Although the Riverside Police Department have stymied the Cheri Jo Bates murder case through some of the actions they have undertaken in the last few decades, nobody in good faith can criticize the work done by the Riverside Police Department in the immediate aftermath of the October 30th 1966 murder. Their investigation into the 18-year-old woman's slaying was comprehensive and thorough, leaving no stone unturned. They performed a re-enactment of the day she was murdered by inviting everybody who attended the Riverside City College library that fateful evening to return on November 13th 1966, and ensured that they wore the same clothes, parked their vehicles in the same spot and sat in the same seats as previous. They took fingerprints and hair samples from everybody that attended, which amounted to over sixty people.
The Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates was scoured for fingerprints inside and out, which according to the Riverside Press newspaper "found eleven fingerprints and seven palm prints on Cheri's car. All but four fingerprints and three palm prints were later identified as those of Cheri, her father, brother, a girl friend and a service station attendant who worked on her car the week she was murdered".
The police checked the roofs of nearby buildings and used metal detectors up to a one block radius of the crime scene looking for the knife used to kill Cheri. Thirty-five members of a nearby fraternity building across from the library on the night she was murdered were located and questioned. The Timex watch found 10 feet from the body of Cheri Jo Bates had flecks of paint on it, which led investigators to chemically analyse the specific mineral content of the paint and compare it to individuals who had recently painted their house. They even consulted with anthropologists, trying to find the bone structure of the killer and his general appearance by analysing the width and length of the watch. The police retrieved a cigarette butt from the dirt driveway near the body, which was later tested for DNA in 1999. The driveway was also hand sifted in a radius of 12 feet around her body to a depth of 3 inches, hoping to unearth any dropped items during her fight for life. The investigation was conducted to the highest degree.
The Volkswagen Beetle of Cheri Jo Bates was scoured for fingerprints inside and out, which according to the Riverside Press newspaper "found eleven fingerprints and seven palm prints on Cheri's car. All but four fingerprints and three palm prints were later identified as those of Cheri, her father, brother, a girl friend and a service station attendant who worked on her car the week she was murdered".
The police checked the roofs of nearby buildings and used metal detectors up to a one block radius of the crime scene looking for the knife used to kill Cheri. Thirty-five members of a nearby fraternity building across from the library on the night she was murdered were located and questioned. The Timex watch found 10 feet from the body of Cheri Jo Bates had flecks of paint on it, which led investigators to chemically analyse the specific mineral content of the paint and compare it to individuals who had recently painted their house. They even consulted with anthropologists, trying to find the bone structure of the killer and his general appearance by analysing the width and length of the watch. The police retrieved a cigarette butt from the dirt driveway near the body, which was later tested for DNA in 1999. The driveway was also hand sifted in a radius of 12 feet around her body to a depth of 3 inches, hoping to unearth any dropped items during her fight for life. The investigation was conducted to the highest degree.
From statements given, investigators believed Cheri Jo Bates entered the library annex shortly after it opened at 6 pm and checked out three books, which were found the following morning neatly piled on the front passenger seat of her Volkswagen Beetle. This would have indicated that Cheri had pulled out three books from the library shelves one after another. Her fingerprints should have been all over those books front and back. These books were relevant to both the library and her vehicle, and would have certainly been dusted for fingerprints.
The police couldn't have been certain that these books were not handled by the person who killed her, so based on the screams heard at approximately 10:30 pm by local people, investigators would have considered the possibility that Cheri Jo Bates may have gone to a secondary location and interacted with another person, who could have handled the books during this period and possibly carried the books back to the Volkswagen Beetle for her, just prior to the attack. The vehicle was comprehensively dusted on its exterior and interior, so any suggestion that they would have completely ignored the three books sitting on the front passenger seat of her vehicle, that were integral to her movements during the evening and night of October 30th 1966 - and overlooked as evidence - is not a realistic proposition.
If the books had tested negative for Cheri Jo Bates' fingerprints, then Zodiac researcher Ray Grant's assertion that she was kidnapped immediately after parking her vehicle and the female member of the "Zodiac team" used her library card to check out the books, may hold some water. However, the presence of Cheri Jo Bates' fingerprints on one or all of the books, would have told investigators that she alone entered the library and checked out her own books. Three books that were relevant to what she was studying (on presidential elections and election reform). For the theory of Ray Grant to have any traction, we would have to believe that [A] Investigators didn't bother to check the books for fingerprints, or [B] Investigators tested all three books but failed to find any fingerprints of Cheri Jo Bates, despite her handling all three books individually during a period lasting several minutes up to 4 1/2 hours. The question therefore becomes; if Cheri Jo Bates removed three books from the library shelves one after another and carried them to her vehicle, how likely is it that she didn't deposit one single fingerprint on any of the books while handling them for at least a few minutes? The discovery of one single fingerprint (or palm print) from the right or left hand of Cheri Jo Bates would have confirmed to investigators her presence in the library that evening. Something they have believed to this day.
* It must be noted that the spines of each book are positioned on the left side (away from the rear of the seat), which strongly suggests they were placed here by somebody entering the driver side of the vehicle, rather than the passenger side, where the reverse would be expected.
The police couldn't have been certain that these books were not handled by the person who killed her, so based on the screams heard at approximately 10:30 pm by local people, investigators would have considered the possibility that Cheri Jo Bates may have gone to a secondary location and interacted with another person, who could have handled the books during this period and possibly carried the books back to the Volkswagen Beetle for her, just prior to the attack. The vehicle was comprehensively dusted on its exterior and interior, so any suggestion that they would have completely ignored the three books sitting on the front passenger seat of her vehicle, that were integral to her movements during the evening and night of October 30th 1966 - and overlooked as evidence - is not a realistic proposition.
If the books had tested negative for Cheri Jo Bates' fingerprints, then Zodiac researcher Ray Grant's assertion that she was kidnapped immediately after parking her vehicle and the female member of the "Zodiac team" used her library card to check out the books, may hold some water. However, the presence of Cheri Jo Bates' fingerprints on one or all of the books, would have told investigators that she alone entered the library and checked out her own books. Three books that were relevant to what she was studying (on presidential elections and election reform). For the theory of Ray Grant to have any traction, we would have to believe that [A] Investigators didn't bother to check the books for fingerprints, or [B] Investigators tested all three books but failed to find any fingerprints of Cheri Jo Bates, despite her handling all three books individually during a period lasting several minutes up to 4 1/2 hours. The question therefore becomes; if Cheri Jo Bates removed three books from the library shelves one after another and carried them to her vehicle, how likely is it that she didn't deposit one single fingerprint on any of the books while handling them for at least a few minutes? The discovery of one single fingerprint (or palm print) from the right or left hand of Cheri Jo Bates would have confirmed to investigators her presence in the library that evening. Something they have believed to this day.
* It must be noted that the spines of each book are positioned on the left side (away from the rear of the seat), which strongly suggests they were placed here by somebody entering the driver side of the vehicle, rather than the passenger side, where the reverse would be expected.
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