Last year, both parents died, one two weeks after the other. Strikingly pretty, with gray-streaked blond hair and blue eyes, she sometimes was mistaken for Barry's mother due to their 17-year age difference. This week, over 40 years later, Gresham police identified a Troutdale. However, in 1972, the now-Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Office issued a press release stating that the killings were the work of the infamous serial killer. Old police interviews obtained by the Weekly show that the last day they were seen alive, Barry and Louise hung out with Pepe and a laid-back bunch of other strangers at Saline Valley's natural hot springs. No one saw Barry and Louise that day. From the lack of any kind of clues, I think they were taken out of the area and probably killed somewhere else, he said. I had a bad feeling about him., When the various visitors broke camp, no one immediately thought to tell the authorities that the Bermans were still out there a serious oversight. There were no children, a source of significant friction. Powered by WordPress VIP. It took a few days for the killing to seep into Santa Barbaras collective consciousness. Even though it wasnt Hans discipline, he crammed nonstop for two solid weeks, took the tests, and qualified for one of the openings. [4][19], On March 30, 1981, Christiansen died after being stabbed once in the chest while walking in the exercise yard at Folsom State Prison. Looking further into this, according to the same report, from 1965 to 2019 there were roughly 128,787 murders in California alone. Healer-acupuncturist Mary Sullivan says, We have a living master, his job is to take you back home it doesn't matter how you die., Jules Berman, who died in 1998, didn't enjoy such peace. Gray moved to San Francisco, but the cataclysmic fire of 1906 destroyed his health, and he died in Sacramento one year later. Before the two went on the prowl, another student asked him, What are you going to do, kill someone? He replied, Thats the idea., James Tramel (left) and David Kurtzman | Photo: Christopher Gardner, As Tramel and Kurtzman entered Alameda Park, they thought they were following one of the gang members, but they quickly lost him in the dark. Craycraft even flew to Cambodia when Pepe was arrested, but sources tell the Weekly he refused to talk to her about Saline Valley. So if for some reason [someone]whether their family member is deceased or theyre cleaning out a storage unitcome[s] across a weird collection of items such as womens IDs, rings, earringsanything thats out of the ordinaryit could be significant.. Theres significant evidence to suggest CBDs have healing powers when it comes to tumors, seizures, psychosis, anxiety, and inflammation. Ive been waiting 30 minutes. Actually, Yanikian had been waiting considerably longer than that. One of the most infamous murder cases in New York City during the 1980s involved a Ridgewood woman at the center of a criminal investigation against her employer, who made sure a professional . On July 27, 1979, after interviewing over 115 persons over the previous two years, Christiansen was arrested for the murders of Patricia Laney, Jacqueline Rook, and Mary Sarris. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is continuing the search for the suspect who murdered Kym Morgan in Santa Barbara in 1985. They were the nicest young people you could ever meet in your life, Gnesa said. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which can investigate crimes involving Marine Corps personnel, began working on the case, and lead NCIS investigator Cheryl Craycraft dogged Michael Pepe. Neighbors in the nearby Forte Ranch condominium community watched two and then 11 more law enforcement cars (among them forensics and Department of Justice criminalists) wind up the Hans driveway that evening. When asked if he met any couples there, he answered, There's couples up there all the time. Shown pictures of the Bermans, he responded, The guy looks somewhat familiar. Asked if he talked to them in the hot tub, he said, I don't know.. In a 2008 blog post, Courtney said their mother, Nancy Berchtold Haobsh, 55, had died from lymphatic cancer. On the witness stand, Tramel expressed shock and horror at Kurtzmans sudden savagery. It was always in the back of my mind. In fact, Han personally intervened to help Relis and his wife adopt a baby girl from China 19 years ago. Lucas found the skull jauntily arranged atop a picnic table with flowers in its eye sockets and a patch of moss for a hairpiece. His father, liquor importer Jules Berman, became known as Mr. Then Kurtzman attacked. Wearing a blue button-up shirt, a tie, and at times a half-smile, Haobshs tone didnt betray that, early Friday morning, he was arrested at a San Diego County gas station and charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the brutal killings of well-known herbalist Dr. Weidong Henry Han, 57; his wife, Huijie Jennie Yu, 29; and the couples daughter, Emily Han, 5. He married an American citizen, but the marriage didnt last. She had alabaster skin and light blue eyes that contrasted with her black hair. According to Inyo County Sheriff's records obtained by the Weekly, Mike the Marine said that he might've spotted the couple hiking the Corridor with backpacks a comment now considered a key admission by investigators. Deputy Boyer tells the Weekly that thinking like a deviant led him to conclude that a perpetrator had hobbled the Bermans in the desert by removing their shoes. 29, 2023 in Ventura County Superior Court. She miraculously survived. Gray was tried three times on murder chargesbut each time, he got off. Zemaitis remembers his fathers frustration about the FBIs inaction after contacting the agency regarding Shorts time in Santa Barbara County. Nearly three years after Barry and Louise Berman vanished, setting off one of the most elaborate searches of its era, the couple's bleached bones and bits of clothing were discovered after a desert hiker spotted a skull, uncovered by heavy rains. They're looking for a way to bring charges. Memorials for family and friends who have lost family and friends to murder. His bail is set at $1,000,000. Name index of death index created by the California Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Section in Sacramento. On May 26, 1979, the decomposed body of Laura Benjamin, 22, was found in a drainage culvert near Big Tujunga Dam. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers. Man on Death Row for 1980 Killing of Isla Vista Boy Found Dead in Prison Cell. On Oct. 1, 1979, a couple from Goleta survived an attack from a man believed to be the Golden State Killer, according to a report in the Santa Maria Times. She was last seen on November 20, 1976. Domingos was your all-American high school student. Site by It was surreal, she recalls. The body was discovered first, lacking a head. Investigator Mottweiler, now retired, says, Pepe was evasive and ambiguous. Have you ever felt a knife go through a human head?, In his confession, Kurtzman talked about flashes in his head, blood pulsing in his ears, and panic that gang members were crawling into the gazebo. Days after they went missing, the bodies of Domingos and Edwards were found hidden in a ramshackle shed near a remote stretch of Gaviota Beach. The relationship was sweet they were good partners, says Sullivan, then an El Capitan dweller and now an acupuncturist in North Fork, California. Camper Brian Casey tells the Weekly that a small pickup pulled up that evening, its headlights shining into the hot tub, and soon Barry and Louise, conspicuous because they wore swimsuits, climbed in. A front-page photo in the Jan. 24, 1983, Santa Barbara News-Press showed Laura's car marooned with its roof torn open. In response to the uprising of Tiananmen Square, Han reportedly signed a statement in support of the protestors. Index includes name, sex, date and place of birth, date and county of death, father's last name, and mother's maiden name. The Sun researched three of the most notorious unsolved cases for this story. Panic, his attorney later argued, is simply not murder.. [16] On May 14, 1980, Christiansen was sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of Laura Benjamin, and 9 years for the attempted murder of Lydia Preston. Domingos was three years older than him.His cousin said he looked up to Domingos. As hope of finding the couple alive faded, Jules Berman formed a dark theory about their fate. Site by He died the next day, lamenting: I am dying without seeing my dear little wife-girl.. He eventually was turned over to U.S. agents and flown to Los Angeles to stand trial committing a sex crime against a minor anywhere in the world is a federal offense. I quickly took care of that, he says. A couple was found murdered at their home in Ventura. 1980 - June 9, 2000 Shot. And he got away with it. Marcus Knutson, a FBI special agent, believes the killer may have a collection of crime scene tokens stashed away somewhere. Six weeks after Barry and Louise disappeared, Inyo County investigators landed their first solid lead: Two pairs of Nikes were found tucked under a bush by the dirt road below Palm Spring. Santa Barbara area voters defeated it by a wide margin. But before he became known as the Zodiac Killer, he may have honed his proficiency with the 1963 killings of Domingos and Edwards in Santa Barbara County. Similar to some of the attacks on the couples in Vallejo and Napa, the killer forced one of his victims to bind the hands of the other with pre-cut lengths of narrow rope. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), https://www.independent.com/2016/03/30/inside-han-family-murders/. In 1873, Gray sought the Republican Party nomination for District Attorney and came within seven votes of winning. He was very smug., Some of Barry and Louise's fellow spiritualists believe that, in the truest sense, they are still alive. Since Han set up shop in Santa Barbara in the 1980s, there was never anything the least bit "woo-woo" or New Age about the medicine he practiced. Barry, who had chosen ironworking as his craft, settled into one of three weathered cottages on the El Capitan land overlooking the ocean. On Wednesday evening, March 23, authorities discovered all three wrapped in clear plastic and duct taped in the garage of their 4640 Greenhill Way home near Goleta. He had just moved to Santa Barbara only a few years after the previous Press editor had been horsewhipped down State Street by the District Attorney, W.T. Years into the investigation the case remained unsolved. Carlson and Han established a lasting friendship as well as medical relationship. A nightmare beyond a nightmare.. But political activist Selma Rubin, later dubbed the Mother of Earth Day, forced Berman's plan onto the ballot. Yanikian was found guilty of murder and received a life sentence. For the first time in 35 years, Congress has just now passed a resolution acknowledging the genocide of the Armenians. I have a shotgun ready for the day I find out whoever may have done this.. Williams recently drove to the federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, and met with Pepe. When Glancey said he had, Gray pulled out a pistol and tried to shoot him. Fiesta was just around the corner, but a new hot-button issue had just landed in Santa Barbara. It focused on the citys ordinance against camping or sleeping outside. More than two months later, in late December, the Santa Maria Times reported that 35-year-old Santa Maria psychologist Alexandria Manning and 44-year-old Dr. Robert Offerman were found murdered, shot multiple times, in a residence located on Avenida Pequena in Goleta. He killed at least eight women and men in Santa Barbara, Ventura and . Michael Westerman, Louise Berman's son; Credit: Photo by Doug Kari. The ammunition, Winchester Western Super X copper-coated bullets, matched the bullets used in the other Zodiac murders. The suspect was identified as Gabriel Jose Zepeda, a 46-year-old transient that was arrested without incident. In our heart of hearts, we know he had not committed an act of murder, one speaker proclaimed. The killer referred to himself as the Zodiac in hand-written letters sent to several Bay Area newspapers at the time. Back in California, he formally joined Radha Soami, pledging to follow the Path of avegetarian diet, moral behavior, daily meditation and abstinence from drugs and alcohol. His physician said nothing could be done. No other details wereprovided. [20], Patricia Laney has become a prominent symbol for groups that advocate against violence to women in the Santa Barbara/Goleta/Isla Vista area. Camacho pled guilty to murder in the second degree on Jan. 20, 2023 and is set to be sentenced on Mar. Their excursion to Saline Valley was meant as a make-up trip: They'd visit Death Valley and tour Scotty's Castle to see its exquisite ironwork. We have found that there appears to be a high degree of probability that this subject is responsible for the double murder in our county., The police never said how they came to this conclusion. She went from house to house, staying on friends couches. Korb says that sometimes, after a heavy rain, ancient artifacts on the land are exposed including human remains. Unlike some herbalists and acupuncture practitioners who saw themselves as distinct from traditional Western medicine, he practiced an East-West blend of practices. Louise's faith in Radha Soami helped sustain her. Words were exchanged. On Nov. 20, 1986, nearly a year after the couple vanished, Inyo County Sheriff's investigators Randy Nixon and Marston Mottweiler asked Pepe for a meeting. Dr. Henry . [2], Christiansen's modus operandi was to pick up hitchhikers, shoot them in the head with a .22 caliber pistol, and sexually assault them post-mortem. He worked four days a week, seeing about 15 patients a day. Recently, in the doorway of her desert trailer home, the woman told the Weekly that she saw Mike the Marine return down the Corridor in his pickup that afternoon. Minutes later, he shot her in the ear. Martinez hopes the incident will shed. The next day nobody saw the Bermans, who were assumed to be exploring. Han graduated from medical school, and in the early 1980s he became aware that two post-graduate positions opened up at UCSBs psychology department. Surrounded by large gardens and situated on a seven-acre avocado ranch, the familys hillside Mediterranean-style home is not visible from the main road below. And new location? Santa Barbara Jugglers Association & Club Jugglers at UCSB, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thor_Nis_Christiansen&oldid=1138542881, My Favorite Murder Podcast, Episode 27 "Your Hometown Murder Email Round-up", This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 06:57. His mother was a talented ob-gyn, and his father was a dermatologist; medical practitioners went back in the Han family for many generations. He played football at Hueneme High School, although according to former teammate Dan Marple he was not very popular. By the time the Bermans disappeared, Pepe was on his second marriage and was aide-de-camp to a general at a Marine Corps logistics base in Barstow. Site design and development by Hop Studios Hop Studios With rippling, wind-formed sand dunes, the valley boasts some of California's most magnificent scenery. The young men were jacked out of their minds on adrenaline, testosterone, and hyperactive fantasies of revenge. With an eerie noir atmosphere, Shorts murder became a popular subject of books and films, and it even inspired the name of a heavy metal band. He pleaded guilty to 13 murders, including those of four Santa Barbara County residents, and dozens of sexual assaults and burglaries in the 1970s and 1980s Thursday, November 10 , 2022, 2:55 pm . The family initially settled in Inglewood, California, and then moved to Solvang, where his father, Nis, ran a restaurant. When Gray moved to Santa Barbara in 1870, he was described as reckless, unscrupulous, audacious, brilliant, enterprising, and witty. An attorney by profession, Gray represented clients who were described as gamblers, members of the sporting set, and habitus of saloons. In less than 10 years, Gray himself was arrested more than 20 times, mostly for fighting. Ultimately, City Hall backed down on its ordinance. If they did, I could shoot a German delicatessen owner and have witnesses say I was justified.. After trackers found promising shoe prints, the National Guard took the unusual step of sending in a massive CH-47 helicopter. Allen died in 1992. Last Wednesday, Hahn had an appointment to meet his partners in one of these ventures. Lucas' team jimmied open the Datsun and found two cameras with undeveloped film inside. The charges drew global attention for the shocking crimes against little girls at his home in Phnom Penh. Santa Barbara . Although the anticipated response to this statement would be one of skepticism, let me say that we do not make this assertion frivolously, the press release stated. Its believed that the Golden State Killer would sometimes call his victims homes pretending he had called a wrong number. Her ex-husband, former L.A. firefighter Wes Westerman, now retired in the San Juan Islands, remains bitter about her radical awakening, complaining, She met people who brought in drugs. A 2007 movie, Zodiac, directed by David Fincher and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr., points to a man by the name of Arthur Leigh Allen, but no conclusive evidence backs up this theory. He did the one-on-one with the patients; his assistants mixed the herbal concoctions. A fifth intended victim escaped with a bullet in her head, and later identified him in a Los Angeles bar. Then on Feb. 2, 1978, he began killing. However, in 2011, advanced DNA testing confirmed that these four victims were also killed by EAR/ONS. The next morning, four of those students reported the crime to police, turning over the perpetrators bloodstained clothes as evidence. His redemption was the stuff of much media coverage. Yanikians plan was simple. Not so much anymore. The next day, Jan. 6, Casey, Snyder and their buddy Mark Muscio drank coffee spiked with Kahlua and rode off on Yamaha dirt bikes, following a ragged set of tracks called the Eureka-Saline Corridor, which leads to Eureka Valley and some of North America's tallest sand dunes. Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. A March 25 KGTV San Diego newscast featured Oceanside neighbors, who remembered Haobsh as off. The night of Haobshs arrest, the suburban neighborhood saw authorities search his home with flashlights. Tom Ganner, the new campground host, called the sheriff on his two-way radio. Neither Frederick Smith nor Courtney responded to questions from The Santa Barbara Independent. The man known as Mike the Marine also went off and, upon his return to the springs later that day, gave one female camper the creeps by asking if she was interested in threesomes. But Barry was repulsed by his dad's money and wanted to go the other way, recalls Brent Lieberman, a teenage buddy, now a surf photographer in Santa Barbara. CBD is also found in marijuana, but in hemp, the levels of THCthe compound that gets users stonedare sufficiently low enough to be legal in the United States. All rights reserved. Both were seeking admission to the national military academies West Point and the Air Force Academy. According to Bruce Albert, a Bureau of Land Management ranger who drove through that day, about 50 travelers were camping at Lower Warm Springs, whose waters fed an oasis of palm trees and hot tubs. When Ganner came to the aid of his future wife, who got a flat tire at the hot springs, he joked he was her knight in naked armor.. In the days after the Han familys death, family, friends, and patients have piled flowers and notes outside the clinic and below police tape still blocking off their home. Given the circumstances of her death, Shorts murder became sensational, and she was given the name Black Dahlia. His student visa expired. He thinks Domingos may have known his killer. On the afternoon before they disappeared in 1986, Barry and Louise Berman followed a bone-jarring road deep into the California desert. At age 8, he watched Turks slit the throat of his older brother. Section #1. [6], Patricia Marie Laney You just have to wait it out, Carlson recalls being told. The following day, he was charged with the attempted murder of Lydia Preston. In the end, the media covering Pepe's sex-predator trial and conviction in California never linked the cold case sitting in files in Inyo County. [13], Following a delay, on March 24, 1980, Christiansen withdrew his double plea in favor of a diminished capacity defense. Jules Berman also sprang into action, arranging his own plane to bring in a group of family and friends, then returning to Saline Valley in a Winnebago to join a private search party. Detectives are reopening the investigation into the decades-old unsolved killing of a teenage boy near Santa Barbara with the help of technology that didn't exist at the time. including Santa Barbara County DA Joyce Dudley, that he wished to plead guilty to the 26 counts of murder and kidnapping in exchange for escaping the death . He looked for signers named Mike and found one who'd written down his address at a Marine Corps base. Dental records confirmed the remains were Barry and Louise. Much of her whereabouts from this time until her death are shrouded in mystery.