The start of this thread begins with video of Barbara's sister saying that police have a new lead (named Christopher Ream). This was told to the family by Detective Del Toro. It seems clear that he was deliberately misleading the families and surviving victim to placate them. It was an old suspect that SDPD investigated long ago with no substantiation. The following year, Del Toro was again present at the meeting with the families and surviving victim. He was essentially told that due to
firsthand knowledge that he sometimes does not tell the truth, his comments during the meeting were not worth hearing. The SDPD team then instructed him to leave the meeting. Annual meetings are made in an attempt to promote ongoing investigation and are VERY heated due to the investigation being very poorly run, from the start. One SDPD admitted to the investigation looking like it was run by "the Keystone Cops."
Today I am writing a fresh set of notes regarding what is known conclusively and what has been reported (not always the same thing) and that is how I stumbled onto this group.
Both the Hough and Nantais murders have many conclusive and reported similarities that seem to be either a serial murderer or a copy cat. Outside of these possibilities it is difficult to see how the similarities could accurately be labelled as coincidences. The SDPD has said there is no link between the two BUT I think it is questionable whether this means they can't link the two or that they have CONCLUSIVELY eliminated the possibility of a link. Those are two ENTIRELY different positions. (I have noticed that in this case, if the SDPD says something, you should think very carefully about rather there could be more than one interpretation of that statement. Misleading statements seem at times to be deliberate.) Additionally, if SDPD keeps saying there is a link, it casts a shadow on whether they have actually solved Hough's murder.
Saying there is no link, helps them look better. (Please don't think I am always anti-PD, I am truly the opposite. It is, in my eyes, only the SDPD, in this case, who look quite poorly behaved, from first responders to those still somewhat investigating to Chief Zimmerman.) Here are the case similarities:
- Age: Hough 14, Nantais 15
- Appearance: similar; both shapely, attractive, caucasion, long brown hair
- Location: Torrey Pines Beach, killed a few hundred yards apart, murdered and left in the same location
- Time frame: Same time of year (Hough Aug. 23/24, 1984; Nantais Aug. 12, 1978) August, after dark
- Both: beaten, strangled, sand in mouth, sexually assaulted, mutilated (both mutilations include breast)
I should add that because there is a surviving victim in this case, Jim Alt, seeing this case solved would mean a great deal in his life. He is the one who keeps asking the SDPD to either keep investigating or turn the case over to another unit. Their yearly report adds up to very little in the way of action. Every "websleuth" is greatly appreciated.