Hello All,
I have tried to find out the extent of coverage of the Cheri Jo Bates crime at the time of the attack and in the years prior to Zodiac claiming her as a victim. Does anyone know or know how to find out how many stories were published about the crime in San Francisco and L.A.? I have tried looking for headlines in the S.F chronicle for that time online and can’t seem to find a source. My local library (I live in Salinas, CA now) is very small and I doubt it has the relevant resources.
Was there a ton of media coverage outside riverside? National coverage? West Coast coverage? And how long did it last? I am asking about the time periods before Zodiac.
Thanks in advance for any help!
Lynnie
It was definitely headline news locally. Not so much nationally.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
There were articles about Cheri Jo outside of Southern California. If I am not mistaken, there was one in the Reno Gazette Journal.
“…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
At newspapers.com they have 31 articles about Cheri Jo’s murder listed for 1966. This is a total for the entire US. The majority, 18, were articles in California newspapers. They do not have any more articles about her murder until 1970 when there were 15. Bear in mind that not every newspaper in California or the US is archived at newspapers.com . They do not have very many of the large city newspapers like the SF Chronicle, the LA Times, Sacramento Bee or even the San Jose newspaper. This will probably give you a general idea of how widespread the coverage was on her murder though.
Cheri Jo’s murder was covered in the SF Chronicle and the LA Times at the time it happened.
The Chronicle article-
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=41
A thread with a fair number of CJB articles.
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=93
A nationally distributed detective magazine, Inside Detective, published a story about Cheri’s murder in January 1969, before Zodiac was Zodiac. That article can be read here-
http://www.zodiackiller.com/InsideDetective1.html
I thought I had posted the LA Times article but couldn’t find it, so here it is.
Wow Seagull, thank you so much for all the info. Tahoe27 and ophion1031 appreciate your responses!
Tanks again.
Lynnie
