1) Articles reporting on the murder of Cheri Jo Bates

– Tiger Times Nov. 4th, 1966 "Police Still Lack Clues in Murder"

– Nightimes Nov Dec 1966 "Reaction to Campus Tragedy"

Nothing really new in these articles but there are two pictures in the Nightimes magazine that I don’t think get much circulation if at all. One is of the alley where the murder took place (the caption is something like "5 feet from the bumper of the car pictured is where her body was found) The second shows it with new lighting they had installed. One student lamented how dark it was out there and that lights should have been put in before this happened. The school responded that they had already decided to put in the lights before the murder and that they had the plans drawn up but hadn’t found a window to do it. Seeing the lighted pic you can tell how dark it must have been before they were added.

Another interesting note is one person they interviewed, when answering a question about whether people had dropped out due to the event, said several girls he had previously noticed in the lab at nights stopped coming, which again points out how strange it is that basically no one saw CJB at the library that night.

2) The Library and the (Harvard) Annex pt.1

There are a lot of articles throughout the years on the library. For what it’s worth, the head guy (Bach), seemed like a kind guy who was a clever forward thinker at expanding the influence of the library. He eliminated fees for overdue books. He held contests to encourage students to expand their personal book collections. He did counts and took statistics of book usage, particularly night student verses days student. He helped design the new library that was to go in.

The takeaway from that last item is that RCC needed a new library because it was too small. There was essentially no space to study comfortably. The Sept 23 1965 Tiger Times article "RCC Library Plans Near Completion" talks about the new layout and problems with the old layout. The Sept Oct 1966 Nightimes article Night Library Use Declines: Bach also talks about the overcrowding, despite the headlines. It had been that way for awhile. As early as Feb 20 1964 Tiger Times article "Construction on New Library to Begin in 1965; Meanwhile … " they are stated to have tried to make room: "more unsupervised study is expected to be added in the Quad English offices and possibly in the foyer of the auditorium".

The overcrowding led to the library annex on Terracina that has been pointed out to be near CJB’s murder scene. They called it "Harvard", and perhaps poignantly, it was located across from the Little Theater where they screened films along with doing the normal theatrical productions. At night it was pretty creepy. As the article about the murder stated in the Nov 4 1966 Tiger Times said: "all of the former residences around the scene of the murder are owned by the college. On weekends and late at night, the unoccupied houses constitute a deserted neighborhood."

Luckily there is an article on that annex in the 1967 Apr May Nightimes "Library Urges Visits to Harvard"

… continued in next post …

3) Library and (Harvard) Annex pt. 2

… continued …

In 1962 they started to annex nearby buildings. Three it appears (called Princeton, Yale, and the Harvard). The buildings were used for "ordering, cataloging, and as an office for the head librarian." Eventually in ’66 they used it to house "biographies and other large books .. bound periodicals" You had to go there to obtain them. However, importantly, it appears they were using the Harvard building as a secondary place to study to try to solve the cramping problems. It was open Mon- Fri 9am – Noon. according to the Oct 7, 1966 Tiger Times has an article called "RCC Library Expands", as well as other articles. On Sunday (the night CJB was killed), the regular library was open 6:30 – 9, but the annex wasn’t.

Important note: the Harvard annex article from the ’66 – ’67 school year has Bach listing his staff as "5 professional librarians, 6 non professional clerks and assistants, and 100 hours of student help per week".

Also relevant: parking issues were the subject of many articles. Even at night it could be hard to find a parking spot. An interesting tidbit in the Sept Oct 1966 Nightimes articles "City okays college’s proposal to barricade Fairfax Avenue" reports that Fairfax was being closed to auto traffic to try to encourage more pedestrian traffic.

Speculation: I’ve read that the books CJB had were on the Electoral College (I can’t confirm that). These could very well have been in the annex. Is it possible she went over there to get them? Perhaps she called ahead asking if they were available and agreed to meet over there at a certain time to get them. Perhaps she was allowed to study in those rooms, even though it was closed, whether the books were housed there or not? Considering Bach kept meticulous records of checked out books of Night Students verses Day students (see 1966 Sept Oct Nightimes for his precise numbers and the ’65 Sept Oct doesn’t report the actual figures but indicates he kept them), how did these get checked out without someone remembering? It’s hard to imagine with the space concerns that no on would remember seeing her. Also, the issues with parking might have lent themselves to CJB being willing to walk down a very dark alley.

4) Tidbits pt 1

* The 1965 Nov Dec Nightimes has an article "Night Students Aid Opera". Apparently a class could be taken where the students went to do a variety of tasks for the Riverside Civic Opera, according to the article and to the course catalogue. The operas mentioned are Madame Butterfly and Song of Norway. Librarian Marian Copeland is mentioned as a leader in the article. I haven’t been able to find a listing of the other operas the Riverside Civic Opera did during those years. Slightly related, in the Feb 20 1964 Tiger Times there is an article reviewing a San Bernardino light opera.

* The 1966 Sept Oct Nightimes has a long article on librarian Winifred Turner (the likely subject of the Jo Ann Bailey mention in her letter) going to Africa on Safari.

* Speaking of Jo Ann Bailey, the only publication I could find for poetry and literature was called Expressions. Unfortunately, the only archives I have stop in ’62. It doesn’t appear that they made it during the time of CJB’s murder but I am inquiring. Of the early Reflections, there is no "rh" or "ross Sullivan", although there is one short poem in the 1962 collection that is anonymous (the only one I saw period in that publication). It’s called "Pomponazzi" and it does have a slightly weird tone to it, but, then again, most of the other poetry does as well. It’s notable, however, that Pomponazzi is likely a reference to an Italian catholic theologian by the same name. This guy wrote about the immortality of the soul and skirted the edge of keeping the faith and giving it all up. This could be what JAB is talking about at first as she seems to indicate two different poems Ross wrote. Note, however, that Jo An Bailey has Ross gone from RCC to Patton by 11/1/61

* There is another research avenue on the poem front, however. In the Nov. 18, 1966 Tiger Times it is announced in the article "SCP Magazine Invites Participation" that a publication named "Impulse" was actively soliciting "stories, poems, essays, cartoons" and other writing. The submissions were to be placed in a box on the Quad. SCP stands for "Student Congress Party". I’m trying to track down that publication if it ever went to print. Participants were Lynn Porter (editor), Greg Lowe & Claudia Lucas (assistant editor), Ron Sutton (production), and Steve Roberts (publicity).

Khys: I’m excited about your recent find re RCC info. I’ve been interested in the Bates case since ’91, and have a POI who attended Ramona High when Cheri did during her freshman year; joined the navy; had a fiancee who lived right around the corner from Cheri’s home; and has the initials RH. If you think my email interesting, please contact me.
Thanx,
Paul

5) Tidbits pt. 2 and Finishing Thoughts

* The March 26 1964 Tiger Times article Patton Party Held reports that the Gamma Nu sorority and the Gamma Iota Alpha fraternity went to Patton State Mental Hospital Sunday March 22nd to throw the inhabitants a party. Jo Ann Bailey has Ross back at RCC from Patton on 2/1/64. The Gamma Nu’s did have a Peggy Sullivan as a member. It’s also worth mentioning that the Gamma Iota’s were some kind of military frat.

* There are quite a few articles mentioning both military types being on campus and older students.

Final Thoughts: Not a whole lot here, unfortunately. It’s a bit deflating. I think the "Harvard" Library Annex is probably the most significant info. But here it is so you don’t have to do it!

Khys: I’m excited about your recent find re RCC info. I’ve been interested in the Bates case since ’91, and have a POI who attended Ramona High when Cheri did during her freshman year; joined the navy; had a fiancee who lived right around the corner from Cheri’s home; and has the initials RH. If you think my email interesting, please contact me.
Thanx,
Paul

I think I may have read a bit of yours! Very interesting stuff. Let me know if there is a RCC publication you are looking to get your hands on.

Khys, could you post the photo with the caption "5 feet from the bumper of the car pictured is where her body was found" ?

Lots of good info here, Thanks to you and IthinkIknow for taking the time to do this research !

Hi, would it be possible to get a copy of the files ithinkiknow sent me a copy when he first received them but unfortunately it was not received by me

Hi, would it be possible to get a copy of the files ithinkiknow sent me a copy when he first received them but unfortunately it was not received by me

Would an upload to something like a Google Drive share be an option?

Hi, would it be possible to get a copy of the files ithinkiknow sent me a copy when he first received them but unfortunately it was not received by me

Would an upload to something like a Google Drive share be an option?

Could be added to the “Zodiac files and reports” section.

Khys: Anything published in 1966 that might provide the name of a male student with the initials, RH. Email me separately, and I’ll provide his name.
Thanx,
Paul

I’d be happy to share the files. I think it would be good to have them available to researchers and it would lessen the amount of requests the RCC Library gets. I believe IthinkIknow had a problem uploading them because the files are so big. If someone will walk me through how to do it or if I can just send a copy via a flash drive to someone who is more technologically proficient than I am, I’d be willing.

I had some more thoughts after digesting the research last night.

It’s more difficult to me now to believe CJB was killed by a jealous boyfriend, as seems to be the favorite suspect of the Riverside police. One student reacted in an article by saying that the killer would have had to have known the university extremely well in its then current iteration to pull it off and, after extensive reading, I agree. It’s hard to believe a non-student, employee, faculty person could have pulled that off without being caught, even if they had casually been there before. If it was a lover, there’s a high possibility it would have had to have been a person attached to RCC as staff or as a student.

That begs the question, why would a boyfriend/jilted lover need to disable her engine to talk to her? Surely, even enraged, there was a less risky and/or complicated plan. If she was alone and hidden with a boyfriend all night that killed her then he wouldn’t have needed to disable the engine. If it was a jilted lover who creepily turned up out of the blue late on a Sunday night just so happening at the moment her car unexpectedly doesn’t start, it’s hard to imagine she would have went with him no matter what. If it was a vagrant squatting in the empty buildings, how did he know it was her car, and, again, wouldn’t there be a less risky approach to a crime?

While I’m not 100% sold the writer of the letters killed CJB, I think it’s a good possibility. If the killer did write the letters, it seems extremely unlikely that it would have been a jilted lover. They would have had to be trying to throw the cops off and it doesn’t appear that the cops had any actionable leads by the time the letters came out so why? The killer would have had to come back to the city to mail them if he didn’t live there and, then, why write a long rambling letter and ship other letters to three different sources?

The only way I could see a jilted lover involved is if someone lured CJB down to that spot and he killed her. As far as I know, though, they didn’t turn up more than one set of assailant’s footprints.

For my money, it had to be:

1) Someone who knew her and had some acquaintance with her. He knew which was her car, knew how to disable that particular car (possible evidence of planning), and was able to get her to walk down an extremely dark, creepy alley with him.
2) Someone who worked or studied at the college. He had to know those houses were owned by the school and were empty. Had to know if Little Theater had something going on be it an event or practice. Had to know how dark it was down there. Had to be familiar with the layout and traffic in the alley. Had to know get away routes. Had to know the general routine of the library on a Sunday night.
3) Someone who planned it ahead of time.

Of all of the attached crimes to Zodiac, this one seems to me the most possible to solve. Even if it wasn’t Z, I would love to see closure. Thank you to all of you who are trying to bring closure to this too!