Do you know who murdered 18 year old Cheri Jo Bates in 1966? The tragic murder of 18-year-old Cheri Jo Bates on October 30, 1966, remains one of Riverside, California’s most infamous unsolved cases. Bates was a freshman at Riverside City College, where she had gone to study at the campus library that evening. Her father reported her missing after she failed to return home, and the following morning, her body was discovered in an alleyway near the library.
Investigators believe the perpetrator tampered with her Volkswagen Beetle, disabling the ignition to lure her away from the vehicle. Evidence suggests that Bates tried to start her car multiple times before encountering her attacker, who brutally assaulted her.
An autopsy revealed the sheer violence of the crime: Bates had suffered 42 stab wounds, including to her chest and face, and her throat was slashed, nearly decapitating her. Her injuries suggested she fought valiantly for her life, as hair and skin fragments—believed to be from her attacker—were found beneath her fingernails. Despite the clues left at the scene, including unidentified fingerprints and a broken watch, no arrests were made.
The case took an eerie turn when anonymous letters were sent to local newspapers and police, with one confession claiming responsibility for the murder and alluding to future killings. These letters, along with other circumstantial evidence, led some to suspect a link between Bates' murder and the Zodiac Killer, who terrorized Northern California just a few years later. However, Riverside police remain skeptical of this connection, asserting that they have a separate suspect in mind, though they have not been able to gather sufficient evidence for an arrest.
Bates' murder continues to haunt investigators, and it remains an active cold case. Despite the passage of time and advances in forensic technology, including DNA testing of evidence, the identity of her killer remains a mystery.
