Gypsy Hill killings

San Mateo slasher
Other names The San Mateo Slasher
Wanted by
 FBI, local police
Wanted since January 8, 1976
Killings
Victims 5+
Span of killings
 1976–1976
Country United States
State(s) California
Location(s) San Mateo County
Target(s) Young females
Killed 5+
Weapons Knives
Date apprehended
 Unapprehended

The Gypsy Hill killings or Gypsy Hill murders are a group of five unsolved homicides of young women and girls in San Mateo County, California during early 1976. The culprit was dubbed the San Mateo slasher.[1]

Killings

On January 8, 1976, the body of 18-year-old Veronica Cascio was discovered in a creek on the grounds of the Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica, having been stabbed 30 times.[2] A transient was arrested, but released for lack of evidence.[3]

A few weeks later, 14-year-old Tatiana Blackwell was reported missing after leaving her home in Pacifica to run an errand. A body, later identified as hers, was discovered off Sharp Park Road in the Gypsy Hills section of the city on June 6.[4] She had also been stabbed multiple times.

Paula Baxter, 17 years old, went missing on February 2, leaving her mired car behind. Her nude body was found on February 4 in Millbrae behind the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Ludeman Lane. She had been stabbed 4 times, sexually assaulted and hit on the head with a piece of concrete. Her killing was forensically linked to Cascio's.[5]

On April 1, 19-year-old Denise Lampe of Broadmoor was found dead after a search in the parking lot of the Serramonte Center. She had been stabbed 20 times.[6]

Carol Booth, 26, was reported missing by her husband on March 15, and was discovered in a shallow grave near Colma Creek on Grand Avenue, South San Francisco on May 6.[7]

Victims

The five victims were:[8]

Possible victims

Michelle Mitchell[9]

Mitchell, 19, was last seen alive in Reno, Nevada on February 24, 1976 when her Volkswagen Beetle broke down at the intersection of 9th Street and Evans Avenue while running an errand. Witnesses reported seeing someone help push her vehicle into the parking lot across from the UNR agricultural building on Evans Street.[10] Her body was discovered that evening in a garage on East 9th Street, hands bound and throat slashed. Three years later, Cathy Woods, a mental patient at the Louisiana State University Medical Center, confessed to murdering a woman named Michelle and was charged and convicted of the crime.[11]

Idell M. Friedman[12]

Friedman, 21, an employee of an import firm, was found assaulted and stabbed to death with an 8-inch-knife in her 116 Fairmount Street, San Francisco apartment. Friedman was murdered on March 17, 1976, and therefore only two days after Gypsy Hill victim Carol Lee Booth was reported missing. Friedman's naked body was lying on the kitchen floor of her ransacked apartment and she was found by a co-worker who became concerned when she failed to show up for work.[12][13]

Response

Investigators connected some of the homicides to each other. All women were young brunettes and most had experienced car trouble prior to their deaths. All were also found in wooded areas.

A lack of witnesses and a dearth of forensic evidence stalled investigations.

In March 2014, the FBI established a task force to re-examine the murders, after new DNA evidence cast doubt on the conviction of Cathy Woods, now 64,[11] for Mitchell's murder.[14] The DNA, from a cigarette butt found on the scene matched semen from at least one of the related crime scenes in San Mateo, California[15] and was revealed to be that of a male.[16] On September 8, 2014, the FBI named Rodney Halbower a person of interest in the slayings.[17] Woods was released from prison on September 11 pending a new trial to take place on July 13, 2015.[18]

On January 22, 2015, Halbower was charged with two of the murders (Paula Baxter and Veronica Cascio) after DNA evidence linked him to both cases.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "1976 Nevada murder linked to California serial killer". WireUpdate. 8 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "2 Slain in Pacifica, San Mateo". San Mateo Times. January 9, 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Man Freed In Slaying". San Mateo Times. January 16, 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Youths Find Body In Pacifica Hills". San Mateo Times. June 7, 1976. p. 1.
  5. ↑ Sullivan, Rick (19 March 1976). "Two Stabbing Slayings Still Remain Unsolved". San Mateo Times. pp. 1, 8. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  6. ↑ "Brutal DC Slaying; Police Seek Clues". San Mateo Times. April 2, 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  7. ↑ LaPierre, Frank (May 6, 1976). "Killer Loose: 4 Murders In 4 Months". San Mateo Times. pp. 1, 18. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Ho, Vivian (7 March 2014). "San Mateo County 1976 slayings linked to old Reno murder". SFGate.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  9. ↑ "Feds link Reno murder to unsolved 1976 'Gypsy Hill Killings'". KUTV. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  10. ↑ Ivie, Erin (6 March 2014). "Gypsy Hill victims exhibited 'startling' similarities". Mercury News. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Marcus, Emerson (6 March 2014). "Authorities reopen '76 case of UNR student slaying (with video)". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Help Asked In Probe Of Slaying". SF Chronicle. March 19, 1976.
  13. ↑ Murphy, Dave (May 8, 1986). "Murders still haunt him because he has no proof". San Mateo Times. p. A6.
  14. ↑ "FBI launches task force for "Gypsy Hill Murders"". Washington Times. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  15. ↑ Ashley Collman (9 September 2014). "Cathy Woods, found guilty of 1976 murder, gets new trial with new DNA links". Mail Online. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  16. ↑ Moye, David (7 March 2014). "Crime Scene DNA No Match For Woman Convicted Of 1976 Murder". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  17. ↑ Erin Ivie (8 September 2014). "Gypsy Hill murders: Person of interest named in killings of Peninsula women". Mercury News.
  18. ↑ "Woman released in 1976 Reno murder case". Yahoo News. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  19. ↑ "New Suspect Arrested, Charged in 1976 'Gypsy Hill' Murders". KTVN Channel 2 News. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.

External links