CA CA - Patricia Neufeld, 34, Garden Grove, 22 Nov 1978

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In 11/79, ONS was still active in Northern California; he had not yet been known to kill. He is only known to attack at night and appears to have deliberately avoided homes with young children. He was actually a relatively "non-violent" rapist who only later began killing victims, (after a rape attempt went bad). After that, he killed his victims with either with a gun he brought or a blunt object he found at the crime scene. I appear that rape was the primary motive and the murders were just cleaning up loose ends.

The pattern here is completely different. Apparently Patricia Neufeld was violently beaten with a weapon the prep brought to the crime scene but was not raped. When a prep bring a specific "blunt trauma" type weapon (a bowling pin in this case) to the crime scene and does a horrific beating but no rape, it is very possible that the beating was the sexual fantasy he was acting out.

There were quite a few sexual homicides in Orange county during that time; most of them solved. This one really can't be tied to any of them. A certain number of these will be "one shot" crimes where the perp never kills again (sometimes because he is caught quickly, other times he just doesn’t do it again). Because there is no DNA, it will probably not be solved.
 
I was never sure if the bowling pin belonged to one of her sons or came from somewhere else.

That being said, after learning about the front door being open and the tv being on, I don’t think she was murdered by EAR-ONS. The murderer must have been [IMO] very confident that no one would walk in and interrupt them. Possibly, if someone were to see them either enter or exit the front door, they must have been confident that they would be above suspicion or at least confident no one would be home to see them?

William Lee Evins, the man who plead the murder of 28 year old housewife Joan Virginia Anderson from Fountain Valley, CA, was 25 years old at the time of the murder and from Pasadena, TX. I was unable to find out when William Evins arrived in California from Texas; that is something I would like to know.

Joan Anderson was strangled and beaten with a hammer at her Fountain Valley home on the morning of March 8, 1979. The press release from the OCDA’s office only mentions the beating with a hammer and not the strangulation. William Evins was working as part of a construction crew on an addition to Mrs. Anderson’s home. At the time of her murder, Joan Anderson was home with two of her three children (6-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son). Her husband was out of town on a business trip. William Evins raped her prior to killing her.

According to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office --
Evins was arrested 17 months later [after Mrs. Anderson’s murder] when his friends reported to police that he had been acting strange and was jumpy and hyper-sensitive since the murder, and had repeatedly expressed his desires to rape and kill women with hostility. He also asked one friend to provide him with an alibi for the day of the murder.
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http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp?page=8&recordid=2565&returnurl=index.asp%3Fpage%3D8%26pagenumber%3D1%26pagesize%3D30000%26deptid%3D%26archive%3D0%26sl_month%3D12

People who were in jail with Mr. Evins, after he was arrested, said that he confessed to them. The articles so far do not make mention of any other crimes he confessed to or past criminal history prior to the murder in Fountain Valley (the Orange County press release makes mention of drug use, but that is all).

Personally, I don’t really think Mr. Evins is responsible for Patricia Neufeld’s murder. Other than there being young children present, the time of day it occurred, and the bludgeoning/beating as cause of death, it seems there are too many discrepancies between the two. If he had murdered someone prior to Joan Anderson, would he have confessed that as well to the people he was in jail with?

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-06-07/local/me-16062_1_fountain-valley

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/local/me-24902_1_evins-pleads-guilty

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/evins-316721-murder-parole.html
 
kemo said:
The pattern here is completely different. Apparently Patricia Neufeld was violently beaten with a weapon the prep brought to the crime scene but was not raped. When a prep bring a specific "blunt trauma" type weapon (a bowling pin in this case) to the crime scene and does a horrific beating but no rape, it is very possible that the beating was the sexual fantasy he was acting out.
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I am starting to wonder, if because of the situation you described, if the perpetrator could have been a woman?
 
Ambercat said:
I am starting to wonder, if because of the situation you described, if the perpetrator could have been a woman?
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Beating someone to death is normally a power-gain-fantasy in a lot of SKs. So, there is a little chance, this one also uses alternating strangulation in murders. The most infamous example was Bundy, used both methods. When thinks in his normal life were confusing or he hit snags, his victims were beaten to death, when his regular life went well, killing method was strangulation (even he beat his victims up before, but not lethal).
So, this tells us a little about this killer. In his normal life, he wouldn't appear strong or self-certain. Rather a little shy. But if he repeated crimes like the Neufeld murder, people around him would notice an increasing self-esteem.
And the killer is male. Repeated hits over the head, that is a male signature. Wouldn't be sure, if it would have been only one precise hit, but as it is ... male.
 
I was reading Sudden Terror by Larry Crompton and, while I no longer convinced that EAR-ONS murdered Mrs. Neufeld, I am not 100% sure that he did not. There were two things that I noticed which made me think of Patricia Neufeld -- towards about the last quarter of the book, an attack on a victim referred to as "Marie Salinas" is detailed. He did not, for whatever reason rape Ms. Salinas, but he did beat her quite badly and, like Patricia Neufeld, the front door to her house was left open when he left. Like Patricia Neufeld, Marie Salinas had two children with her at the time of the attack but her children were considerably older than the young children in Garden Grove. Also, according to the Detective Crompton, EAR-ONS did turn on the tv in some of the victims houses (true without the volume).
 
Ambercat said:
I found an article from the November 28, 1978 from the Santa Ana Orange County Register about Patricia Neufeld's murder. It has some information which is new to me.

Cleanup Of Bludgeon Scene Stalled http://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-evening/1978-11-28/page-6?tag=patricia+neufeld&rtserp=tags/?page=2&pep=patricia-neufeld&psb=relavance&ref=fbc





Does LE have a viable fingerprint from the killer? Has it ever been run for identification?

According to the article, there is a lack of motive and suspects, but --


Something about that doesn't sound quite right.
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BBM ...hmmmmmm...that sounds like police speak for "we know who did it and it was personal so neighbors there's no need to worry...hmmmmmm
 
My parents bought this house from Mr. Neufeld after the murder, (I was in 2nd grade), and we lived here until I graduated high school.

Does anyone know anything about the next door neighbor who moved away shortly after the murder? I know the new owners moved in shortly after we did and they were still living there when we moved away.

The thing that always comes to mind for me is, the bedroom where the murder took place/where they found her body I believe - the window to this room is on the side of the house and faces the next door neighbors kitchen window. The thing is, the distance between the bedroom window and the neighbors kitchen window is only a matter of a few feet. Obviously its possible that no one was home next door during this incident, however, if anyone was home at the time, I can't see how they would not have heard something.

I believe the neighbor's name was Joe Rossi. I know nothing of this individual, never met him. But I did hear somewhere that he was pushing police to let him enter the house to clean up the crime scene, I believe this was also noted in one of the newS articles also.

Anyway, If ever anyone has any questions related to the layout of the house, neighbors, etc (many of them were long time residents when I lived there, and I know some neighbors still reside there to this day), please feel free to ask me, I'd be happy to help any way I possibly could. I would LOVE to hear this case was solved - mostly for her son who found her that day, I know it haunts him and eats at him every day.
 
Ambercat said:
I found an article from the November 28, 1978 from the Santa Ana Orange County Register about Patricia Neufeld's murder. It has some information which is new to me.

Cleanup Of Bludgeon Scene Stalled http://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-evening/1978-11-28/page-6?tag=patricia+neufeld&rtserp=tags/?page=2&pep=patricia-neufeld&psb=relavance&ref=fbc





Does LE have a viable fingerprint from the killer? Has it ever been run for identification?

According to the article, there is a lack of motive and suspects, but --


Something about that doesn't sound quite right.
Click to expand...

If I read the newspapers correctly, it was the next door neighbor who described the trail of blood leading to the door, and that it appeared that blood had been wiped on the door inside the house. He really wanted to go in the house after LE had been in there.
He seemed anxious to clean up the crime scene.

Interesting the way LE described this crime as "unique", and that there was not enough danger to people in the area to warrant extra police presence. To me, that probably means that it was not a random serial killer who did this, but rather the killer was focused solely on Patricia. Someone she probably knew. I also read there was no sign of forced entry, so she was likely okay with letting the killer into the house. jmo
 
Does anyone know the basis of the assumption that the murder weapon was a bowling pin? Was it found at the rime scene? Was there on missing from the house?

A bowling pin is not a random weapon someone just runs a cross when they are looking for the means to kill someone. It is something they have; usually part of a SE of ten.
 
Interesting case. I actually used to live down the street from this location. It's a long shot, but there is a bowling alley just to the north of this house...we're talking a minute's drive in a car, or a ten minute walk. Does anyone know if the bowling alley existed back in '78? I tried looking on historicaerials.com, but there is a gap between 1972 and 1994. The alley area is an empty lot in the '72 pic, and it exists in '92 (which I knew, because I've been frequenting that alley since I was a kid/teen in the early 90's).
 
Ambercat said:
Could the mystery man in the sketch also be the person responsible for Patricia Neufeld's murder?
IrvineSketch-large-crop-0.13-0.11-0.94-0.89.jpg


When I saw this sketch I immediately thought it looked a lot like Rodney Alcala. A brief summary of his history - Alcala was a serial rapist and murderer who targeted women and young girls, predominantly in California, but also in New York throughout the 1970s. He was arrested and convicted for the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe in 1980 and has since been linked to a number of other murders, four of which he has subseqently been convicted for. Alcala was in California in 1978, that was the year he made his now infamous appearance on The Dating Game, and the year Robin Samsoe was murdered. Alcala was known to change his appearance regularly and to move around quite a bit, which is why I believe he could be a viable suspect for Patricia's murder.

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These photos of Alcala show his changes in appearance, the more recent photo was the only one I could find of him with a moustache, but he was known to wear one from time to time throughout the 70s as well.

long-form article on Alcala's crimes and his trials and convictions
http://www.laweekly.com/news/rodney-alcala-the-fine-art-of-killing-2163449
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In my opinion the zodiac had one very SPECIFIC target out of all that were murder. Probably in the middle of his killing spree. The targets in the beginning and end are simply cover ups to one specific crime and the letters added to the evidence. The contact he had with media and police made it more of a blanket investigation. So not every crime was individually investigated. It through law enforcement off. Because all the crimes were basically just investigated together that's why he would tell law enforcement when he did or when he was going to commit a crime. He was not insane he was very intelligent probably had some type of background in law enforcement. Honestly my opinion is he had some education in becoming an attorney or was one. It's very simple if you think of it. Noticed that there are couples that are murdered or assaulted violently. Odds are is one of these couples are his main target. Spouse or girlfriend was cheating on him or they she had ended a relationship. One of these couples lover lane type killings was his main SPECIFIC target!
 
There is new evidence on the Neufeld case: a witness came forward who was at the Neufeld house the day before the murder. She and Patricia and her husband were outside on the front lawn when a white van with two men slowly drove by the house leering at Patricia. Her husband yelled at everyone to run back into the house. They did snd waited for the van to leave before they went outside again. The murderer???
 
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