by Mark Hewitt
Robertson was perplexed. “Why did he stab you when you weren’t fighting him off or anything?”
Hartnell could think of no good reason. Maybe he got nervous, he considered.
Robertson left his card with Hartnell, telling the injured man that he would be visiting him quite a bit. He assured him that there was a guard on his floor for his protection. Because Bryan feared that his girlfriend would hear of the attack through the media and become upset, he asked Robertson to arrange for a telephone call to her in Oregon. He wanted to tell her himself.
Hartnell asked whether any clues had been found in the attempt to identify his assailant. Robertson said they had, but advised him that a lot of work was required before they could get the guy. Hartnell reiterated that the hooded man had said that he was heading for Mexico.
Hartnell held no animosity toward the stranger. He told Robertson that he did not want this to happen again to anyone. At the time, neither man could guess that decades would pass with no arrest in the case.
After Robertson departed the hospital room, Charles Sims, the Official County Court Reporter took a brief statement from Hartnell, but the patient was still heavily sedated so Sims was unable to go into the case in any great detail.
***
Earlier that day, at seven in the morning after too few hours of sleep, the lead detectives were back at the crime scene, this time accompanied by Detective Hal Snook, Captain Donald Townsend, and Sergeant James Munk. Narlow and Lonergan aided Snook in tracking footprints from the car to the attack site.
The investigation was in full gear.
An hour later, Narlow and Lonergan received a report from the Park Headquarters that a dentist and his son wanted to speak with them about a possible suspect in the attack. The four gathered at the Spanish Flat coffee shop at 9:12 a.m. The dentist and his 16-year-old son, David, both of Los Gatos, related their potentially relevant experiences of the previous day.
The two had parked their car at approximately 6:30 p.m. a couple miles north of Park Headquarters, they explained to Narlow and Lonergan. While making their way to the beach, David had noticed a man hiking in the area. The lone male adult was approximately five feet ten inches tall with a heavy build. He was wearing dark trousers and a dark shirt that had some red in it, according to the teenager. The shirt had long sleeves. The man carried nothing as he strolled along the side of the hill, halfway between the lake and the road, but when he spotted David, he abruptly turned around and started walking up the hill, to the south of and away from the dentist and his son.
To David at the time the man was just out walking. Nothing suspicious.
The father and son had noticed no car, and only saw the man from a distance of about 100 yards. Also present, according to the dentist, was a man with two boys who were shooting BB guns in the area. The dentist was unaware of whether the three had seen anything or not.
The detectives considered the geography of the area. They estimated that the dentist and his son had been approximately eight-tenths of a mile north of the attack scene. Because there were four water-filled coves across that distance, they concluded that the pair had not seen the man who had stabbed Hartnell and Shepard. They apparently didn’t believe there was time for the assailant to drive or walk to the second location. Evidently, the officers accepted the attacker’s claim of 6:30 p.m. written on Hartnell’s car door.
By 10:00 that morning, the lead detectives were back at the crime scene to aid Snook in locating and collecting additional evidence.
Earlier, at 8:00 a.m., Snook and Lonergan followed footprints from the vehicle to the attack site and back. They made plaster casts of a heel print at the bottom of the first hill. A complete print was taken from the junction of the path and the dirt service road, located about 50 feet from where Land first found Hartnell. Another footprint—this one discovered on a sandy patch of ground approximately 100 feet from the site of the stabbing—was photographed and cast because of its crisp record of instep detail. The detectives placed cardboard beer flats over suspected prints, showing the direction of travel. The distance from the place Hartnell parked his car just off Knoxville Road to the attack site on the shoreline was eventually established at 510 yards.
Snook noticed an abandoned green bottle near a stump on the suspected approach route. He tagged it and placed it into evidence. It was processed for latent impressions, yielding lifts numbered 44 to 48. In 2012, testing of its glass surface yielded negative results for “touch DNA” when a grant for DNA analysis became available to the Napa County Sheriff Department’s Cold Case Unit. When funding ran out later in 2012, the unit was disbanded.
The detectives collected numerous soil samples: from the location where attack occurred, from behind the tree where the attacker reportedly stood to don his hood, and from the parking lot area beside victim’s car—at the passenger side where the assailant evidently crouched to write. All of the potential useful evidence was carefully marked as it was gathered.
Snook ordered aerial photographs of the site. These were captured by Napa Register photographer Robert McKenzie. Special Deputy Harold Moskowitz of the Napa County Sheriff Department’s Aerial Squadron piloted the aircraft.
Following what he described at the time as a “thorough crime scene search” that included taking general photographs of the area, Snook returned to the NCSO, arriving at approximately 5:00 p.m. He took custody of the following items brought from Queen of the Valley Hospital by Brambrink and Munk: shoes and socks, trousers, a shirt, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, a belt, a wallet, a key, a pair of glasses, playing cards, and additional items, all property of Bryan Hartnell’s; and, from Shepard, a dress, a slip, a pair of panties, and a bra.
In their thoroughness, the lead detectives interviewed Ranger Sergeant William White that afternoon at 1:20, questioning him about his participation in locating and aiding the stabbed couple. White stated that he had been on routine patrol around the lake just before 7:00 p.m. on September 27, when he received a call from Park Headquarters that instructed him to proceed to Rancho Monticello Resort on Lake Berryessa, where someone was reporting a possible stabbing.
He was met at the resort by Archie White and his wife Elizabeth “Beth” White—neither related to Ranger White—and Fong, the fisherman, with his accompanying son. Together they raced in one of Archie’s quickest ski boats to the beach site where the attack had been reported. Once there, they discovered a female writhing in great pain from multiple stab wounds.
At almost the same time, he noted, Dennis Land arrived at the scene in his truck, which was bearing a male with his own set of stab wounds. White then radioed Park Headquarters requesting an ambulance and a sheriff’s deputy.
Ranger White repeated for the detectives what Hartnell had said to him at the scene, though his words would be at odds with Hartnell’s. He claimed that the male victim had heard the suspect say that he was an ex-convict from Colorado (not Montana) en route to Mexico. White also relayed that Hartnell had heard the hooded man say, “I’m going to have to stab you.” Hartnell claimed to have replied, “Stab me first; I can’t stand to see her stabbed first.” If Ranger White accurately recounted what he had heard from Hartnell, the stab victim must have quickly forgotten this portion of the dialogue, for he never repeated it during the many interviews in which he later participated: those at the hospital, those after his release from the hospital, and those during the decades following the attack. Hartnell consistently reported that his assailant had named the state of Montana, not Colorado, and he remained silent about any request to be the first to encounter the knife. He would repeatedly recall across the decades that he never had any warning of the stranger’s brutal knife attack. He explained that he was never in fear of his life—believing that he had successfully dulcified the man who was robbing him—until the blade entered his back. It was also reported that Hartnell told his attacker, “I’m chicken. Stab me first,” but the victim denied it, calling the suggestion “preposterous.” The lack of congru
ence between Hartnell’s narration of events and White’s statement was not surprising to the investigators.
In an emergency, during a state of confusion, the details that witnesses report seeing and hearing do not always agree. There is usually a fair share of contradiction because eyewitness testimony is among the least accurate information that a detective can gather. The detectives realized that it was quite possible that Ranger White was reporting as dialogue what a stunned Hartnell was thinking out loud to himself as he attempted to make sense of his horror-filled experience. White may also have been affected in a way that altered his own memory while he mentally processed the sheer brutality of the attack.
Ranger White also reported that Cecelia Shepard could not see the assailant’s face due to a hood, but added that she had seen clip-on sunglasses used to cover the man’s eyes. He indicated that he had observed a great deal of blood near her groin area.
A later interview with Archie and Elizabeth White revealed that Archie was the owner of a boat repair shop at Rancho Monticello Resort, where the couple lived. They had been called into action by Ronald Fong, the man captaining the boat that had passed near the couple on the beach to the south of the resort. A couple was covered in blood, a desperate Fong had reported once he arrived at the resort. The two had been robbed and stabbed. When Elizabeth called Park Headquarters, Ranger White had arrived a short time later.
Once the four had achieved the attack site, the Whites explained, they observed a woman on her elbows and knees. She was wearing a blood-stained sweater dress and was rocking in pain. Elizabeth attempted to comfort and calm her. Elizabeth shared what Cecelia had said to her: “‘He was a man with a hood… his face was covered… He was wearing black pants. It hurts. It hurts.’” After Cecelia had regained her composure, she added that the assailant had asked for money but didn’t take any, wore clip-on glasses on the outside of his hood, and had a black pistol. Archie had heard Hartnell tell someone that the assailant was wearing gloves.
Narlow and Lonergan drove back to the NCSO following his interview with the Whites. Upon their return, an administrator from PUC contacted Narlow at about 4:20 p.m., advising him that three girls, students at PUC, may have observed the knife-wielding man at the lake. The administrator described the Caucasian male seen by the girls as six feet tall, about 40 years of age, and wearing dark clothing. The attack on Hartnell and Shepard may not have been the assailant’s first foray down to the water at Lake Berryessa that day.
The three young women, one named Joanne and two named Linda, had been at the lake between 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. the afternoon of the day Hartnell and Shepard were stabbed. While parking their car, and while sunbathing, they had noticed a dark-clothed man in the vicinity. Narlow assigned Detective Sergeant Ray Land to travel to Anguin to check out the girls’ story.
The lead detectives spent the rest of that day—and into the evening—reviewing notes. Narlow also issued another APB, this one for a late model, blue Chevrolet that the three girls had seen driven by the man in dark clothing.
***
The investigation continued on Monday, September 29. Narlow and Lonergan interviewed numerous citizens in the morning, and sought information from officers in other departments concerning this and other, similar, crimes. Land, after questioning the three PUC girls, reported back to Narlow that their observations could in fact be relevant to the case. Land had already asked the girls to report to the NCSO. Narlow and Lonergan started a preliminary suspect list. This list, over time, would be subjoined with additional names—many through a linkage to other attacks—eventually growing to hundreds of pages listing thousands of people.
At 2:45 in the afternoon, the young women arrived at the NCSO as promised. Detective Lonergan interviewed Joanne, a 21-year-old from College Place, Washington, who was born June 4, 1946.
Joanne related that she and her two girlfriends, both named Linda, had parked their car on Knoxville Road, two miles north of the well-frequented A&W Root Beer stand. After she exited the vehicle she was driving, she noticed a man in a late model, silver and blue, 2-door Chevrolet sedan, which he had parked behind her vehicle. She glimpsed the driver, a white male, but she did not see him exit his car. Approximately thirty minutes later, the man was observing the girls from about 40 or 50 feet away while they sunbathed at the water’s edge.
Because the lake was not visible from the parking lot area, he had exited his car. She estimated that the man was six feet tall, and a muscular 200 pounds, if not 210. She described him as nice looking, wearing dark pants and a dark pullover shirt. He appeared to be staring at them in their bikinis, but whenever they made eye contact with him, he always looked away. She estimated that they were at the lake for 45 minutes before walking back up the hill and leaving. She described the man’s car as conservative, not something a teenager would drive. It bore California plates.
Detective Snook interviewed the first Linda. Born June 29, 1947 and living on Sunnyside Road in Sanitarium, California, she stated for the record that they had left Anguin at 2:45 p.m., traveled through Pope Valley to Lake Berryessa, and stopped two miles north of the A&W Root Beer stand (Sugar Loaf Park). While there, she saw the strange man drive into the parking lot area from the south of the girls. He then backed his 1966 or 1967 light blue Chevrolet up until their bumpers almost touched. She noted that it was a 2-door car with California plates. The rear lights were long, not round. She could not see into the car since the back window was tinted to a dark, near-opaque, shade. She added that another vehicle from Anguin was also present at this time: a car with Arizona plates whose two occupants she knew, Miss Denise Brown and Mr. Wayne Haight.
Linda saw the stranger again when she was sunbathing with her two friends. He had gotten out of his car and walked across the beach from south to north at a distance of about 20 feet from the girls. She estimated his age at 28, his height anywhere from six feet to six feet, two inches, and his weight between 200 and 225 pounds. She described his face as having round eyes, thin lips, and a medium nose. His eyebrows were straight, his black hair styled, and his ears appeared small to her. He was well built and nice looking in her opinion. He had a white tee-shirt protruding at the back from under his black, short-sleeved sweatshirt which was bunched up in the front. Linda was also able to recall his dark trousers. When the girls left at about 4:30 p.m., Linda added to conclude her statement, they saw no sign of the stranger or his car. He was not seen entering his car, nor was the vehicle ever spotted again by her.
Captain Townsend interviewed the other Linda. Born in 1948, her birthday was July 8. She resided on Howell Mountain Road in Anguin, and was employed as the secretary of the college press. The 21-year-old also took notice of the late-model Chevrolet that the man had driven, sky blue in color with long, not round, rear lights. She stated that the girls had parked at about 2:55 in the afternoon, and had seen the man in his car. About thirty to forty-five minutes later, she spotted him again about 45 yards from the beach.
The second Linda described the man as stocky, about six feet in height, wearing a black, short-sleeved sweatshirt and dark blue slacks. She said he appeared to be about 30 years of age. His straight, dark hair was neatly combed. His skin color was neither dark nor light for a Caucasian. He wore no glasses on his nice-looking, round face. He had a white belt around his waist at the back that could have been a tee-shirt hanging out behind him. She did not observe him as he exited his vehicle.
The information the girls provided was carefully recorded in case anything they said would be of use in the investigation. It seemed possible to the investigators that this was the man who had stabbed Hartnell and Shepard. But it was also possible that this was a totally unrelated event. Like the information provided by the dentist and his son, this incident was intriguing. It could be used to propel the investigation forward; just as likely, if followed too closely, and it did not record the activities of the perpetrator, it could steer it seriously off course.
In time, a police artist would
create a composite picture of the lone hiker who had been spotted at the lake by the girls. A second composite, an alteration of the first by Napa Register photographer Robert McKenzie, was created with the approval of the girls. The second crude sketch of a very round-faced, dark-haired man was the one that was circulated and shown to potential witnesses. Soon tips began to pour in—to the switchboards of the police and the sheriff’s departments of both Solano and Napa Counties—necessitating an investigation into each new piece of information. Any fact, however small and seemingly insignificant, the investigators knew, could be the big break they were seeking and lead to the identity of the assailant.
The public began to get increasingly involved in the hunt for the killer. They took it as a personal challenge to support the police effort in any way they could. Concerned citizens telephoned, sent letters, and visited law enforcement offices, offering up numerous tips and suggestions. What had begun as just a trickle of individuals who thought they had seen something, or felt they could aid the police in their work, would in time become a torrent, then a deluge, engulfing not only the Vallejo Police Department (VPD), the NPD, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, and the NCSO, but every law enforcement agency even tangentially participating in the investigation.
Suspects were turned in for sexual perversions, acts of violence—or the mention of violence—and erratic handwriting. Some, it appeared, found their names on a police officer’s blotter simply because they were guilty of being a son-in-law, an ex-husband, or an ex-boyfriend of a spiteful accuser.
The VPD received information about a man named Michael, who in 1969 had been charged with manslaughter in the traffic deaths of two people on Highway 37. He was 30 years of age, five feet ten inches tall, and weighed between 180 and 200 pounds. He worked at Union Oil in Rodeo as an inspector, talked constantly about the Zodiac case, and discussed two supposed Zodiac murders he claimed that the police knew nothing about. He owned two guns: a 9mm automatic and a .45 caliber automatic.