Zodiackillersite.com

Quicktrader wrote:Melanie, I originally had found an article about this horrible case (Press Telegram, November 19, 1973), which says about the following:

The two girls were on a shopping trip and had been driven to a wooded area called Camp Far West Reservoir which is popular for picnics and parties, before being cut down by a number of close-range shotgun blasts. On 12 November, 1973, boys who were target shooting near a Bear River diversion dam found the bodies of the two 13-year-old girls who had been shotgunned to death. The victims were identified as the daughter of Margaret Joan Hasting and Dorothy Elva Derryberry, all of nearby Olivehurst. Both mothers had reported the girls missing and Sheriff Gary Miller said there was no apparent motive for the slayings. There was no arrest. The bodies of the two girls, missing about 20 hours only, were found east of Wheatland, shot to death. There was no apparent motive for the killing and there were no suspects. Nor could the killings be connected to any other recent slayings in the area. The girls were best friends, attended school together and reportedly were seen together on Sunday morning. The Lane girl's mother told sheriff's deputies Monday morning that her daughter had been missing since Sunday afternoon. Mrs. Dorothy Elva Derryberry also reported to the sheriff Monday that her daughter had been missing since Sunday afternoon. Both girls were fully clothed and had been dead less than 24 hours. There was no immediate evidence of a sexual assault. The bodies were taken to the Sacramento County coroner's office for an autopsy. One girl had been shot in the back and chest, the other in the side.

The girls probably were too young to having a party there on a Sunday afternoon, in November. One idea could be that it was an hunting accident, with a witness homicide, however it appears to be something different. If I understood correctly, your fathers home had been burglarized one day earlier, too? Although Valerie did not live with her father, is this correct?

With approximately 50° Fahrenheit I wouldn't expect them to have picnic either..so obviously they had e.g. used to play there or simply had talked to each other. Nobody would stay out at those temperatures for more than an hour or two, I'd say, so it is likely that the killer might have followed one of them? Would be interested if there do exist earlier articles as the one is about a week later?

QT