Death of Cheri Jo Bates

Cheri Josephine Bates was born February 4, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to California with her family in 1957. A graduate of Ramona High School, she was an honor student and cheerleader who enrolled at Riverside City College (RCC) and worked part-time at Riverside National Bank. On October 30, 1966, after attending Mass with her father and having breakfast together, Bates went to the RCC library in the afternoon to study, leaving a note for her father saying she had gone to the library. Witnesses reported seeing her drive toward RCC around 6:10 p.m., followed by a bronze Oldsmobile, and she studied until the library's normal 9:00 p.m. closing time. A female student later told investigators she saw a young man loitering near Bates's car around that time.

When Bates did not return home, her father filed a missing person report early on October 31. Her body was discovered that morning by a groundskeeper on a gravel path near the library parking lot. She had been stabbed and slashed multiple times, including wounds that nearly decapitated her, and evidence indicated a violent struggle in which she scratched her attacker and tore off his wristwatch, which was found near her body along with a distinctive shoe print. Her car was found nearby with its ignition wiring and distributor deliberately disabled, and unidentified fingerprints were recovered from the vehicle. The autopsy found no evidence of sexual assault or robbery, and investigators determined she was likely killed around 10:15 p.m. based on witness reports of screams and coroner estimates.

Riverside Police Department interviewed dozens of people in the days after the murder and staged a re-enactment at the RCC library nine days after her funeral to generate leads, without decisive results. One month after the murder, identical typed letters describing the killing in detail were sent to police and the local newspaper, prompting investigators to initially suspect the author was the killer. A further handwritten letter arrived in 1967 threatening more killings. In August 2021, RPD's cold case unit announced that DNA analysis conducted in 2020 had identified the author of these letters, who admitted the correspondence had been a hoax written by a troubled teenager seeking attention.

The case has drawn wider attention due to a theory, based on similarities in handwriting and modus operandi, that Bates may have been an early or first victim of the Zodiac Killer, a claim referenced in a 1971 letter attributed to the Zodiac claiming responsibility for a killing in Riverside. RPD has stated it does not believe the case is linked to the Zodiac murders and believes the killer was local to Riverside County. Other theories, including claims made by a former LAPD investigator about his father, and a 2021 claim by a group of retired investigators naming a different individual, have been publicly reported but have not resulted in charges. As of the most recent reporting, the case remains officially unsolved.