Recently I did contact one or two classmates of CJB. One female responded:
"I knew Cheri just in passing, and I was on the Drill Team when she was JV cheer leader, I remember she was going steady with a senior at Ramona, who eventually went into the U.S. Navy… and while he was out to see, Cheri was murdered. I was so shaken when I heard of Cheri’s death, I couldn’t imagine what would have possessed anyone to kill her as she was a friend to all, and true to her boyfriend in the US Navy. I do so hope that if this person is still alive, that is responsible for her death and possibly others if he was the Zodiac, that some discovery will be made and locate him."
If anybody has ideas what to ask, please let me know. Personally I’d like to know who her boyfriend was and maybe some other stuff, e.g. about the library guy, Ross Sullivan etc.?
– What do you know about CJB’s family, e.g. brothers, cousins etc?
– Do you know which school she had gone before moving to Riverside?
– Regarding CJB’s steady boyfriend, how do you know he was out to sea on October 30, 1966?
– What was his name? (First name & first letter of his last name’d be enough..)
– Do you know if CJB had ties to Loma Linda, e.g. had known a girl named Cecilia Shepard?
– In 1965, a guy named ‘Leonard Bates’ went to Loma Linda Academy School. Do you know if he was somehow related to Cheri Jo Bates?
– Did CJB have a stalker or a guy who had really wanted her badly?
– On the day she had been killed, there was some discussion in front of the library. Do you know anything about it?
– Her assailant had lost a Timex wristwatch on the crime scene with small paint chips on it. Do you have any idea what building or flat could have been under renovation during those days?
– Can you remember anybody from Riverside with a distinctively round face and heavy-rimmed black glasses? Or anybody with a very strange behaviour of any kind?
– In an anonymously sent ‘confession letter’ her assumed killer had written about a ‘dark alley’ that goes ‘down’ with a ‘little store’ nearby. Do you recognize such a place?
– In this letter, the same person refers to ‘brush-offs’ CJB had given him ‘over years’. Do you have any idea who that person could have been?
– Was there any person CJB did not want to talk to at all? Especially someone from Ramona High?
– Do you know anybody else who had known Cheri Jo Bates (CJB)?
QT
*ZODIACHRONOLOGY*
Cheri’s steady BF, Fiance, was not out to sea, he was at college in the SF area. I think this person got her Brother mixed up,he was in the Navy at the time
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
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Yep. Which unfortunately, after all this time, negates some of the credibility of such statements. Certainly an honest mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.
–Not to downplay your efforts QT! It’s always good to try and get information. One never knows when something noteworthy might come up.
“…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
Does she recognize any of the pallbearers at Cheri’s funeral.
Some good questions regarding the murder of CJB. Yes, her boyfriend, Dennis Highland. was a student at SFSU at the time, and she and her parents went to ”The City’ for a visit the weekend before her murder. They had no pending plans to marry at this time for a variety of reasons. Yes, a simple mistake most likely. The guy to whom her friend referred may have been Ronald Sweaney(RMHS-’63).
The topic seems to be rather old and dead, but in case someone decides to contact a person who knew Cheri, personally I’d be interested in knowing about the places that youth used to hang out at at the time. Such as: was there any specific cafe/restaurant/etc that would have brought together people from different high schools? A place Cheri would have frequented.
I’ve been thinking that Zodiac/Cheri’s killer may have seen her not at school, but at some free time establishment.
May I add a question to the others? Does Cheri’s acquaintance know of a male Cheri actively disliked, or complained of him bugging her for a date?
The post by Quicktrader has some excellent questions, and I am working in somewhat the same way. I have been trying to build from the back(i.e 1948) and the only Information i have is a school picture(1955) when CJB was, most likely, 6 years old, and the move she made to north central Nebraska(Ainsworth) where her father who was working until the eventual move to California in 1957. I cannot find anything beyond this information. If anyone has anything about her early life in Nebraska, and her first three years(to 1960) in Riverside, California, please feel free to write here at your convenience.
The topic seems to be rather old and dead, but in case someone decides to contact a person who knew Cheri, personally I’d be interested in knowing about the places that youth used to hang out at at the time. Such as: was there any specific cafe/restaurant/etc that would have brought together people from different high schools? A place Cheri would have frequented.
I’ve been thinking that Zodiac/Cheri’s killer may have seen her not at school, but at some free time establishment.
That’s what i was thinking as well maybe their parents worked together and had a staff family day together or maybe some youth club or something they might have met at or he seen her at. Maybe they met or not.
