https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/ Zodiac Killer Discussion Board en-US Wed, 13 May 2026 19:45:53 +0000 wpForo 60 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-83163 Sat, 10 Apr 2021 18:40:38 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings OHFORCRYINGOUTLOUD https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-83163 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78754 Tue, 20 Oct 2020 14:15:53 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings replaceablehead https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78754 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78744 Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:14:45 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings Coffee Time https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78744 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78732 Sat, 17 Oct 2020 12:19:37 +0000 Hi, "So in this scenario the confrontation was planned, thus the disabling of the vehicle, but the murder itself was not, thus the pocket knife." Yes! This guy was unsure of himself and did not know how to approach a woman, so he chose to disable her car in order to give himself an excuse to talk to her. Possible? Yes. Likely? No. Disabling a car, just to have a confrontation? Disabling someone's car is a profoundly sinister act, that strongly suggests a profoundly sinister intent. It's highly criminal. This individual disabled a young woman's car, leaving her stranded at night, in secluded location, with the aim of luring her away. This is an extremely deplorable, aggressive and predatory act. It's also behavior consistent with predatory rapists and killers. Disabling a woman's car at night has to be in top 5 things most likely to indicate someone is about to commit a major crime. It's got to be up there with wearing a balaclava and carrying a murder kit in your boot. I was merely noting the apparent paradoxes. I don't really think it's very likely the killer went there with any other plan than to kill his victim. I think the paradoxes might be a clue to something else, I have another theory that accounts for both the sinister disabling of the vehicle and the somewhat poor choice of weapon. What if the killer planned to kill, but not in advance. Suppose the killer saw Cheri that night and seized the opportunity. The murder is reasonably well carried out, suggesting either an experienced killer, or one that had thought a lot about it. But it also seems as if it is not as well prepared as it could be. There are many accounts of real serial killers who took advantage of opportunities. Many criminals act on opportunity. They may always be somewhat prepared, at least mentally.]]> Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings replaceablehead https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78732 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78731 Sat, 17 Oct 2020 08:40:12 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings mike_r https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78731 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78716 Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:42:37 +0000 Who is to say that Cheri wasn't already on the ground at 9:30 p.m.? I dont mean to say that she was already dead but perhaps unconscious. She died within a minute or so of her throat being cut. The autopsy report had the earliest time of death around 9:30 or so, possibly as late as 12:30 AM. So that would mean she was somewhere not in the library or her car for three to six hours before she was killed.]]> Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings TomVoigt https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/5/#post-78716 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78714 Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:19:02 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings Soze https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78714 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78713 Thu, 15 Oct 2020 14:02:07 +0000 All fair points but lets put the "when the car" issue aside for a moment. To Recap:- We know that she was at the Library at around 6.15 as she was seen both driving nearby and by a fellow student writing in her spiral notebook (Which I have always wondered was it found and if not could the 3 letters have been written using pages from it). We also have the four witnesses who saw her arrive and were in the vicinity of her car from 6.15 to 7.15. So it could not have been touched until 7.15pm at the earliest. Yes ? We can also summarize that her car did not move from the moment she parked it (6.15ish) until it was found the next day on Terracina. Which means wherever she was she went on foot whether that was the Library or elsewhere. She was seen in the Library initially but from 6.30pm up to 65 people did not see her again. Using occam's razor we could say that chances are she was not in the Library later than 6.30pm. ? But her car did not move so if she wasn't in the Library she was obviously somewhere else. Her car stayed parked so she did not go somewhere in it and come back. Also if she left the Library at 6.30ish she did not head towards her car either as the four witnesses were next to it for 45 minutes after this and they did not report seeing her again, thus meaning that she did not go on Terracina ? Skip two hours (9.30pm) and we have a Man smoking in the direct vicinity of where her body was found seen by a witness walking along Terracina. So from this we can conclude two things. Firstly she had not been attacked yet as there was a person where the crime occurred as judging from the previous posts the killer would not have hung around after the attack? Secondly this witness did not report seeing Cheri trying to start her car. The point is if she left the Library at closing, 9pm, her car was mere minutes away, it would not have taken her 30 minutes to discover that it would not start. (This again add's weight to the argument that she was not in the Library). On the other hand it would also lead one to believe that at this point her car had already been tampered with. The man waiting in an unlit alley, possibly looking out for her returning to her vehicle. Yet despite this the attack did not happen until around 10.30pm as ascertained from two different witnesses who heard a scream. Again adding even more credence to her not leaving the library at closing time as this was 90 minutes after. Evidence from the scene shows blood leading back to Terracina and a car was heard starting so again it is safe to assume that the killer had parked on Terracina. It is worth noting that at the time of the attack it was possible to park and was used for parking a mere few feet from where her body was found Excellent points Cragle, This case is so damned confusing and baffling it seems there isn't a single scenario we can come up with that makes everything add up ! Maybe that's what makes this case so mysterious and compelling.]]> Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings monarch https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78713 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78695 Wed, 14 Oct 2020 19:50:33 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings Khys https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78695 https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78693 Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:08:47 +0000 Cheri Jo Bates Case Letters & Mailings Cragle https://forum.zodiackillerciphers.com/community/cheri-jo-bates-case-letters-mailings/confession-letter-vs-reality/paged/4/#post-78693