Auburn-Folsom Road Killer

Generally, unless the killer confessed, or was caught with the murder weapon in his hand, Placer County homicides were never solved:

Between 1970-1993 Placer County had a series of highly unusual, unsolved homicides that involved low or no risk victims, in safe neighborhoods, killed with no apparent motive. 

In FBI True ( S2:Ep. 9 ), Orange County cold case investigator Larry Pool described his search for the offender he called “The Original Night Stalker”:

“So, it started with me looking back through the investigations, and make sure that I had every document, note, anything that had ever been written pertaining to each investigation. What I was thinking was that when the killing stopped, something interrupted him. One of the studies that I did is people who are incarcerated during that period of time, and I figured that’s probably where he was… in prison. So I placed a heavy emphasis on looking at people who were free up until July 27th in 1981, and then in custody at least up until, let’s say, May 4th of 1986 in that window of time. The case went cold, so what am I doing wrong? ”

•Perhaps the only thing that Investigator Pool was doing “wrong” was not expanding his search for suspects north—to Placer County. 

PLACER COUNTY SIMILAR M.O. CASES

• The Placer DA and Sheriff have refused to provide any information on the unsolved Placer County homicides/attempts with MOs that match each other. Requests from other law enforcement investigators looking for connections to DeAngelo have been denied, as have written public records demands from victims' family members.  The cases all occurred along a specific route starting on Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights, and ending in Foresthill: 

#1 Judith Hakari-Saturday, March 7, 1970, 11:45 pm. 23-yr-old Judith’s car was found by her fiancée in the apartment parking lot, 1720 Markston Rd. The driver’s door was open,  the keys were on the floor, and a coat button was in the backseat along with torn strips from a white “locker room” towel. Judith and her purse were missing. 

•Judith’s body was found on Saturday, April 25, 1970, at about 5:00 pm by a Sacramento couple looking at an abandoned gold mine. Judith had been severely beaten and strangled with her stockings. Her body was found in a canvas bag, buried in a small, shallow grave. 

•The site was three miles east of I-80, off Ponderosa Way, in a remote location in the American River Canyon region. The site also connected to Foresthill Road above Auburn with a ten minute drive on Ponderosa. 

•Although her underclothes were removed, and found under her body, there were no signs of a sexual assault. Judith had been kidnapped from her car in her apartment parking lot after leaving her nursing shift at Sutter Memorial Hospital. She was still wearing her uniform, and engagement ring when she was found. 

•Judith had been gagged and blindfolded with torn pieces of white towels stolen from a San Juan School District facility. The canvas bag she was found in was also from the school district. There was an unidentified sweatshirt found in the bag under Judith’s body.

•Judith’s purse and watch were missing, and never found.

#2 Donna Lass-Sunday, September 6, 1970, 3893 Pioneer Trail - Monte Verdi Arts Apartments, South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County California. Nurse working at a Nevada casino saw her last patient at 1:15 am, drove home, parked her car in her apartment parking space, and disappeared. No witnesses, signs of a struggle, or screams heard. 

•Donna had moved into the apartment on Saturday, just before going to work, she had not yet spent a night there. When a friend arrived on Monday to spend Labor Day with her, Donna was not at home or at work. The friend returned to San Francisco without seeing her.

•The casino security officer contacted several parties to check on Donna, including her apartment manger who let himself into her apartment. Things appeared to be undisturbed, and there was no sign that Donna had made it inside on the night she went missing. A series of errors by the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (CA) and Douglas County Sheriff's Office (NV) led to the mistaken message that Donna had returned home to South Dakota. By the time her sisters were notified, and were able to fly to California to report her missing, more than two weeks had passed. All potential evidence, witnesses, and clues were lost. 

•The South Lake Tahoe Chief of Police told the press that Donna had left on her own without her car, or any of her belongings for some unknown reason, and the story quickly died out. Donna's family hired a private investigator, who gathered the only interviews and useful information in the case. The media remained disinterested until six months later, when Zodiac sent a postcard claiming Donna as one of his victims. 

•The postcard indicated that Donna's body could be found in an area of Placer County, and the Sheriff immediately announced searches of likely areas, and stated that he was working with Sacramento County based upon the assumption that Donna and Judith Hakari had been kidnapped and killed by the same person. 

•On Friday August 1, 1986, two PG&E surveyors found a female skull and arm bone in exactly the area of Placer County indicated on the Zodiac postcard. Both the arm and skull showed evidence of homicidal violence. Most of the teeth were present for comparison. Donna did not have any fillings, still had her wisdom teeth, and had a noticeably rotated upper tooth visible in photos. 

•Donna was the most famous missing woman in California, and her remains were found one county away from where she went missing 16 years earlier, yet the skull was never compared to Donna's dental records. All of Donna's unique dental details were noted by the forensic odentologist who examined the skull. It seems impossible that this was missed. It appears that the Placer Sheriff's Office intentionally hid Donna's remains in 1986 so they would not have to deal with a Zodiac case.

•In 2000, when the FBI started adding DNA profiles of family members of missing persons, and unidentified remains to CODIS  for matching, Donna's sister added her DNA to the database. Meanwhile, the Placer County Sheriff's Office did nothing. Donna's remains sat in a box on a shelf, unidentified and uninvestigated until 2023 when Placer County used some federal funds to test unidentified remains in storage. As soon they realized it was Donna, Placer refused to answer any questions about the case, and referred it back to South Lake Tahoe PD. 

#3 Bill Harrington & Carla Burkart-Wednesday, March 2, 1977, 11:15 am, 8297 Lonepine Place, Granite Bay. PG&E employees killed in their truck with .38 revolver as they sat in front of the home where they had just delivered a service notice.

•Both victims were shot in the head at close range through the open window(s). Neither appeared to be looking at the shooter, and they did not make a distress call on the radio.

•The home of Wesley Williams was ransacked but nothing was stolen. A gun in the house was moved to the fireplace mantel, as if displayed. It was not the murder weapon.

•Williams and his wife had unexpectedly left the home vacant to visit their son in the  hospital at 9:00 am, and returned around noon. 

#4 “Nancy”-Wednesday, July 27, 1977, 12:30 pm. Albertson’s parking lot at the corner of Greenback Lane and San Juan Ave, Citrus Heights. 

•20-year-old “Nancy" left her nearby family home around noon to deposit a check at the bank, and pick up some items her mother needed to cook dinner. When she returned to her car, a man forced her into the driver’s seat at gunpoint. As he gave her turn by turn directions, he made her remove items of clothing. The car got stuck on the side of the road in Granite Bay after “Nancy” missed a turn, and was ordered to do a U-turn. The kidnapper then walked her up the road in front of multiple witnesses to a wooded area where he left her naked, beaten, and stabbed—stuffed in a culvert. She was found barely alive the next morning. Her wallet and car keys were taken by the attacker.

#5 Kimberly Best & Paige Sinclair-Afternoon of Tuesday, October 4, 1977.

•The 15-yr-old girls from Dallas, OR were seen by three sets of  witnesses between 10:00 am-2:00 pm at the base of Foresthill Road in Auburn. They were likely looking for a ride to Reno where they believed they could find work. Both girls were carrying small suitcases.

•Wednesday, October 5, 1977 at 10:45 am. Two hunters saw blood on the road, and stopped to investigate. They found Kimberly and Paige about 4 ft off the road down the embankment. Kimberly had been shot in the head with a .38 and bludgeoned. Paige had also been bludgeoned. The weapon was unusual, something with a sharp edge or point. Upper Lake Clementine Road is a steep remote area that leads to a beach on the American River popular with panners and SCUBA divers hunting for gold.

•The girls were not sexually assaulted, and their belongings were found with their bodies; there was no apparent motive for their murders. Time of death was estimated to be shortly after they were last seen in Auburn the prior afternoon.

#6 Janet Kovacich-Tuesday, September 8, 1982, 244 Forest Court, Auburn, Placer County. 27-year-old Janet saw her children off to school, made a school appointment on the phone, but didn't keep it an hour later. Her husband said he left her getting ready in the master bathroom at about 10:15 am, and she and her purse were gone when he returned home shortly after noon. By 3:00 pm he started contacting friends, family, neighbors, and the school, but nobody had seen Janet after he left the house. 

•Janet's husband was a Sergeant with the Placer County Sheriff's Office, and commander of the agency's K-9 program. The family had two trained K-9's at their home. "Fuzz" had died a few weeks prior to Janet's disappearance. The veterinarian's examination diagnosed poisoning, but her search of the home and yard failed to find a possible source. At 9:30 pm the night before Janet disappeared, while her husband was at KFC, the neighbor called to say that the surviving K-9, "Adolph," was in the driveway. Someone had opened the gate, and let the dog out of the yard--possibly believing that the husband had left for his usual night shift. 

•The only other evidence in the case was found by the CalDOJ forensic field investigation team that searched the Kovacich house, yard, and vehicles a few days later. The criminalist found a bent screen on the sliding section of a large dining room window, and when he removed it he found that the glass had been broken at the corner near the lock. The window was behind a retaining wall, and could not be seen by any of the neighbors. The inside was covered by blinds that were rarely opened. 

•The Auburn Chief of Police, Nick Willick, was convinced that Janet had left on her own, likely with the help of her mother, so he did not enter her information into any of the state's missing person databases, or inform neighboring jurisdictions. No attempt was made to check the husband's stated alibi which should have be easily confirmable by multiple disinterested witnesses. The residents of the cul-de-sac, the street overlooking the Kovacich backyard, and on the neighboring 40 acre convent property were not interviewed, and no other properties were searched.

•Janet's mother tried to gain custody of the children by claiming that her husband had killed "Fuzz," but multiple investigations failed to find proof of anything other than poisoning, and the court found that further contact between the children and grandmother would be harmful to them. Janet's mother had her declared legally dead in 1995, but no new evidence was developed. 

•After Janet's mother died in 2004, a volunteer former reserve officer got permission to reopen the case based upon her 1982 statements about "Fuzz." He convinced the Sacramento FBI office that if they helped get a warrant to excavate "Fuzz," they would find Janet's remains as well. When that did not happen, they took it to the grand jury as a no body, "nobody else could have done it case." 

•Eventually the FBI claimed that a skull found with a male femur and dentures in 1995 actually belonged to Janet. The judge ruled that the jury could not hear about any of the other Placer homicides because they were unsolved, with no named suspects. The husband was convicted of Janet's murder in 2009. He remains in prison. 

#7 Rosemary Norris-Wednesday, November 30th, 1983. 39-yr-old Rosemary disappeared from her Citrus Heights home. She had just spoken to a friend on the phone at 4:30pm. Her husband and teen son were out of town on an antique buying trip for their store. 

•Five hours later, at about 9:30pm, Rosemary’s strangled, fully clothed body was found off a limited access road in what was then a remote industrial area of Roseville. There were no signs of a sexual assault. Rosemary’s purse was missing, but she was thought to have had little cash, and her cards were never used. 

•There was no evidence at Rosemary’s house, but it appeared that she had been kidnapped in her distinctive vintage truck. It was located by one of Rosemary’s neighbors in the Raley’s parking lot in Roseville two weeks later. It has been parked there shortly before it was found. 

#8 Mary Lloyd-Tuesday, June 25th, 1985, 9:40am, Auburn. 69-yr-old Mary was stabbed to death in the front seat of her car parked directly in front of Safeway, located off Auburn Ravine Road.

•Mary had attended services at St. Joseph's Church, and was next seen by a Safeway customer who thought that a child was being attacked, and reported it in the store. As the killer got out of the car to flee, he was confronted by a delivery driver and got back in the car and drove off with Mary's body inside. Her body was later found on a hillside near Applegate, and the car was found six days later in North Hollywood... on the wrong side of the street, in a red zone, with slashed tires. 

•No motive was discovered. Mary had no cash and would not have resisted. Investigators noted that this was the second next door neighbor of APD Chief Willick to be murdered—Bill Harrington had been killed in 1977.

#9 Erna Martin-Friday, November 12th, 1988, Granite Bay, 11:00 am. 45-yr-old Erna disappeared from her Granite Bay home, possibly going for a walk. She vanished without a trace, and has never been located.

#10 Cinthia Wanner-Monday, November 25th, 1991, Granite Bay, between 12:30-1:15 pm. 35-yr-old Cindy was abducted from her sister’s residence. 

• It was a brand new home on a cul-de-sac of three homes, with the other two still under construction. Cindy was approached while cleaning the bathroom and dropped a rag and can in the hall. She left her 11-month-old daughter in the highchair, her shoes and coat by the front door, and her car in the driveway. Only Cinthia and her purse were missing. 

•It appeared that the kidnapper was watching the house and waited until her sister and brother-in-law left the home. Cindy’s body was found just off Foresthill Road above Auburn, on Saturday, December 14th, 1991. She had been strangled with a thin cord or wire, with no signs of a sexual assault. 

•The killer used Cindy’s ATM card at 4:00 pm on the day of the kidnapping to withdraw $40. The ATM was on Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights—a few blocks from Rosemary Norris’s residence, and the site of “Nancy’s” kidnapping.  Cinthia’s abduction location was two miles from Erna Martin’s home. The killer drove Cinthia from Granite Bay, past the Kovacich & Willick residences and Auburn PD station, right through the center of Auburn and up Foresthill Road.

#11 Cherilynn Hawkley-Friday, October 29th, 1993, 4-5:00 pm, Granite Bay. 39 yr-old Cherilynn disappeared from Eureka Elementary where she taught 5th Grade. The school had just finished their Halloween trick-or-treat party.

•The kidnapping occurred in the school parking lot. Cherilynn was found two days later on Sunday evening at 9:00 pm in her van, at Oak Hills Elementary School—less than a mile away. Cherilynn was found between the second and third row of seats in the rear of the van. Nothing was stolen; there was no sexual assault, and she was fully clothed. Like Wanner, Cherilynn was also strangled with a thin cord or wire. The abduction site is 1.5 miles from the Wanner abduction; and 1.5 from Erna Martin.

#12 Susan Jacobson - Wednesday, May 1, 2013, Gold Nugget Way, Placer County. 59-year-old Susan was last seen shortly before 6:00 am at home in her dog walking clothes. When her husband returned from work, Susan and her car were gone. He quickly became worried because she liked to do her shopping first thing in the morning, and should have been home hours earlier.

•He called Roseville PD at 7:00 pm, and her car was quickly located in the parking lot of the nearby Raley's supermarket. It was unlocked, and her purse was on the passenger seat. The next day Starbucks contacted the police to say that Susan's wallet had been turned in by someone who found it on the walkway at 7:30 am on Wednesday morning. All of the key areas fell outside the shopping center's security cameras. 

•It appeared that Susan had disappeared from home, and the car and wallet staged as a diversion scene, but the police became focused on her husband and failed to canvass the neighborhood for possible witnesses. The couple had been married for 35 years with no know issues or motives. Susan has never been found. 

•Susan and her sister grew up in Danville, and their home was the location of DeAngelo stalking and prowling in December, 1978. Her parents gave police the description and license plate of a possible suspect vehicle after their neighbor was attacked by the EAR. In 2013 DeAngelo worked a short walk away from the Raley's, and Susan's home.