Joan Stewart, a 44-year-old white female biology professor at San Francisco City College, was found murdered on January 6, 1982, in the woodlands near Montclair, California. She had been raped, strangled, and stabbed multiple times. Investigators discovered a half-eaten piece of Canadian bacon at the crime scene, which led them to Charles Jackson Jr., a local man with a history of violent crimes. Witnesses had reported seeing a suspicious vehicle in the area, and the license plate matched Jackson's car. Further investigation revealed that Jackson's mother routinely gave him Canadian bacon for breakfast, strengthening the case against him.
Jackson was arrested on January 8, 1982, and charged with Stewart's murder. He was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, due to a judicial error, he was retried in 1986 and again received a life sentence. In the late 1990s, DNA testing linked Jackson to several other murders in the East Bay area, including the 1981 double homicide of Henry and Edith Vila. Jackson died of a heart attack in 2002 while serving his sentence at Folsom State Prison. Posthumous DNA evidence confirmed his involvement in multiple other murders, solidifying his status as a serial killer.
