There is one thing that has troubled me about this case. On Sunday Oct. 30th the library closed at 9 pm and a female witness (not named) testified that around 10 to 10:30 pm she heard two distinct loud screams. It is generally accepted that these screams came from the victim. But would Bates be with a total stranger in the dark of night for over a full hour after the library closed? Does it mean she actually knew her murderer and felt safe? Perhaps there is another reason.

October 30, 1966 was the first day of daylight saving time and the clocks should have been pushed back an hour. At midnight at the end of Saturday night (Oct 29th) the clocks should have been reset back one hour. Thousands of people every year forget to do this and wake up the following morning with clocks one hour ahead of everyone else. Did the witness mark the time of the scream with a timing device that had not been reset? It would make the actual time between 9 and 9:30 pm.. Did the Riverside Police Department ever follow up on this?