Episode 18 Cheri Jo Bates In 1966, Riverside City College student Cheri Jo Bates was viciously stabbed 42 times and nearly decapitated in an alley after leaving the school library. Police discovered that her car had been deliberately disabled, and concluded that her attacker had deliberately sabotaged it in order to get to her. The case was thoroughly investigated, but had started to cool when an anonymous confession letter arrived – claiming responsibility for the murder in great detail. Additional letters added to the mystery. And then, another killer dominated the headlines in California – a killer who also sent anonymous letters that bore marked similarities to the confession letter. Was Cheri Jo Bates the first victim of the serial killer who terrorized California in the late 1960s, who has never been identified – the Zodiac?

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