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RICHARD GRINELL, COVENTRY, ENGLAND
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THE RIVERSIDE STUDEBAKER

6/16/2019

 
We will take a look at the Riverside murder of Cheri Jo Bates on October 30th 1966 strictly from the perspective of the vehicle used by the killer, obviously presuming he had used one that evening. Robert Graysmith made an unusual reference in his book 'Zodiac Unmasked' stating "Cheri Jo checked out three books from the local college library. Though her friends were at the small, cramped library between 7:15 pm and 8:57 pm, none recalled seeing her there. At 9.00 pm when the archives closed, she returned to her car to discover the engine would not catch. And here she had been working part-time at the Riverside National Bank. Parked behind her car was a Tucker Torpedo that had not been there before". 
Robert Graysmith would claim nobody recalled seeing Cheri Jo Bates in the cramped library between 7:15 pm and 8:57 pm, but somehow he surmised she had returned to her vehicle at 9:00 pm, where a Tucker Torpedo was observed parked directly behind her Volkswagen Beetle. This obviously flies in the face of everything we know about her movements that night. Robert Graysmith clearly embellished many sections of his book, blurring the line between fact and fiction, but to pluck a Tucker Torpedo out of thin air for no apparent reason, could suggest a semblance of truth - particularly when we consider only 51 Tucker Torpedo's were ever made before the company folded in 1949. Also, based on the very small production of this vehicle, it may be extremely likely that this vehicle was mistaken for an altogether more common make of car.      
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Although the front end grill is different, it is conceivable that the person who originated the Tucker Torpedo sighting was an attendee at the Riverside City College library on that fateful night and gave this description to police during the library reconstruction on November 13th 1966. A young student, more familiar with current day automobiles, could easily have made an error in identifying a vehicle 18 years old. Parked behind Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle in relative darkness, the Studebaker vehicle shown above exhibits similarities to the Tucker Torpedo. This vehicle parked facing westwards toward the library entrance would most likely have been observed from its front end as students were leaving the library annex. The sheer fact this vehicle was highlighted by Robert Graysmith is of particular interest when we consider the sighting of a 1947-1952 Studebaker on Riverside Avenue on the evening of the murder.    
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After the library reconstruction an article appeared in the Daily Enterprise on November 1966. It stated "Detectives investigating the murder of Cheri Bates are looking for a car almost identical to this one. Police say a 1947-52 model Studebaker with light-colored, oxidized paint was parked on Riverside avenue just south of Terracina about 7 p.m. on the night that the Riverside City College freshman was stabbed to death. Detectives said a recent re-enactment of the murder at the college campus provided this information. They ask anyone who knows of a car similar to this one, used by police to stage this photograph, to contact the Police Department".

Although it is possible this information was given by a student attending the library reconstruction, Riverside Avenue sat just around the corner from Terracina Drive in 1966, and it is possible that this vehicle would not have been noticed by a student as anything suspicious at around 7:00 pm while passing a random vehicle parked on a street. I took a cursory look into Riverside Avenue on street view in Google maps and discovered this is a fairly affluent and scenic road, with properties in the order of $400,000. The very place that a homeowner would notice an old oxidized vehicle sitting outside their property for any length of time. Had they read the Daily Enterprise in November, it is certainly feasible they had contacted the Riverside Police Department and shared this information of a suspicious, out of place vehicle sitting idle for a noticeable time period. If this were the same vehicle parked behind Cheri Jo Bates' vehicle just two hours later, misidentified as a Tucker Torpedo (built in the same time frame of the 40s), then this is at the very least noteworthy. The Studebaker was described as a 1947-1952 model, suggesting the person who described the vehicle knew their cars. This may add weight to a resident of Riverside Avenue, with a decent income and more mature in years, being knowledgeable enough to specify the exact years of 1947-1952 when the Studebaker Champion third generation was manufactured in a completely redesigned fashion.  

These sightings would not necessarily be significant, if it wasn't for the fact of an earwitness to the murder of Cheri Jo Bates later that night, described in the newspapers as "a neighbor who heard an 'awful scream' between 10.15 and 10.45 pm, and then about two minutes of silence, and finally the sound of an old car starting up." They obviously felt it significant enough to describe the vehicle as an "old car", which ordinarily wouldn't catch the attention, but for the two previous sightings mentioned by Robert Graysmith and the witness in the Daily Enterprise newspaper. The final thing to examine, is whether this brief audible recollection of an old vehicle starting up approximately two minutes after the scream, tallies with the location of the old vehicle (Tucker Torpedo or Studebaker) parked behind Cheri Jo Bates' lime green Volkswagen Beetle.  

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As shown in the diagram above, we can see that if the murderer parked his vehicle behind the Volkswagen Beetle, then he had a 325 foot journey back to his vehicle after leaving the crime scene. Average walking pace is approximately 4.5 feet per second, so we will raise this to 5.0 feet per second for somebody leaving the scene of a crime. Our perpetrator should take about 70 seconds to reach his vehicle just beyond the Volkswagen Beetle. We will now use the 'Confession' letter mailed on November 29th 1966 (assuming it was typed by the killer) to determine the time period from the scream to when he departed the crime scene. It stated "She let out a scream once and I kicked her in the head to shut her up. I plunged the knife into her and it broke. I then finished the job out cutting her throat". This suggests that after Cheri Jo Bates had screamed, she was thrown to the ground, where the perpetrator performed three actions [1] Kicked her in the head [2] Plunged the knife into her back (the only wound to the rear of her body), and [3] cut her throat. Allowing approximately 20 seconds to achieve what he stated, he proceeds to walk the 70 seconds to his vehicle. To enter his vehicle and start the engine roughly another 20 seconds. The total time elapsed from the scream to the engine starting is now approximately 110 seconds, or 1 minute and 50 seconds, exactly matching the "about two minutes of silence" described by the earwitness close to the alleyway. This would corroborate the unknown eyewitness who described an old 40s vehicle parked behind the Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates.   

If all these three vehicles described are actually one and the same, it is then a matter of formulating the movement of this vehicle between the 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm sighting. Did the killer park his vehicle a distance from the library and walk to the Riverside College to disable Cheri Jo Bates Volkswagen Beetle, thereby reducing the chances of his vehicle being noticed by passing library traffic, only getting into position closer to the time the library closed? Did he drive to the library briefly (before 7:15 pm), disable her vehicle and then drive away (parking up at various locations in the vicinity, such as Riverside Avenue), before returning into position to be the first 'good Samaritan' to offer Cheri Jo Bates his help? There could be any number of possibilities. There is every chance these vehicles are completely irrelevant to the murder of the young college student, but with so little to go on, it is certainly worthy of consideration.     
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San Bernardino Sun, December 2nd 1966.
Deja-Vu
6/17/2019 06:51:16 am

Richard, I’m certain I’m not the only one that would love to see the article you quote below. Have you cited it’s location where you found it on the Web? Where can we see that scan? Is it with the other articles displayed in the right-most column of your website?

“Daily Enterprise on November 1966. It stated
‘Detectives investigating the murder of Cheri Bates are looking for a car almost identical to this one. Police say a 1947-52 model Studebaker with light-colored, oxidized paint was parked on Riverside avenue just south of Terracina about 7 p.m. on the night that the Riverside City College freshman was stabbed to death. Detectives said a recent re-enactment of the murder at the college campus provided this information. They ask anyone who knows of a car similar to this one, used by police to stage this photograph, to contact the Police Department.’”

Richard
6/17/2019 06:58:01 am

Yes you're right, I believe you mentioned this a few years ago. The contents of the article can be found in a few places on the web, but because I don't have access to newspapers.com, I didn't link to it or display it. I shall endeavour to find it. If I do I'll post it in the article.

Richard
6/17/2019 07:06:06 am

I have contacted somebody who has access to newspapers.com to see if they can find it for me. I'll post any progress here.

Richard
6/17/2019 07:49:18 am

This site shows the newspaper cutting

https://zodiacconfessed.wordpress.com/vehicle-forensics/a-look-alike-how-about-a-1952-kaiser/

Deja-Vu
6/17/2019 09:46:15 am

Excellent. Thank you. Howard Davis has repeatedly claimed to have seen it, so perhaps he can help provide a primary source citation. I’m sure Johansen and Silva have looked hard for it as well. ;-)

Monarch link
6/17/2019 09:23:00 pm

Richard, Is it possible the article was referring to the street that runs along the east side of the RCC Quadrangle near The library entrance renamed Mine OKubo Ave.? In 1966 that street was named Riverside Ave. that must be the area where the Studebaker/Tucker Torpedo was seen parked ?

Richard
6/18/2019 12:32:37 am

Thanks Monarch. Strangely Riverside Avenue is broken into two parts. In other words it is not one continuous road. It joins Mine OKubo Ave near Ramona Drive. The Studebaker can now be parked on Riverside Avenue only 4-5 minutes walking distance to the library and far more significant. Here is it shown on Google maps. Thanks for the heads up.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/33.9649619,-117.3853764/33.9625302,-117.3869775/@33.9632054,-117.3864495,16.75z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e2

Richard
6/18/2019 12:33:27 am

I have amended the article, which actually helps.

Richard
6/18/2019 06:58:50 am

On February 22, 2006, Riverside Community College honored the memory of its noted alumna when it announced that a street on the campus had been renamed Miné Okubo Avenue.

May just move the Studebaker to the corner.

Monarch link
6/18/2019 11:01:53 pm

Glad to help clear up any confusion, Cheers Richard.

Tom1
6/19/2019 05:54:36 am

That model could have been traced to any known acquaintance of Ms. Bates or to any library regular or person working in the area. Young people in that era were extremely knowledgable of the make and model of the various automobiles seen on the road.

Richard
6/19/2019 07:01:15 am

I would have thought police would certainly have cross-checked these vehicles with attendees at the library and associated family members, and likewise with persons known to Cheri Jo Bates. Of course, much easier today and less time consuming, but achievable in the 60s with the appropriate manpower. The earwitnesses on October 30th 1966 seem to suggest the scream and car starting up could be related.

I would like to know when the Daily Enterprise released this appeal in relation to the Confession letter - and whether the author of the Confession letter stated his "car was down the street and that I would give her a lift home", to misdirect the police into believing his vehicle was through the alleyway on the other side. If the Studebaker wasn't the murderer's, or if he didn't drive, the newspaper may have inspired him to misdirect police that he did drive. If the reenactment stimulated the response and article, then it may have been published sometime in the middle of November and therefore its correlation to the Confession letter weakens.

JD
6/19/2019 06:19:40 pm

I'm not sure about the specific article you mention, but the Studebaker request is mentioned in a Friday, December 2, 1966 San Bernardino County Sun article regarding the Bates letter

Richard
6/19/2019 11:37:44 pm

Thanks JD, I was hoping that an article mentioning the Studebaker could be found on or around the 26th or 27th November, thereby triggering the Confession letter, which could then be examined for the motivation of its content. Cheers, Richard.

Richard
6/19/2019 11:47:02 pm

Placed that newspaper cutting in the article JD.

Cliff
6/19/2019 12:06:43 pm

Let’s not lose sight of the paper quoting the investigators: It is not that police are interested in ONLY a Studebaker make/model (at the exclusion of other makes/models in that production year range); rather the police appeal to potential witnesses that may have seen “a car similar to this one.”

Richard
6/19/2019 12:20:33 pm

Certainly, good point.


Comments are closed.
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