Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
On March 5, 1972, two high school students discovered the body of a woman in a creek bed in Santa Rosa, California. Kim Wendy Allen was the woman’s name, a 19-year-old who last been seen getting a ride to school. Allen was tortured before she died and then disposed of in a creek bed. Her death was the start of what would become the start of many murders in Santa Rosa, California, over almost two years.
Almost two months after Kim Allen was discovered, twenty-year-old Jeannett Kamahele went missing. She was last seen hitchhiking within close proximity from where Kim was found. Concerned, officials started warning people in the area to not hitchhike to work or class. Meanwhile, another two bodies emerged, two 12-year-old middle school students who were last seen hitchhiking on Guerneville Road. They wouldn’t be found – their skeletons, that is – until 6 months later.
After several more murders and very few leads, the police began looking into other well-known killers. Theorists also started coming up with ideas, such as claiming the Zodiac Killer was to blame for the murders. In 1974 the Zodiac Killer’s “Exorcist letter” was published in which he claimed to have killed 37 people. Interestingly enough, the letter contained the same character that resembled the soy barrel Kim Allen was carrying right before she was murdered.
In 1975 a report was released from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It revealed that fourteen murders between 1972 and 1974 that had yet to be solved were all committed by the same person. In 1979, more remains were found. 100 yards from where Kursa, a 13-year-old student who disappeared, was another set of remains but to this day no one knows who the person was who died.
The case went cold in the 1980s and it has been that way ever since. There have been many advancements in investigating murders, however, investigators still haven’t come up with any new leads.
The next case is the type of puzzle that defeats investigators and generates all manner of speculation, but we don’t even know for certain there was foul play…
