omineering mother and a weak or absent father. It is speculated that a violent relationship with his mother may have lead to his apparent hatred ofwomen. Zodiac’s first victim was Cherri Jo Bates. Although the murder was not attributed toZodiac until 1970, she was murdered one day before Halloween in 1966. Like Zodiac’s othervictims Cherri Jo was a student. She lived with her father in Riverside, California and attendedRiverside City College. She was a petite blond with blue eyes, although she was tan at the time ofher death she had a light complexion. (Graysmith, 164)On the night of October 30th, Cherri Jo had gone to the school library to study.Authorities estimate that Bates arrived at the RCC library at about six o’clock PM. While CherriJo was studying the perpetrator removed the distributor coil from her engine, causing it to godead. Police theorize when Bates found her battery dead, Zodiac offered her a ride. He drove herapproximately seventy - five yards east at her car. He began choking her but Bates fought back.She scratched his face and was able to rip his watch off, which was later found by authorities.Between 10:15 an 10:30 PM a neighbor reported hearing a scream. Autopsies revealed thatBates had been kicked in the head. She had also been stabbed twice. She had cuts on her face andher jugular had been slashed. When she was found she was nearly decapitated. (Graysmith, 165)The second murder committed by Zodiac occurred on December 20, 1968. His victimswere David Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16. Once again the victims were young andstudents. David was a Varsity athlete at Vallejo High School were he was one of the top students.Betty Lou was pretty and described as “hardworking, studious, and had a spotless reputation.”(Graysmith, 2) The couple were last seen at a friend’s house earlier in the evening. Although theydidn’t say where they were headed next, they drove to Love...
