CA CA – Karen Frances Fisher, 21, Trinidad Head, 18 January 1976

Karen Frances Fisher, 21 was last seen at Clam Beach on January 14, 1976 where she was trying to hitch a ride on Highway 101 to nearbyTrinidad, CA. Karen was wearing a green ski sweater, hiking boots, and may have been carrying a red vinyl raincoat & plastic purse. This case has received little attention; however a few articles exist.

View attachment times standard article about Karen Frances Fisher.pdf

This is one of three women who were killed during a two year span 1975-1976 in that part of northern California. Some have speculated they could be related to the Santa Rosa Highway Murders. Worth taking another look with a fresh set of eyes. Did Zodiac perhaps move north? What about the other women who disappeared around Eureka, CA such as Claire Louise Christie, could some or all of these all be tied together?? Claire Christie has a thread on websleuths. It is time for these other women to be featured with threads of their own.

Hey there Mountain Mama. Found the thread you started and mentioned in the Claire Christie thread. I have more clippings for you regarding Karen and the other three women.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181305/karen_frances_fisher_is_found_dead/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181470/karen_fisher_jan_1976/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181589/karen_fisher_murder_case_jan_20_1976/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181596/karen_fisher_murder_case_jan_20_1976_pg2/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181501/karen_fisher_no_new_leads_jan_22/ Pg 1
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181519/karen_fisher_no_new_leads_jan_22/ Pg 2

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181658/janet_bowman_karen_fisher_sherrie/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181661/janet_bowman_karen_fisher_sherrie/

If you have trouble viewing them let me know. Also if you want the ones about the other girls I have clipped let me know.

These are great! The second link you shared regarding KF's murder mentioned the 20 rape-murders of hitchhikers on 101 between Sonoma & Mendocino Counties. I guess hitchhikers were disappearing around the country due to being easy to abduct, but clearly there was someone(s) trolling 101 in those days. I am really interested in the information in the second link about the pickup truck that was seen driving on Trinidad head on the morning of KF's murder. "Possibly 4 wheel drive with a metal ladder protruding from the bed, and racks over the cab to carry lumber.. it had something written on the side." According to police "four persons, including a woman, were in the vehicle". What that tells me is that several people know something. If that report is true.

Nevermind about the pickup truck with the writing on the side, they were eliminated as a suspect. I feel strongly that it is a local to the area. That is if the person who took these women was the same as the person at the Garberville Fireman's Dance. Four women in nine months.. The Trinidad, Eureka and Blue Lake killings are all in close proximity, but Garberville is not. Smacks of a local, in my opinion.

MysticJynx said:

Hey there Mountain Mama. Found the thread you started and mentioned in the Claire Christie thread. I have more clippings for you regarding Karen and the other three women.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181305/karen_frances_fisher_is_found_dead/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181470/karen_fisher_jan_1976/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181589/karen_fisher_murder_case_jan_20_1976/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181596/karen_fisher_murder_case_jan_20_1976_pg2/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181501/karen_fisher_no_new_leads_jan_22/ Pg 1
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181519/karen_fisher_no_new_leads_jan_22/ Pg 2

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181658/janet_bowman_karen_fisher_sherrie/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181661/janet_bowman_karen_fisher_sherrie/

If you have trouble viewing them let me know. Also if you want the ones about the other girls I have clipped let me know.

Click to expand...

Hey there Mystic, I would love to read the clippings you mention about the other girls missing from Humboldt.

Mountain Mama said:

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Hey there Mystic, I would love to read the clippings you mention about the other girls missing from Humboldt.

Click to expand...

I have a bunch of articles clipped on one of my newspaper accounts. You can see all those clippings here. https://www.newspapers.com/profile/myancestorseeker/ there are many. What other articles are you looking for. I have newspapers again but on another account. I can surely try to clip some you are looking for. You got some names?

Thank you MysticJynx. One of the other disappearances that really bothers me is that of Vickie Lynn Schneider, and I read the article about her that was posted in the link you provided. I don't know if the bridge from Eureka to Samoa was built yet or if Vickie would have gone north on 101 to get to Samoa. I kind of sense that someone was watching her, maybe saw her hitch hiking and drove over to pick her up and take her out to the beach. Vickie was excited to go out to the beach for the day. Both Karen Fisher and Vickie both disappeared on their way to the beach. Was someone stalking the beaches?

Karen was 21 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 120 pounds, and had dark blond hair. While visiting friends in Arcata, she asked them to recommend beaches to visit. The friends touted Trinidad Head, north of Arcata. Karen hitchhiked to the Clam Beach off ramp of Highway101. The driver who favored her with a ride was later found, and cleared of wrongdoing.

A hiker found Karen dead in a remote location in some bushes, with her pants down around her ankles. She had been raped and strangled. Because of her case's resemblance to those of Janet Lee Bowman and Sherry Lynn Smith, John Annibel is considered a prime suspect in this murder.


Source of info: “Deadfall”, by Robert Scott.

Links to associated cases:

Janet Lee Bowman, 30 September 1975: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...5#post13979175

Sherry Lynn Smith: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...6#post13979186

Suspect John Annibel: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...ldt-Counties&p=13979225&posted=1#post13979225

Clip from the Eureka Times-Standard of 19 January 1976: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2181305/karen_frances_fisher_is_found_dead/

Tagged by MysticJinx.

Note the offhand final paragraph about missing persons.

The 19 January 1976 issue of the Eureka Times-Standard has an article on her. Sorry, no link available.

New series by Kym Kemp about cold cases in the Humboldt are. The latest is Karen Fischer. Last week was Janet Bowman.

https://kymkemp.com/2022/03/16/46-y...ed-at-the-foot-of-the-cross-on-trinidad-head/

The Humboldt County Cold Cases website states that on January 15, 1976, her boyfriend actually reported her missing. He said he had last seen her the day before.

Similar to the first, the second article regarding Fischer’s death expanded on the potential connection between her death and Janet Lee Bowman’s. Unlike the first article, HCSO Sheriff Gene Cox broadened out the pattern of hitchhiker deaths saying that within the last 18 months, six murdered women had been found in Mendocino County and seventeen in Sonoma County.

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The only investigatory detail regarding a suspect was not located in newspaper archives but on the Humboldt County Cold Cases website which states that “members of the Coast Guard actually saw Fischer on Trinidad Head at approximately 12:25 p.m. that day in the company of a male subject described as 6 feet tall, medium build, with blonde/light brown hair, wearing light/tan clothes.”

This is the point where there were no further developments in Fischer’s case. For the rest of the reporting on Fischer, she became one of four young women that would fall prey to a similar hitchhiking/rape/strangle pattern that would prove to be one of Humboldt County’s most enduring set of cold cases.

Members of the Coast Guard reported seeing Fischer on Trinidad Head at approximately 12:25 p.m. that day in the company of a male subject described as 6 feet tall, medium build, with blonde/light brown hair, wearing light/tan clothes