CA CA - Doreen Heskett, 5, Napa, 25 March 1963

Listed as the oldest cold case of Napa County is the kidnap/murder of five-year-old Doreen Heskett. She disappeared while walking home after visiting a friend. Her remains were recovered eight months later, several miles from her home. The Napa Register reported on the case when a cold case unit was formed several years ago. Two days ago an article detailing the case was posted on Crime Magazine. The author links the case to a solved double murder from 1965.

http://www.crimemagazine.com/forever-5-kidnap-and-murder-doreen-heskett

Extremely puzzling why the girl set off walking in the wrong direction. Perhaps she was confused, which seems unlikely, and just met up with the wrong person. I wonder if she had another "friend" in the direction she was walking.

~2 hours and 10 years from the Anna Christine Waters disappearance. I wonder whether a connection has been explored. It's certainly a long shot, but there may not have been many perpetrators kidnapping 5 year olds in this part of NorCal--if Anna was indeed kidnapped.

Okay, Doreen walking in the wrong direction- I wonder if she was hurt about the play date being cut short and then Linda not escorting her home. So she accidentally goes the wrong way, and when Linda corrects her, she stubbornly and proudly says that is the way she wants to go.

I am not implicating the Fords in this crime. I ask out of curiosity- why did Mrs. Ford cut short the play date? Why didn't Linda escort her friend all the way home? And, did Mrs. Ford know how far away the Haskett's lived- approx one mile- is a lot to ask of her daughter? (Sorry if walking two miles was okay for kids in the early 60's, I wasn't born until 1979!)

Good questions. From information gleaned from newspaper articles at the time, Mrs. Marilyn Ford cut the play date short because she needed to get to work. She worked as a waitress in the Bel-Aire plaza (still located on Trancas Avenue in Napa). I too wondered about the Fords - was there a father or boyfriend who may have followed the girls?

As for Doreen continuing down Jefferson Street. At that time, the Heskett home on Main Street sat behind George Street. George Street was accessible from Jefferson Street. The intersection of Jefferson/George is still there. Doreen probably knew that route from walking it with her older siblings. She would have used the traffic signal to cross Jefferson to George, less than five minutes from her home.

I came away from this story wondering if Doreen had bad eyesight and had mistaken her kidnapper for a friend. According to newspaper accounts, Doreen had recently walked in front of a car while crossing Lincoln Avenue on her way to school, just weeks before her abduction. There is also the eyewitness accounts of Doreen running in front of a car while crossing Imola Avenue on the afternoon of her abduction. She was obviously abducted near the Jefferson/George intersection, on the Napa High School grounds, where the bloodhound lost her scent. The parking lot driveway is next to the intersection light. The lot is also accessible from Lincoln Avenue. Her abductor was either in the lot already or entered when he saw her and somehow coaxed her to his vehicle. Did she recognize the person? Another interesting piece of information is that Doreen's father sold his car about two days before her abduction. Did the person who purchased the car abduct Doreen? That would account for her approaching a vehicle she recognized.

azure said:

~2 hours and 10 years from the Anna Christine Waters disappearance. I wonder whether a connection has been explored. It's certainly a long shot, but there may not have been many perpetrators kidnapping 5 year olds in this part of NorCal--if Anna was indeed kidnapped.

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Can you post more information about the Waters case? I have never heard about this case. Thanks.

Steph54 said:

Can you post more information about the Waters case? I have never heard about this case. Thanks.

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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Christian_Waters
http://charleyproject.org/cases/w/waters_anna.html

Anna has a forum on WS which is visited by her lovely mother. I believe her mom has also written a book about the case: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?104-Anna-Christian-Waters

Steph54 said:

Can you post more information about the Waters case? I have never heard about this case. Thanks.

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Here's some worth looking at. http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/topic/7064/Zodiac-Message-in-a-bottle#.VKnpGTU5A5s

Zodiac did threaten to kill Kathleen Johns' baby in 1970, if that was indeed him. She was also pregnant at the time and he threatened to kill her as well which would have resulted in the death of a fetus.

Steph54 said:

Good questions. From information gleaned from newspaper articles at the time, Mrs. Marilyn Ford cut the play date short because she needed to get to work. She worked as a waitress in the Bel-Aire plaza (still located on Trancas Avenue in Napa). I too wondered about the Fords - was there a father or boyfriend who may have followed the girls?

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Mrs. Ford should have known beforehand that she had to go to work and made the play date accordingly, I would think, that is, unless she was called in off her normal schedule.

I wonder how she feels about her daughter not walking Doreen all the way home - maybe it would have saved Doreen but there's also the possibility that it could have gotten both girls killed.

Good point. The newspaper articles did not clarify how the play date came about. It was a school day, the girls went home when kindergarten let out at 11 a.m. Doreen walked home, had lunch with her mother and took a nap. Linda rode her bicycle home and returned around 2 p.m. to the Heskett house. Articles never explained whether the girls had this meeting arranged prior or if Linda just showed up. It is apparent that Linda Ford was allowed to ride her bicycle around the Jefferson Street area, so perhaps she just showed up unannounced. The girls played for a while at the Heskett home then decided to visit the Ford residence. Time probably got away from the girls and once they arrived at the Ford residence, there was only 20-30 minutes before Mrs. Ford needed to leave for work. The articles also failed to clarify who babysat Linda Ford while her mother was at work. There does not seem to have been a father in the household at the time. Again, this is all information gathered from newspaper articles as the case unfolded.

Locals in Napa believe the field where they had searched for Doreen was a dumping ground for her after she was killed. The farmer who discovered her body was Earl Stewart.His son Phillip Stewart would end up becoming a D.A. investigator and also a sheriff in Napa. Phillip "Bucky" Stewart had a poor reputation, according to many. Read the comments found below this article.
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/...cle_30b075ac-8c24-11e1-beb2-0019bb2963f4.html

It gets worse.

Over the years, many have complained of corruption, and even a child rapes and murders in Napa, committed by law enforcement. Bucky Stewart is repeatedly mentioned.Take a look at just one man's account.
[video=youtube;xmhIGEhdQdo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmhIGEhdQdo[/video]

Locals are still frightened to speak about anything, because they believe the same corrupt and criminal elements exist within the Napa DA and Police. Finally, Bucky Stewart was one of the Zodiac Killer investigators.

If he was the killer of this little girl, do not expect Napa law enforcement to take a look. DOJ should be involved. I firmly believe the Zodiac killer was a Napa cop or crime reporter, and its not unknown for both investigative cops or reporters to end up becoming suspects.

We in Napa who were Napans when Doreen was murdered still question if Bucky Stewart may have been involved. Local lore had suspicions.

The most likely killer of little Doreen Heskett was Napa resident Claude Ray Jr. Ray was a child molester, having molested his own daughter. He then kidnapped and murdered his two youngest daughters in 1967.

http://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/252/932.html

Actually Claude Ray Jr was the one the police tried to pin it on, but he could not have done it, since he was 300 miles away.
The most likely killer was Bucky Stewart.
The police use to hang out with Bucky. There were cottages there and we knew of all sorts of mischief happening on that dairy ranch.
Rapes, beatings of young women, and so on.
Napa county has had some terrible things happen at the hands of police and district attorneys. Understand that in March of 1963, Bucky was the newly appointed DA investigator. There was a search party that combed over his fathers ranch, but found nothing. Bucky refused to allow anyone in the barn, and he told the search party he had personally searched it. On Nov 21st, 1963, Bucky's father, old man Earl, stumbled upon the sexually mutilated remains of the girl. I think Bucky tried to pin a murder he committed on a known child molester. I think Bucky did it and God knows, the Napa County law enforcement keep their secrets. Rumor is, a ranger named Land or Lande in Berryessa killed that woman and the Rangers brother helped cover it up

Thinking of you today Doreen and still wondering what happened. RIP Doreen and Darius.