Riverside D.A. corruption & the death of David McGowan

[jamesmsv]

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this subject, but considering it revolves around the Riverside D.A office I figured this is as good a place as any. Many people have commented on the authorities in Riverside county not always acting rationally when it came to the CJB/Zodiac investigation, and this story may provide some answers. It looks like law enforcement may have been rotten to the core in that part of California for a long time. I am not sure how well-known this story is within the US but it was certainly news to me in the UK when I found out about it:

I have recently been researching the strange death of reporter Danny Casolaro and his work on what he termed 'The Octopus'. If you've not heard about it then you're in for a long, crazy ride when you start searching. Although often derided as a conspiracy theory, elements of The Octopus crimes have been given a lot of credence through the work of journalist Nathan Baca. He won the Emmy Investigative journalism award in 2008 for a 34-part series he filmed for KESQ-TV on a series of murders on the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians Reservation in 1981. He has made the series available on his youtube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3cOKFAZN8DuhuMXnEqph0wdIXRR4rPwG

To cut a very long story short, these murders were believed to be connected to the Iran-Contra affair and were covered up by corrupt officers at the Desert Hot Springs P.D... which is overseen by the Riverside D.A.
In 2005 Riverside D.A. invstigators David McGowan and Luis Bolanos were tasked with investigating the corruption at Desert Hot Springs, but unfortunately for them they began to uncover corruption higher up the chain at Riverside DA Office as well. McGowan took his findings to the FBI and arranged to officially testify to them about his investigation. Days before this could happen, he inexplicably decided instead to shoot his mother, wife and two children before turning the gun on himself.

Three separate neighbours say they saw a suspicious van parked outside the house on the night of the murders and it flashed it headlights as if signalling to someone. When one of the neighbours approached the van, it sped off. The lead was never investigated.
Luis Bolanos fought to have his partner's 'suicide' investigated along with the DA corruption charges, but instead found himself facing false charges to end his career. he was cleared but understandably lacked the energy to keep up the fight.

I'm not in any way linking this to CJB or Zodiac, just thought it was interesting to get some background on the county officials that took over cold cases in the early 2000s...

[mike_r]

Hi,

I've known there is something strange afoot in Riverside for years. First, mDNA from hairs found embedded in a blood clot in CJB's hand excluded their pet suspect "Bill Barnett" in 2001 but they apparently continue to hold onto him as a suspect. Also in 2000 a detective there (Shumway?) said that Bates was stabbed "42 times" strongly implying that her attacker knew her and he then created this odd narrative about the boyfriend making very incriminating statements like, "That bitch is at the library." to his friends before he went to kill her. When the autopsy report by Dr. Rene Modglin came out, it was clear that there were not "42 stab wounds." That was a total lie. Folks who were hanging around the boards in 2000 and 2001 will remember this stuff.

So Riverside is very shady in my book. Plus, they have a 53 year old case and won't release any info to the public, where the true investigation is going on today.

[jamesmsv]

It does not surprise me to hear that - if the FBI were getting involved in 2005 then it was probably at least 5-10 years of corruption in the lead up to David McGowan's death. It seems as though it was happening at all levels of law enforcement and that kind of institutional corruption takes a long time to become entrenched. Considering the original investigation that sparked this off was from the early 1980's I wouldn't be surprised if some of the original CJB investigators were still working at Riverside at that time. Who knows how much stuff has been lost, mislaid, or fabricated over the years.

[capricorn]

Was there any outside consulting firms or contractors working within the Riverside Police Dept.?

If so, could one of their employees had access to their files?