Hospital in Riverside.
Flake Crawford Casto lived at 12021 Pomerado Road, only 1 1/2 miles from the location where Nikki Benedict was attacked. In fact, Pomerado Road bisected Poway Road just 921 meters from the attack site. An eyewitness described a young man running away from the crime scene. Flake Casto would have been 20 years of age on May 1st 1967. His first suspected rape attack in Clairemont on December 3rd 1967 was seven months after the murder of Nikki Benedict. The rape occurred sixteen days before his wife gave birth at Knollwood Hospital in Riverside.
On January 4th 1975, the Press-Enterprise newspaper stated that Flake Casto (27) had been sentenced to five years in jail for burglary, despite initially being charged with the rape of two University of California, Riverside women on February 2nd 1974 and February 21st 1974. Casto was found at 3am in March walking down the hallways of the campus, trying the doors on the floor where the women had been previously raped. The Nancy Drew YouTube channel found later reports that Flake Casto was described as a mentally disordered sex offender.
The teenager years of Flake Casto overlapped with that of Cheri Jo Bates, murdered by a short-bladed knife on the Riverside City College campus on October 30th 1966 - so it's unusual that he would live so close to the murder location of Nikki Alexandra Benedict, also stabbed with a short-bladed knife in Poway on May 1st 1967, located 72 miles south of Terracina Drive (by crow). His family's residence at 8279 Marie Street, Riverside was 3 1/2 miles from the Riverside City College campus. I wonder if those brush offs were real?
The teenager years of Flake Casto overlapped with that of Cheri Jo Bates, murdered by a short-bladed knife on the Riverside City College campus on October 30th 1966 - so it's unusual that he would live so close to the murder location of Nikki Alexandra Benedict, also stabbed with a short-bladed knife in Poway on May 1st 1967, located 72 miles south of Terracina Drive (by crow). His family's residence at 8279 Marie Street, Riverside was 3 1/2 miles from the Riverside City College campus. I wonder if those brush offs were real?
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