Revisiting the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders

Note: This story contains details of violent murders that may be disturbing to readers.

One of Sonoma County’s most notorious unsolved crimes, involving seven young women and girls murdered in the early 1970s, has long baffled investigators and amateur sleuths alike.

Earlier this year Wondery’s The Morbid Podcast airs an episode about the hitchhiker murders in Santa Rosacalls the murders “one of the most baffling unsolved cases in California’s state history.”

For each of those concerned, unsolved murder casesThe victims, aged between 12 and 23, were last seen hitchhiking. All the victims Many were found naked in rural areas of Santa Rosa. One of the victims has not yet been found.

The murders began with the disappearance of Herbert Slater Secondary School students Maureen Sterling (12) and Yvonne Weber (13). The girls had been missing since February 4, 1972, and were last seen getting into a car in front of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena. known as Snoopy’s House Ice).

The bodies of Sterling and Weber were not found nearly two years later, on Dec. 26, 1973, down an embankment on the west side of Franz Valley Road, several miles from its intersection with Porter Creek Road east of Santa Rosa. The causes of death were unknown.

Five other young women had been reported missing before Sterling and Weber were found.

19-year-old Kim Allen disappeared on March 4, 1972, and was last seen hitchhiking from San Rafael to Santa Rosa. His body was found the next day down an embankment on Enterprise Road. According to a March 25, 1973 article in The Press Democrat, she had been raped and slowly strangled to death, and marks on her body indicated that she had been bound at her ankles and wrists before she died. Additionally, “the oily substance found on his right side was determined to be similar to oil used in cutting metal in a machine shop.”

Jeannette Kamahele disappeared on April 25, 1972, and was last seen hitchhiking at the Highway 101 on-ramp in Cotati on her way to Santa Rosa Junior College. The March 25, 1973, article states that he was seen around 9:30 a.m. “getting into a 1950-52 pale brown Chevrolet pickup with a homemade trailer, slightly higher than the cab, with wood sides and a flat roof.” Kamahele was never found.

Lori Kursa, 13, a Cook Middle School student, disappeared on November 20, 1972, after reportedly running away from home. His body was found Dec. 14, 1972, down a steep embankment on the west side of Calistoga Road in Santa Rosa. The Press Democrat’s December 17, 1972 article noted that a vertebra near his neck was displaced, which may have contributed to his death.

Shasta County native Carolyn Davis, 14, went missing on July 15, 1973, and was last seen hitchhiking on Highway 101 in Garberville. His body was found on July 31, 1973, near where Weber and Sterling were found five months later. Davis reportedly died from strychnine poisoning.

Theresa Dianne Walsh, 23, went missing on December 22, 1973, and was last seen hitchhiking north on Highway 101 toward Garberville to spend Christmas with her family and 2-year-old son. His body was found under a log in Mark West Creek on December 28, 1973. The cause of death was revealed to be drowning.

An unidentified victim was found on July 2, 1979, approximately 100 yards from Kursa’s location on Calistoga Road.

There are a number of theories about who the Santa Rosa hitchhiker killer was, including Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer. Investigative journalists investigated the murders in eight-part documentary series “I hunted.” In 2022, researchers were investigating: Whether convicted rapist and murderer Jack Bokin committed the murders. Bokin died on December 4, 2021.

In February, HBO Max released a docuseries. “The Truth About Jim” Investigating a series of crimes by Santa Rosa resident Jim Mordecai and trying (ultimately in vain) to prove that he is the murderer.

Anyone with information about the cases can call the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office’s cold cases line at 707-565-2727 or email [email protected].