The link to the Gilroy Dispatch article did not work for me. Here is the text of the article which I copied from here-

http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/topic/3 … pkrvknTmM9

San Benito Sheriff revives 40-year-old brutal slaying case
Apr 18, 2008
By Curtis Cartier

Sgt. Tom Keylon of the San Benito County Sheriff Department has recently reopened a murder case from February 1969 of a San Diego woman named Louise Johnson who was found strangled and burned to death in Aromas.
Photo by: Nick Lovejoy, Staff Photographer

For nearly 40 years a killer has walked free, a family has been denied justice and a mysterious and brutal murder has remained just that – a mystery.

At the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, however, the unsolved murder case of Louise "Mindy" Johnson has been dusted off by Sgt. Tom Keylon. The 18-year veteran deputy said with the help of new-age science and old-school investigative work, the case might yet be solved.

"Leads to this case have been followed everywhere but nothing ever panned out," Keylon said. "The victim deserves justice."

Johnson was found dead and burning in an Aromas field off of Carr Avenue on Feb. 16, 1969. She was spotted by a newspaper delivery driver who said he saw a burning object in the distance during his morning delivery route. He investigated and found Johnson’s body smoldering in the grass.

It took weeks to identify the 19-year-old woman because after she had been strangled with a nylon cord, the killer wrapped her in fabric, drenched her in flammable liquid and set her ablaze. Dental records were finally used to name the young, pretty brunette who was a long way from her San Diego home when killed.

A truck driver at the time said he saw a woman "dead or unconscious" inside a green 1968 or 1969 Chevrolet Impala driving south on Highway 101 near Morgan Hill. Although authorities immediately issued an "all-points bulletin" for the vehicle, they never found the car.

Sgt. Clint Dassel, since deceased, investigated the case back in 1969 and after two weeks – when he still had no idea who the killer was – appealed to the public for help through a story appearing in the Free Lance. But nothing came of it.

San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill’s father Harry, then the coroner, worked the case at one point before his son picked it up again in 1983.

With the case now passed on to his detectives, Hill believes the office has a better chance to solve it. He also said he spoke with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s public safety liaison this week about offering a 0,000 reward on the case, and the sheriff was told the request would be "easily approved" with an answer expected within two weeks.

"She was a pretty young woman who had her whole life in front of her," Hill said. "But she ended up murdered here in our county and dumped on the side of the road."

From a six-inch-thick file at the sheriff’s office Wednesday, Keylon pulled out photos of Johnson and a class ring inscribed with "GB" as well as newspaper clippings, statements from witnesses and original police reports. He said, however, that DNA evidence taken from clothing at the scene would most likely be the key to solving the case.

There is, however, a potential holdup. At DNA processing laboratories, there are new cases and fresh murders committed each day, and cold cases generally are not a priority. Keylon said he’s been waiting more than a year to get back DNA test results.

Juan Bergado is a supervisor at the California Department of Justice Freedom Regional Laboratory in Watsonville, the nearest lab in the area. It prepares DNA samples for processing to aid criminal investigations. Bergado said he couldn’t give any specific information or confirm if the office is handling the DNA testing for Johnson’s case. He also said when it comes to processing evidence, the greater the need, the quicker the results come back.

"With older evidence, different things come into play," he said. "Weathering, effects of heat, bacteria and the age of the evidence can all affect the sample."

While Keylon waits for results, he said he still hasn’t given up on old-fashioned detective work and he spends about 10 hours per week – most of which is on his own time – looking for clues that may have slipped through the cracks.

"I wish I could work on this case full time," Keylon said.

The following story, written by Rick Edge, on the crime that gave rise to the case now revived first appeared Monday, Feb. 17, 1969 in the Free Lance. It was titled & "No Clues Found Yet in Murder."

San Benito County Sheriff’s investigators today continued to seek clues to the identity of a young woman whose body was found Sunday morning burning in a field off Carr Avenue in Aromas

"We haven’t got a thing to go on until she’s identified," Sgt. Clint Dassell and Investigator Phil Broadfoot said of the bizarre murder.

They appealed to the public for help in identifying the apparently strangled victim, and any information should be directed to them.

The woman was described as a female Caucasian, 19 to 23 years old, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 110 pounds. She had brown eyes and shoulder-length, reddish, possibly dyed hair, which was tied in pony tail, and wore small, gold, plain, wire-hoop earrings in her pieced ears.

The body was found about 6:15 Sunday morning by Irvin and Gladys Thomas of Salinas, who were delivering a morning newspaper on their rural route.

Mrs. Thomas saw a burning object in a field about a quarter-mile from the nearest house, the Zelda Greenup residence, 1000 Carr Ave., and the pair investigated. The sheriff’s office was notified and Aromas firemen were sent to the scene. Deputies Louie Falconi and Dale Brown were called and investigators Sgt. Dassel and Broadfot began working on the investigation.

Deputy Coroner Harry Hill formally pronounced the woman dead at 7:45 a.m.

It appeared that the woman had been strangled and her nude body, wrapped in a muslin-like material and tied around the neck and mouth with a nylon cord, was dumped about 25 feet off Carr Avenue down a small hill. She also had sustained a blow to the forehead.

The body was then doused thoroughly with a flammable liquid and a trail was left up to the road where the liquid apparently was set aflame. The body and grass where the liquid had been poured were still burning when deputies arrived.

Dassel and Broadfoot said the woman was burned nearly beyond recognition. The lower extremities and her left side were most severely burned but investigators were able to obtain one fingerprint.

An all-points bulletin was issued statewide with special attention called to missing persons divisions of all law enforcement agencies.

Because Aromas is included in San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, Monterey Count Sheriff’s detectives were at the scene for possible identification of the victim.

Stephens and Poletti Ambulance brought the body to Hazel Hawkins Hospital where an autopsy was performed. Deputies are awaiting results of some tests but have determined that the woman was not pregnant.

I don’t have a clue whether or not the murder of Mindy Johnson could have been the work of Zodiac. The plusses to me would be the fire because fire was written on the Halloween card. The fact that Mindy was set on fire means to me that whoever was her murderer wanted her to be found soon and he accomplished that. Quick discovery of the murders that Zodiac committed was one of his hallmarks.

The minuses to me would be that Mindy was found nude. She was killed elsewhere and brought to where she was found. Those two things are not very Zodiac-like.

Had to read the part about the "dead or unconscious" woman driving south on Highway 101 a few times. I’ll presume that she was being driven by someone else.

My first thought is that the victim’s body being nude and transported away from the crime scene just doesn’t sound like Zodiac. I don’t read any indication of whether there was a suspected sexual assault involved here. How was the DNA sample obtained? Then again, I wouldn’t have thought of Zodiac as a kidnapper either although I’m very much on the fence about the whole Johns episode. Seems like there are a lot of unknowns here but what a horrible case.

Edited to add: Sorry, Seagull. Looks like you posted similar opinions while I was typing. I promise I wasn’t looking at your paper.

The car was heading south with her body in it from San Francisco bay area, if I am not mistaken. That’s the part that makes me think of Zodiac,along with the fire aspect, and her being tied. In the Domingos/Edwards case, we saw an attempt to burn the bodies too. Zodiac or not, the 1977 Scotts Valley case I mention above has some strong similarities to the Johnson case. And I still cant find the case I am thinking of, the female’s body found off of mayes/maze rd, I think she was also tied & burned

Next I found another very similar case that happened in August, 1977 in the Scotts Valley/ Santa Cruz area. On Sat 8/20/77, a woman’s body was found on fire. She had been wrapped up, and her body set ablaze using flammable liquid. She had been shot in the head with a small caliber weapon. Police could not find out her identity (as far as I have found). But they strongly suspected that she was NOT A COUNTY RESIDENT. To me, this is very similar to the Johnson case almost 8 years earlier.

Was trying to find some info on this case. Eventually found this site – http://scsheriff.com/Home/UnsolvedHomicides.aspx . Wonder if this case has been solved?

I don’t want to go way off topic here, but after looking for more info on this Aug, 1977 case above, I found a Sept,1977 case with a male victim, with very similar details(compare):

From the 9/13/77 Redlands Daily Facts:

Both lit on fire with flammable substance after being wrapped in a blanket, both dumped in a field. Differences too,one female, one is male. One bound,one not. One in northern CA, one in southern CA. Not saying Z definitely killed either of these 3,but he did mention ‘BY FIRE’ in one of his mailings.