According to Graysmith she called a co-worker at the Riverside National Bank at 5:30 pm, just before the library opened.

Perhaps it meant that she called a co-worker of hers she knew FROM the bank …. not while the co-worker was AT the bank. That does seem super odd that back in the day anything would be open on Sundays … especially a bank. Just a thought!

It sounds like they are trying to say that. You can read it both ways. Co-worker at bank wasn’t actually at the bank or co-worker at bank was in the bank being called. I’d go with the former but who knows. This case has all sorts of twists.

I want to know if they found her term paper bibliography that she "lost".

Maybe Farley stole it from her while they were playing cards.

Good point. If she really made that call it would be very important. Especially if it was bibliography related. It would also make it less likely she was secretly planning a romantic rendezvous.

I’d love some of those things to be cleared up but I doubt RPD will be helpful with that any time soon.

Calling a coworker who’s not actually at the bank, to see if the paperwork is at the bank, this makes about as much sense as calling a closed bank. How would they know if the paperwork is there or not? Banks are full of paperwork, especially back in 1966 before computers, that the coworker should be able to notice Cheri’s in particular out of all the rest is a longshot if you ask me.

So the story doesn’t sit well with me from either standpoint, whether she had called the bank when it was closed or called a coworker who wouldn’t be able to help.

I can’t say and don’t know why exactly but Cheri strikes me as having been the conscientious and organized type of student, not the type that would loose paperwork, not the type to be trying to hunt it down late on a Sunday afternoon. So again, yet another nuance to this story that doesn’t sit well with me.

Yea, no way a bank was open after 5 PM on a Sunday or any other time on Sunday for that
matter back in 1966.

Must have meant Cheri called Donna at her home. (maybe they were good friends and Cheri
was over at Donna’s house that week and thought she may have misplaced her paper there)

Lots of misinformation in this case so who knows what the real fact are, for example everything
I read about her VW Beetle said it was lime green but as it turns out it was actually white !

I wonder if RPD found her bibliography among her possessions at the crime scene ?
if so then that would mean she subsequently found it.

I think it’s possible she may have returned home after calling Donna to look for it, so if it was
among her possessions that would mean she likely did return home and then back to RCC.

Lots of misinformation in this case so who knows what the real fact are,

Yes! Bingo! This is exactly why I’m focused on this, I suspect the story has ever so slightly been altered, which it wouldn’t have been if there wasn’t anything there to see to begin with. Let me ask you this, has your take on the story been that she called the bank?

Also, let me ask this, was Donna a coworker, a classmate, or both a coworker and classmate of Cheri?

I wonder a lot what books/papers specifically were in the car and what was in her notebook. That could answer a ton of questions about her time and whereabouts that night.

The misinformation is a thing because of RPD. Of all the major possible Z crimes, this one is probably the most solvable. It’s frustrating that this is the one with the least cooperative policing agency.

Lots of misinformation in this case so who knows what the real fact are,

Yes! Bingo! This is exactly why I’m focused on this, I suspect the story has ever so slightly been altered, which it wouldn’t have been if there wasn’t anything there to see to begin with. Let me ask you this, has your take on the story been that she called the bank?

Also, let me ask this, was Donna a coworker, a classmate, or both a coworker and classmate of Cheri?

I seriously doubt a bank from that era would have been open on Sunday (I suppose it’s possible there could have
been some sort of advertising/marketing "gimmick" to bring in more customers to the bank by being open on a
Sunday but even then I don’t think it would have been open late in the afternoon) so she must have called Donna
at home.

As far as I know Donna was a coworker, but she could have also been a classmate/friend, we just don’t have much
info on her.

I wonder a lot what books/papers specifically were in the car…

Yes and one of them probably wasn’t her selection and was left there by the killer on purpose. His old signature and why he doesn’t want them linked directly to the Zodiac.

My bet is the pre-Zodiac left a book as his calling card at his crime scenes.

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=4958

Again, just speculation on my part.

I’ve been trying for days, even before I started this topic, to find the source
for this story about Cheri calling the bank/coworker, but I can’t find it.

If someone can provide a link I’d appreciate it, thanks.

I’ve been trying for days, even before I started this topic, to find the source
for this story about Cheri calling the bank/coworker, but I can’t find it.

If someone can provide a link I’d appreciate it, thanks.

It’s from the Graysmith Zodiac book Richard Grinell mentioned. 1986. St. Martin’s Press.

The source is supposed to be Captain Cross speaking to Avery who is conducting research for an article.

Robert Graysmith, quoting Sgt Dave Bonine stated "We have a witness report, that at 6:10 pm one of Cheri Jo’s girl friends saw her go by in her Volkswagen headed towards RCC on Magnolia". Another report at the same time showed an Air Force man spotting a light green Volkswagen driven by a blond female up an alley parallel to Magnolia. If you believe these accounts, then you have to square this with the sighting of the Mexican-American student, who stated "he knew Cheri Jo Bates and had noticed her in the library the night in question. He said he saw the girl "writing something with a ball point pen in her blue spiral school notebook". The boy told us he was outside about 5:30 pm, waiting for the library to open at 6, and it was then he saw the girl".

She cannot be arriving for the only time at the library at 6:10 pm, while simultaneously be waiting for the library to open at 5:30 pm. But if the Mexican-American student had noticed her around 5:30 pm in the vicinity of the library, at which point she noticed her missing bibliography, then she may have called her friend around the same time (possibly 5:35 pm). When her friend couldn’t help her, she then may have returned home to 4195 Via San Jose to search for her bibliography. This would have taken her approximately 30 to 35 minutes, having her arriving back along Magnolia at 6:10 pm. This is the only logical explanation for her being seen at two locations, that initially seemed to conflict with one another. If Graysmith’s account is accurate, Cheri Jo Bates must have returned home to search for her bibliography.