While I am reluctant to call this a Zodiac crime, the overall M.O. and lack of motive, fits other beach area murders often associated with Zodiac. If the crime shappened 10-20 years earlier, I would lean towards a possible Zodiac connection
COURTESY OF SF CHRON:
Sonoma County detectives, stumped so far in their 20-month investigation into the mysterious slaying of a young couple on an ocean beach near Jenner, unveiled some items Tuesday collected at the scene — devil-like faces carved in driftwood, a distinctive beer bottle and a DNA sample they think may have come from the killer.
Investigators took the unusual step of going public with their evidence in hope that it will breathe new life into their stalled case.
The bodies of Lindsay Cutshall, 22, of Fresno, Ohio, and Jason Allen, 26, of Zeeland, Mich., were discovered in their sleeping bags on Aug. 18, 2004, on the secluded Fish Head Beach a few miles north of Jenner. Each had been shot in the head with a large-caliber rifle at close range. There was no sign of a struggle or robbery.
"We’d like to compare our evidence to people’s suspicions," said Lt. Dave Edmonds, who heads the Sheriff’s Department’s investigations unit. "The person who has the capacity to do a crime like this may draw those suspicions out. We’re asking people to view these items and share their suspicions."
Detectives for the first time disclosed that they found DNA evidence at the scene and believe it could help identify a suspect. Also found near the bodies was a "Camo 40" beer bottle — a distinctive label that was then available in Sonoma County at only select outlets.
Investigators also released digital photographs of an assortment of journal entries and photos of devil-like faces carved or burnt into driftwood that were found near the victims.
The two apparently had been killed in their sleep. None of the couple’s belongings, including Christian literature and camping gear, had been disturbed.
"It’s a difficult case, and we knew that from the beginning," Edmonds said. "We think that the public can help us. … If the case is solvable, we want it solved."
Another possible clue, the detectives said, is a black-and-white fur hat recovered on a nearby bluff. They also released a photo that depicts a necklace that may have been given to Cutshall a few days before the slayings. The necklace was not found with the bodies.
Edmonds said he hopes the disclosure of the distinctive items collected near the crime scene will help jog memories and produce leads that might solve the crime, as has happened in other "cold cases."
The investigative effort won praise Tuesday from the father of one of the victims.
"We’re very much satisfied with our detectives and how much they’re working this case," said Cutshall’s father, the Rev. Chris Cutshall, a pastor at the Fresno Bible Church in Fresno, Ohio. "They’re 20 months into it and working as hard as ever. And we believe they’re just as committed today as they were at the beginning. … Hopefully, this will lead to tips that will develop into solid leads."
Cutshall said investigators recovered the DNA sample — presumably a bit of saliva — on the Camo 40 beer bottle.
Lindsay Cutshall and Allen, both originally from the Midwest, were Christian missionaries who had been working as river rafting guides at Rock-N-Water, a Christian camp in El Dorado County. They had planned to marry in September 2004.
Detectives quickly ruled out murder-suicide, robbery and sexual assault. They examined several hundred leads, questioned nearly everyone in the small town of Jenner and tried to reconstruct the young couple’s whereabouts during their last few days.
Investigators concluded that the killings occurred Monday, Aug. 16, or in the early hours of Aug. 17. They said there were numerous reported sightings of the young couple in the days before their bodies were found on Aug. 18.
"The crime scene was relatively stale when we arrived," Edmonds said.
Ballistics experts concluded that a .45-caliber Marlin rifle — either a lever action or semi-automatic model — was used in the double slaying. It’s a fairly distinctive but common rifle, and investigators have examined Marlin rifles owned by many residents along the North Coast. But they have been unable to find the murder weapon.
Edmonds said a full-time detective has worked the case daily and that, as opportunities arise, other resources are devoted to the case.
Investigators have searched the state’s data base of DNA samples from inmates, comparing it with DNA found at the crime scene. State law requires the collection of DNA — a genetic fingerprint — from those arrested for a felony.
Investigators are focusing on five different journal entries by authors with distinctive handwriting styles. The observations and reflections were written during the weeks before the killings at a small hut near the young couple’s campsite. Investigators would like to know who wrote these entries.
"No one has admitted to being the author of the journal writings," Edmonds said. "Both the style and the content are fairly distinctive for these entries."
Two of the writings involve salutations from someone who calls himself Spiderman. Another journal entry was a rhyme about Santa Claus, leprechauns and the tooth fairy. Another entry, signed by the letter "R" written uniquely, read: "At the Driftwood Inn, alone again, outside of myself and placid as hell …"
"Our purpose is to further our understanding of these particular items," Lt. Edmonds said, "and to ask the community to share their suspicion or knowledge about these particular items, to help us understand who might have the capacity to do something like this."
Investigators also would like to know who drew devil-like faces in driftwood near the victims.
"We have no idea at this stage whether these drawings have anything to do with the case," Cutshall said. "But we believe their deaths were satanically motivated anyway. These were great kids who were serving the Lord, and they didn’t have any enemies other than the evil one."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the crime. People with information about the evidence or the case are asked to contact the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department at (707) 565-2185.
The newly released items of evidence can be viewed at http://www.sonomasheriff.org
Couple’s known trail to Jenner
August 2004
Friday 13
7 p.m.: Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen finished their duties at the Rock-N-Water adventure camp in Coloma. Sometime that night they left in Cutshall’s red Ford Tempo, telling staffers they were off to visit friends.
Saturday 14
1 p.m.: Cutshall’s credit card was used to buy Tabasco sauce at Pier 47 in San Francisco. The couple were also seen at the California Gourmet Market at the Cannery. Photos from the couple’s camera show them in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.
Late Saturday: The couple buy gas at River Gas along Highway 116 in Guerneville. At the Jenner Inn, the front desk manager said the couple appeared either Friday or Saturday night. When told that there was no vacancy, the couple left to camp.
Sunday 15
Morning: Cutshall and Allen ate breakfast at the Jenner Inn. They planned to go to a new campsite.
Later on Sunday (or Saturday): The couple had asked the owner of Northern Lights, a surf shop in Bodega where they could camp for free. The couple were due back at their Sierra camp jobs by 5 p.m.
Monday 16
Evening: Between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., the couple allegedly entered the River’s End to ask if any cabins were available. But the inn’s owner said Allen wore a goatee, which he did not have when he died.
Tuesday 17
An employee at the Jenner Inn’s Mystic Isle Cafe allegedly saw the couple outside the cafe when it was closed.
Wednesday 18
The couple’s bodies were found at Fish Head Beach, when a sheriff’s helicopter spotted them near where deputies were trying to rescue a stranded teenager on a cliff.
Sources: ESRI; GDT; USGS; news reports; Chronicle research
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More photos related to the case
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last of the photos
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There was another suspect in this case, Joseph Henry Burgess, who was also suspect in similar beach murders. He was killed in a shoot-out with LE in New Mexico in 2009.
Ultimately, he appears to have been ruled out due to some DNA on a "Camo-40" beer bottle found near the Cutsall/Allen crime scene.
IIRC the Camo-40 beer is a rare beer and was found at one other crimes scene in the general (Jenner) area.
morf, I saw your thread on Lovers-Lane murders and it seems beach/couple murders could be a sub-genre.
I went to that crime scene with Tom V and Ed N, the terrain reminded us very much of the 1963 Santa Barbara beach murders, it was a steep climb down to that beach, I had on high heels, so it was a bit harder for me. People seemed to think that the couple could not be seen very easily from the road, but they could, because I drove just past where they had been parked. There is a curve just north of there , you can see that beach coming down from the north side.
The fuzzy hat that was found , I saw some just like it at Great America in San Jose Ca., so they are probably sold at most fairs ?
I couldn’t find the link that told about the black car, which had what looked like a large sticker on the back window ,showing a tadpole or something like that , near that crime scene?
Ironically, I saw a car that was pretty close to that driving east on highway 4 in C.C.County, a few months later. Only this small black car had a large sticker of a Dolphin jumping through a hoop. The license plate on that car was something like —1 UR-Saved. I reported it to the Sheriff’s dept., but of course no response.
I would be interested in knowing something more about the other beach crime, that had that same type of beer bottle.
I would be interested in knowing something more about the other beach crime, that had that same type of beer bottle.
the other crime was not a beach crime, but someone in the same area. I’ll compile some information for you 
I’m gonna do the nasty and quote right out of the wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Jenner,_California_double-murder), but I believe it does a good job of summarizing what would otherwise be about 3 articles..
First, a reminder:
Both Cutshall and Allen were killed with a .45-caliber Marlin rifle as they slept in their sleeping bags on the beach.
Note the murder weapon. Next,
In May 2006, twenty-one months after Cutshall and Allen were slain, Sonoma County Sheriff’s detectives released new evidence in the case, which they hoped would generate new leads. Several pieces of evidence were released, including poems which were found near the crime scene, an empty 40-ounce bottle of "Camo" beer…detectives also disclosed that a possible DNA sample from the killer had been recovered from the crime scene. Nevertheless, this promising piece of evidence had been tested against California’s database of DNA samples, but no match was made. Police would not elaborate on what the DNA evidence found was.
The DNA was presumably saliva on the Camo beer can (in fact, I believe that’s explicit in one of the articles).
A person of interest (Zook) arises…
Police investigated James Robert Zook who was convicted of first degree murder for the murder of Daniel Charles Bloomfield with a .22 caliber revolver on August 18. In this case, an old west-style revolver of the same era as the Marlin rifle was used and Zook shot Bloomfield three days after the morning when Cutshall and Allen are approximated to have been killed. The murder of Bloomfield took place around the outskirts of Sebastopol, California, about 30 miles from the Jenner crime scene.
…Zook joked with his cousin about "hunting the two-legged kind." Zook had also insinuated to fellow drug users on an occasion in August that he had murdered someone and that Bloomfield "was going to end up just like those other people. The crabs were going to be eating him also."
Zook’s parents owned a house on Muniz Ranches where he was ultimately arrested walking barefoot down Muniz Ranch Road on Thursday, August 19. The crime scene at Fish Head Beach is only a mile from that dirt road where it meets Hwy 1. At the scene of the crime where Bloomfield was murdered, his body was discovered under a tarpaulin sheet along with a bottle cap of Camo beer; the beer bottle was found nearby. The beer is no longer made and was an uncommon Wisconsin beer in California. Camo beer was found at the scene of the crime in Jenner as well.
Zook was convicted of the murder of Bloomfield and is currently incarcerated. Of course, NO details on matching the Jenner Beach DNA with Mr. Zook’s.
The other POI…
On July 21, 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that Sonoma County Sheriff’s detectives had named Joseph Henry Burgess as a suspect in the Jenner slayings…On July 21, 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that Sonoma County Sheriff’s detectives had named Joseph Henry Burgess as a suspect in the Jenner slayings
cleared?
This part is interesting, particularly the Haugen/Baumen double murder:
Similarities to other murders
…On October 19, 2003, Brandon Rumbaugh, 20, and Lisa Gurrieri, 19, were shot to death in their sleeping bags while camping in Yavapai County, Arizona.
…Additionally, detectives looked into a double-murder which occurred on Vancouver Island, British Columbia in 1972.…On July 1, 2005, the bodies of middle school counselor Stevan Haugen, 54, and his girlfriend Jeanette Bauman, 56, were discovered at a remote campground outside Oakridge, Oregon. Haugen’s dog was also found shot to death at the scene of the murders. There were key similarities between the Haugen-Bauman killings and the Allen-Cutshall killings which piqued the interest of investigators. First, ballistic evidence confirmed that both couples were murdered with a rifle. Second, both couples were killed in their sleeping bags while camping in a secluded area. Third, neither of the couples were the victims of sexual assault or robbery, although authorities in Lane County have confirmed that the license plates on Haugen’s vehicle (Oregon plate number CL47763) were stolen.
I believe Zook was incarcerated as of the Haugen/Bauman murders.
Found a case with ‘some’ similarity to the Jenner Beach case. No shooting, but the couple was attacked while staying at a secluded camp area in Hawaii. Just the attack in that kind of area sounds like the Jenner case, and then anonymous notes,flyers,letters followed. I say the couple was ‘attacked’ but the male is missing,and some consider him a suspect
The parents of a young California woman murdered in Hawaii and the sister of her missing boyfriend — now a key suspect in her death — have called the mystery "surreal" and expressed concern that he was also murdered.
Family members of Brittany Royal, 25, and her boyfriend, 22-year old Boaz Johnson, have broken their silence after the body of Royal was discovered May 28, strangled and dumped in the ocean near Hawaii’s Big Island. The couple had been living at a campsite in a remote town in the area, and Royal had told her parents that she was pregnant.
"They were excited about them being pregnant and kind of starting this new adventure and new life," Brittany Royal’s mother Julie Royal told ABC News.
A real estate agent told ABC affiliate KITV the two were about to close the deal on 10 acres of land in the lava fields in Kalapana.
Police say they suspect Johnson in Brittany Royal’s brutal murder, but he has seemingly vanished. Investigators say a seven-month search has put them no closer to finding their only suspect.
But Johnson’s family fears he is dead.
"We’re definitely concerned that he was also murdered alongside Brittany. It’s very possible her body showed up and his didn’t," Boaz Johnson’s sister Sarah Johnson said. "It just seems all too easy to blame someone who isn’t even here, may not even be alive to defend himself."
An affidavit filed with a Hawaii district court states Johnson may have used a false name to stay at a nearby hostel two weeks after Royal’s murder.
The manager of the hostel told police she recognized the image of Boaz Johnson, but "this male party used the name of Jeffrey Allen," and that he abandoned the room suddenly, leaving behind several bags of personal items.
In another twist in the case, several months ago anonymous notes were sent to local media outlets and posted around town, stating that the two were murdered by angry locals because Johnson was planning to buy land in the area to launch a lava tourism business.
"One of the things that has been very perplexing is there has been so many twists and turns to this story," Julie Royal said.
Both families say they don’t know what to believe. According to Brittany’s mother, Hawaiian police have been sharing little to no information.
"We’re so in needing-to-find-out mode that it’s blocking the grief process, which has been really, really difficult for us. It’s surreal. It’s like a complete out-of-body experience and it’s just been really tough," Julie Royal said.
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It is the 10th anniversary and there will be a memorial today at Goat Rock beach instead of Fish head, because it is too hard to get to to film. Watch the news today at 12 noon and perhaps 5pm on KTVU Channel 2 news!
Thanks Sandy. DVR set.
“…they may be dealing with one or more ersatz Zodiacs–other psychotics eager to get into the act, or perhaps even other murderers eager to lay their crimes at the real Zodiac’s doorstep.“ L.A. Times, 1969
Thanks for the reminder of this terrible anniversary, sadly this case gets overlooked I think in z discussions
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Terrible case – peace on the memory of this young couple.
There certainly are some chilling parallels here. Huge time span between 1963 and this murder, but by no means an impossibility.
I went to the memorial for Jason and Lindsey yesterday. It was kind of difficult to find out exactly when and where the memorial was going to be held. Sandy was able to get that information for me from the reporter at Channel 2 but I had very little time to get there once I got the info. I got stuck behind a logging truck that just wouldn’t pull over going down Highway 1 so I arrived about 10 minutes late.
The memorial, as Sandy posted, was held at Goat Rock Beach which is on the other side of the mouth of the Russian River from where the murders happened. It started at 10:30 am and it was very foggy. The service itself was quite uplifting and quite religious. Lindsey’s parents and sister were there as well as many, many of Jason and Lindsey’s friends. Also there were the proprietors of the camp where Jason and Lindsey were working at the time of their deaths. A couple of the other counselors that had worked with them at the camp were there as well. One or the other of Jason’s parents was too ill to make the trip so his family was home having their own memorial somewhere on Lake Michigan at the same time.
Nearly everyone who was at the service came forward to say a word or two about the couple and their strong religious faith. Hymns were sung and the bible was quoted. It was very interesting to me from a religious point of view, as I’m am not particularly religious, to hear Lindsey’s father say many times that he was happy and thankful the couple was in heaven with Jesus. While the manner of their deaths was certainly horrific Pastor Cutshall believed that they were in a better place than here on earth and was looking forward to the time they would meet again in heaven. There is no doubt that both of Lindsey’s parents dearly miss both Lindsey and Jason but they have come to terms with their deaths through their belief in Jesus.
LE was at the memorial. A couple of detectives were there in street clothes and uniformed sheriff’s were stationed in the parking lot. I noticed as I drove down from the north that there were two sheriff’s cars parked in a pullout that had a real clear vantage point of the spot where the murders occurred and they were still parked there an hour or more later when I headed back home.
Someone kindly gave me one of the flyers (I know that’s not the correct word but I don’t what that word would be) from the service. They could see that I was having trouble with the hymns, I think! So I’ve scanned that to share. And although I brought my camera I did not feel it was appropriate for me to be taking pictures.
Here is the article that was written by the Press Democrat. There are also plenty of pictures to scroll through.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/25387 … remembered
Thanks Seagull for the update!
So sad….
Did you see anyone suspicious?
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If Zodiac ever joined a Z forum, I’m sure he would have been banned for not following forum rules. Zam’s/Quote
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Anybody have more info on Ann Durrant, 20, and Lief Karlsson, 21 camp counselors killed in the 1970’s in CA?
The M.O. In their killing as well as same type of murder weapon seem to link the cases and as I recall, that .45 Marlin rifle is not an overly common rifle
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