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Oh I didn't mean Ronnie's jilted lover. I meant a jilted lover taking out his revenge on others. Psychopath for sure!
I think that is really odd that they did not come to school or the golf course to investigate. I wonder if they had people of interest. No questioning at Serramonte either, wow! I worked at Stone Soup in Serramonte in 78.
That is a very haunting thought that the men at the golf course may have been coming for you. What would make you think that?
I had very similar situations growing up in the city. Cars pulling up asking for directions or offering me a ride. They were always indecent exposure cases. Luckily I got the plate #'s and had them arrested. It made me sick.
I saw that on find a grave there were post from Leah? on both sites. And yes, Paula's Mom was on there regularly up until June. So sad. I hope she see's the day that this killer is brought to justice.
I am really glad you called DCPD. I hope they call back.
I don't know why I thought they might have been looking for me. Maybe because I had the same description as Ronnie and I had been working at the Golf Course and walked there all the time. And the way that guy looked at me. And the other guy watching the whole thing. It makes the hair on my neck stand up. But these two guys were real and they were there and they didn't fit in. And no one ever came and asked anything. The guys that owned the restaurant at the time where great big guys. It was a father and son and frankly I didn't like them much. They kept pestering me to buy a waitress uniform so I finally did. Then one of them told me he better give me a ride to school cause it wasn't safe for me to walk, then in the car he tried to feel up my leg. That is why I quit working at the golf course. But I really just think they were dirty old men. Not killers. But who knows.
It's just that I hung out or can place myself in EVERY place a body was found around the same time too.
My friends and I partied right at Gypsy Hill although we didn't call it that. It was just sort of a vacant lot with a few trees and a dirt path at the time. I had a girlfriend that lived on Claredon way and if Tanya was last seen at the 7-11 on the top of Manor road then it was possibly Claredon way that she may have been walking on and where she may have been dragged off into the Gypsy Hill area - not the Sharp Park Road entrance. The Gypsy Hill area can be accessed from both streets, one on each end.
In fact, 2 of my friends and I were hitch hiking from right outside of the 7-11 on top of Manor Drive and a guy pulled over and my friend said "shotgun!" So I got in the back seat. When she went to get into the front she looked over at the guy and yelled "He aint got no pants on!" And then called him a pervert and the other friend pulled me out of the back seat. We ran back to one of the girls apartments that was behind the 7-11 and called the cops and they caught this guy at the bottom of Manor drive and we had to go down to the Pacifica Police Dept and place the guy under "citizens arrest". But that is the kind of thing that happened all the time in Pacifica. That is why I started carrying a huge knife. But I didn't call the police on the other times. We didn't have cell phones then. It wasn't that easy to get to a phone.
After I quit working at the golf course, I worked at S & H Kress at Serremonte and walked to work a few times like I said. I vaguely remember the murder there and I think that may be why my mother started picking me up after work.
Later that year I dated a guy that had been in the military and his mother lived in the Broadmore area of Westlake, so I had been in that area. He turned out to be pretty abusive, but was blond and only 4 years older than me, which made him 21 at the time.
Then, I believe that Carol Lee Booth was found in an area that was within a 10 minute drive from where Thornton High School where Ronnie and I both attended was located at that time. It was located a block or so off Mission Street in Daly City (The school has been moved since then)
The only girl I can't put myself as having hung out in the area was Paula Baxter, but if it were these two guys responsible, they were dressed like they may have been from that area for sure.
Personally, I feel like they may have been driving around and going to places they knew they would find girls. Or maybe a relative of someone that went to Thornton that lived over that way. Or they were following girls they set their sites on and at 16, I wouldn't have clued in on that at the time. Maybe there was a connection between Thornton High because it was in Daly City and Pacifica. That's a rather strong coincidence.
Anyway, I agree it is sad about Paula Baxter's mother. I too hope there will be resolution in her life time.
I was talking to my sister about this tonight hoping to jog her memory and she said maybe none of the families want to keep bringing this up because it's too painful. I would think though that unless they know something that we don't, they would keep looking until it's solved. Of course, maybe they know something we don't. Maybe the guy is dead by now and they know it. All we have to go by is the few things we see online. Maybe that's why the police don't call me back.
I hope someone who knows more will see this and post anything that would help jog memories, or finalize it for us as well.
Odd times back then. There were a lot of sexual deviates. After the shock of the first few, you get angry and when they see you've taken your power back they would panic and flee.
If you belong to classmates.com you could post on the community chat board. Maybe that would get people jogging their memories. Maybe even send an email to a few kids that were friends w/Ronnie. I think the more it's talked about the more information might be discovered.
Maybe we should look up the old owners of Sharps Park Golf on the assessors page. Ask what they're take on it was. If you really want to do this, I'll put in the time. Do you think Sgt. Ron Caine is still alive? Or Doug McCool? There must be someone assigned to unsolved murders.Well..let's stay on it.
Yes indeed they were odd times. Thanks for the tip on Classmates.com. I have looked for old friends but unfortunately Thornton High being a continuation school, those friends are hard to find. We didn't have a prom or anything and no reunions either.
I'm happy to keep looking. I don't think one year has gone by without me thinking about this anyway and now that there is the internet, there is more information out there and ability to contact people is better. I have already done a little research, with not much luck. Did you know you can go to San Mateo Superior Court and search case history? Unfortunately they don't put criminal cases on there. Some counties do and some don't. I think they should all do it so people can protect themselves better. I'll tell you if I'm dating someone or my kids are around someone, I will look people up any way I can.
I did find Ronnie's brother and sister on Facebook (that is sometimes an amazing research tool). And I tried to send the sister a message to let her know about this site and see if she was open to talking but I haven't heard back. I also called the Pacifica Police today to see if I could find out about the hitchhiking incident that did get called in but they said unless I was the person arrested they couldn't give me any info. Ha! isn't that ironic. Once again, the criminals get more protection then the victim.
I found the names of my old bosses on my Social Security info. Their names were Mundy and in fact the restaurant was called Mundy's Coffee Shop at the time. I called there today too, but the person that could talk to me about anything wont be there until Wed. I hate to say it but I'm sure the father has passed (he was old when I worked there) and if the son is alive he will be pretty old now because I think he was in his 40's then.
As far as Ron Caine is concerned, I think he may be gone now too as he wasn't a youngster back then, but I'm not sure about Doug McCool. I thought one officer's name was Rob Robertson but I have to re-read the articles to be sure.
I've asked the question before about who covers cold cases and was told by the police dept that they don't have the resources to work these. Sheesh, if I were a cop or even studying criminal justice, I would take these cases on just for heck of it and make it a class project or something. I've heard of that happening. Why not this case???
Anyway, thanks so much for responding. It's keeping me wanting to do something. I wonder how we could get the news media to pick it up again? I could try contacting the Pacifica Tribune again. Can't hurt. I'll put it on my list to do.
You are on it!! That is a great idea.If the tribune picks it up make sure to have them refer to this blog with any information. I reread all the articles again today. Do you think Denise Lampe was a separate murderer? They did collect and match semen that connected Ronnie and Paula's murderer as the same person but did not mention if they did the same for Carol and Marie I guess was badly decomposed.
You know, Ronnie's brother and sister may read the posts but not contribute. Have you noticed how many reads we get?
I will check out classmates for the other high schools tomorrow night. Maybe I can post there.
As far as the cold cases..that WOULD be a great suggestion for the teachers at SF State, City College or Skyline because it's in the proximity of the schools and the students can actually do onsite observations of the crime scenes, etc. You have great ideas.
So Wednesday someone can talk to you from Sharps Park..that could be interesting.
I love that we have internet now and I always went to the county clerks room to look up my dates as well as my friends dates and now my kids. HA! You can find out a lot. I love it. You can also look up the Sheriffs booking log.
Ok so I went onto the Pacifica Tribune online which is now owned by Mercury News and went to the crime watch section and wrote to them all that I suggested here. I asked that they google the Gypsy Hill murders in case they were not familiar with it and see the posts and that they publish articles and maybe a news cast on TV for the story again. And I reminded them the anniversary of Ronnie's death is coming up and maybe they can do something to honor her and all the other girls by publishing something on the anniversary's. And I also suggested the idea of a research project for the college.
Since it's almost Christmas they may want to wait until after that anyway. It seems like there are a lot of "feel good" stories around Christmas and this wouldn't fit into that category. But maybe after Christmas. I like the idea of including the other schools besides Skyline. I may get phone numbers and call each one personally to pitch the idea in case no one does anything from the paper. I just don't know how people can turn a blind eye to this for years.
Yes it is interesting about how many people read this. COME ON PEOPLE, SHOW YOURSELVES BY POSTING WHAT YOU KNOW!
Well, Christmas has come and gone and now we are looking at the anniversary of Ronnie's death on the 8th and no one has responded to this above plea. I did talk to the Pacifica Police but I don't feel like anything is being done. I was told that old records from that time period are in such a mess and not all are even accessible to them anymore. And the newspaper doesn't even respond to a request to run articles. How sad that is. Someone needs to go through the old records for one thing and straiten them out and start putting some organization to them. I was picked up while hitch hiking right in front of the 7-11 store that Tanya Blackwell disappeared from around the same time by a man that had no pants on. My girlfriends that I was with at that time ran back to one of the girls apartments and called the police and they caught the guy at the bottom of Manor Drive and we had to go to the police station and place this man under citizens arrest and now they can't even find a report on that. I understand, it was a long time ago. But there should be a report somewhere! And it should have been logged somewhere. And with these murders going on all around this area at the time, I would think someone in law enforcement would have had the smarts to possibly connect something. All you have to do is Google "unsolved sex murders in California" and you will be shocked to find out that there were 8 or 9 girls killed in Santa Rosa while hitch hiking in the early 1970's, and others in Stanford and a bunch in Sacramento. None were solved. There was one guy that did get caught doing this I think in San Jose or Livermore and the MO was almost identical. But it looks like he was incarcerated during this time frame. And then did anyone ever investigate the owners of the restaurant that Ronnie's body was found at? Like I said, I worked there. There were things going on that should be noted. I'm so sorry that all the murder victims of the 1970's may never be solved.
I lived in the Serramonte district of Daly City back in 1976 when Denise Lampe was found murdered in the parking lot of Serramonte Mall. I'm surprised I never heard of this. I had an SF Chronicle paper route at the time and used to read the paper almost every day. I read the Chronicle and the Daly City Record.
Hey Friend Of Ronnie's, when I was a kid in Daly City in 1972 the closest place to buy candy and soda was 7-11 and I think it was on the corner of Skyline Blvd and Manor Dr in Pacifica. It was within walking distance from our house on Warwick St in Daly City. Is this the same 7-11 that Tanya Blackwellwas abducted from? If so, that was a rough neighborhood. I think the area was called Westview. Just wondering.....
I am so shocked to read about Tanya Blackwell. I knew her and I remember her at my house hanging with me and friends. She excused herself and said she was going to 7/11 store across the street, and that she would be right back, but she never returned. I lived on Manor drive right off skyline road, where the store was located. I remember when they found her, but did not know about it being named the Gypsy Hill Killer. I hope they keep trying to find the killer, and solve this case. yes it did happened at the 7/11 on manor and skyline in Pacifica, not Westlake Daly City.
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