CA CA - The Doodler *UNSOLVED*

I came across this unsolved set of murders that happened in San Francisco in 1974-1975. Unfortunately though, outside of the blurb from Wikipedia, there isn't much on the web about him.


I searched the message board and found nothing either. Does anyone know any more background on this one?

Okay, I never heard of this one before, interesting. It did however bring to mind Rand Kraft, and I forgot that some thought he may have had an accomplice. Hmmm.....

Missing accomplice


"Certain details surrounding some of Kraft's murders have caused many to suspect that Kraft did not always act alone.
Forensic evidence in two cases point to an accomplice — an extra set of footprints and semen that did not match Kraft's DNA. (During the trial, members of the prosecution admitted privately that they did not charge Kraft in several murders that they were sure he had committed because of these facts.)[5]
Kraft would have had difficulty moving around 200-pound corpses; dumping them from cars alone would also be difficult to do unnoticed.
The snapshots Kraft had of the dead men were processed somewhere, but no photo developer reported Kraft's morbid images to the police. (Kraft himself had no darkroom expertise or darkroom equipment.)"

I guess his victims were homosexual men and the two that survived refused to testify against him due to not wanting to be "outed".

Here is a link: http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkillers/B/BLACK_TODDLER.php

21merc7 said:

Okay, I never heard of this one before, interesting. It did however bring to mind Rand Kraft, and I forgot that some thought he may have had an accomplice. Hmmm.....

Missing accomplice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Steven_Kraft

"Certain details surrounding some of Kraft's murders have caused many to suspect that Kraft did not always act alone.
Forensic evidence in two cases point to an accomplice — an extra set of footprints and semen that did not match Kraft's DNA. (During the trial, members of the prosecution admitted privately that they did not charge Kraft in several murders that they were sure he had committed because of these facts.)[5]
Kraft would have had difficulty moving around 200-pound corpses; dumping them from cars alone would also be difficult to do unnoticed.
The snapshots Kraft had of the dead men were processed somewhere, but no photo developer reported Kraft's morbid images to the police. (Kraft himself had no darkroom expertise or darkroom equipment.)"

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I think the Doodler is not related to the murders committed by Randy Kraft (but that is just IMO). I think the only one of Randy Kraft's known victims who was stabbed to death was Gerald Young, most of his victims were strangled.

From the segment about the Doodler on the Court TV/Crime Library website, it sounds like they had a suspect in mind but were unable to prosecute him --

Police spoke multiple times in the mid-70s with a man to whom those survivors pointed, according to Inspector Rotea Gilford. A former psychiatric patient who’d received treatment for sex-related problems, the suspect hinted about the killings and seemed to be toying with the cops. He never confessed, and his victims never stepped up.

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http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/article/the-unsolved-case-of-the-doodler/index.html

There was also a newspaper article from the AP about the Doodler after the arrest of Patrick Kearney and David Hill --
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19770708&id=sqNVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=m9kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6901,1839278

Surprised I have never heard of this case before.

Zobsessed said:

I came across this unsolved set of murders that happened in San Francisco in 1974-1975. Unfortunately though, outside of the blurb from Wikipedia, there isn't much on the web about him.

I searched the message board and found nothing either. Does anyone know any more background on this one?

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Some of Michael Newton's case study books like Still at Large cover the case.

I can't really find any details about this case; what gives? No victims names, no details of injuries, no dates of murders and if there were doodles, why can't we see them? Who is the supposed suspect? In an ideal world, a suspect shouldn't be named until he's convicted but no one had any problem naming a half dozen Zodiac suspects while none of them were ever charged.

One of the three surviving victims was said to be a "well-known entertainer". Time to bring this case out of the closet.

I did find an account of a transgender entertainer, who went by Jae Stevens, who was stabbed to death near Golden Gate Park on or about June 24 of 1974. As of yet, I haven't found that the murder was specifically tied to the Doodle but neither can I find that the crime was solved.

Ah, this case makes me so sad -14 murdered victims, at least 3 survivors, and nobody talking..

I think this one will forever remain a mystery, and a killer and all his victims largely forgotten.

It isn't much but the killer is listed as a white male and, due to circumstances, I think we can presume was a young adult. He also seemed to quit killing by 1976. I think we have to consider that he might have become disabled by AIDS and subsequently died as a result.

The one article said that LE believed they knew who was the murderer and had talked to him, although he denied it. If he was, that may have made him stop too.

Wonder if the well-known entertainer is alive. I'm thinking not.

SophieRose said:

The one article said that LE believed they knew who was the murderer and had talked to him, although he denied it. If he was, that may have made him stop too.

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Although it goes against what some "experts" assert about serial killers, I think that could be true.

It wasn't known at the time but AIDS was definitely in S.F. by 1977 and probably a few years before that.

STANDREID said:

Some of Michael Newton's case study books like Still at Large cover the case.

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I have a book on unsolved crimes (which I can't find) or I'd give more information, but this guy was in it.

The killer did the doodling for the victim while he was trying to pick them up, in gay bars.

There were several survivors including (as someone else noted) a famous actor. The others were married businessmen. All refused to testify as they did not want to be exposed as being gay.

I'm not so sure I believe the part about the famous actor, I would think the type of crime being committed would have put them out of commission for quite a while and would leave horrendous scarring. I think it would have been difficult to hide that from the press, if you remember that hospital personnel are some of the best sources for the press.

I think the police probably know who it is as the victims probably gave good information, but if they refused to testify there really wasn't anything the police could do.

This might be a good case to see if they can do any DNA.

Here's a long list of homicide, solved and unsolved, committed from 1849 to 2003 in San Francisco. Includes circumstances: gay sex. Weapon: bladed.

And there is a Joseph Stevens murdered near Spreckles Lake in Golden Gate Park on June 24, 1974.

Lots of unsolved murders up til 2003.

These could be three of the murders, occurred in 1974-5.

http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=68022

In the early afternoon of February 17, 1974, Stig Lennart Berlin was found stabbed to death in Apartment 9 at 725 Hyde Street.

The 37-year-old gay man had been cut multiple times in his chest and other areas, according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office. A bloody towel was in the bathroom, and more blood was in the sink. Papers and items from a chest were scattered on his closet floor. It appears he had been dead for more than two days.

Almost 40 years later, there are no suspects, and police have re-opened investigations into Berlin's killing, along with those of Joe Vasquez, a.k.a. Joe Barbarella, who was in his 20s, and Joseph Y. Rodriguez Jr., a.k.a. Lisa Yancey, 30. Both, who were killed in their Tenderloin homes in 1975, were also stabbed to death. The investigations are happening as the murder trial in another cold case approaches.

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SophieRose said:

Here's a long list of homicide, solved and unsolved, committed from 1849 to 2003 in San Francisco. Includes circumstances: gay sex. Weapon: bladed.

And there is a Joseph Stevens murdered near Spreckles Lake in Golden Gate Park on June 24, 1974.

Lots of unsolved murders up til 2003.

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Here's from where the file can be downloaded. I meant to add that the Joseph Stevens murder is still unsolved.

https://cjrc.osu.edu/data-united-states-san-francisco

http://www.theawl.com/2014/12/the-untold-story-of-the-doodler-murders

The Untold Story of the Doodler Murders

The Castro killer, forty years forgotten.

by Elon Green · December 11, 2014

At 1:57 a.m. on January 27, 1974, a corpse was found at the water’s edge on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. Gerald Earl Cavanaugh, 49, had been stabbed multiple times. His left hand betrayed a defensive wound. His body was, as the coroner’s register put it, “in a supine position” and showed signs of slight rigor mortis. Cavanaugh wore underwear, shoes, socks, pants, a shirt and a jacket. In his pocket was $21.12 and on his wrist a Timex.

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June 20 2018

This serial murder case has been cold for more than 40 years. Now police might have a suspect - CNN
"This serial murder case has been cold for more than 40 years. Now police say they have a suspect"

"A young serial killer stalked San Francisco's gay community in the mid-1970s. He would sketch strangers in bars, strike up conversations, leave with those strangers and then, police say, stab them to death. He became known as "The Doodler." His last known victim died in the summer of 1975: The decomposing body was found near the 16th tee of a picturesque golf course that borders the Pacific Ocean. The victim's pants were unzipped. His face was eaten by maggots.
Police released a sketch of a suspect a few months later. They repeatedly questioned one man. But the Doodler was never caught. Now, more than 40 years later, the San Francisco Police Department says it has a suspect.
Three men were assaulted but somehow managed to escape the Doodler's clutches, the lead inspector on the case at the time told reporters: a well-known entertainer, a European diplomat, and a third man who left the city and didn't respond to police calls. They gave police descriptions of the Doodler.
"We have a suspect in the assault that spawned the sketch," Inspector Dan Cunningham says. Police at the time were convinced that assailant was the Doodler, but Cunningham is now working to confirm the details. "I'm still connecting the dots," he said. "I'm working to see if that assault is actually connected to the murders." And Cunningham is now looking for the diplomat. "I'm waiting to determine if this person is still alive," he says.
In the 1970s, detectives said the Doodler might have butchered as many as 14 people. "I'm looking at five murders," says Cunningham, who recently took charge of the department's cold case unit. "But I'd be a fool to say he didn't do more."
A police artist has updated the sketch: aging the Doodler, drawing him as he might look now. The updated sketch will be released, says Cunningham, "once I've got all my ducks in a row." If he's still alive, the Doodler will be in his early 60s."

This serial murder case has been cold for more than 40 years. Now police might have a suspect - CNN
"A series of grisly killings
The first of the Doodler's alleged victims to be found was Gerald Cavanagh, a 50-year-old who had worked in a mattress factory. According to the coroner's report, he never married. Cavanagh's body was found early one January morning in 1974, lying at the water's edge on Ocean Beach where Golden Gate Park meets the Pacific. The coroner states that Cavanagh's corpse was, "Lying on the sand, in a supine position. ... There were multiple stab wounds. ... There was an apparent defense wound on the left little finger." Cavanagh had been stabbed 16 times.
"I know the case. I remember the case," says Cunningham, who in January began wading through the Doodler case files, cross-referencing details with the scant media coverage from the time.
There are four other corpses on Cunningham's list. Joseph Stevens, a 27-year-old drag queen, was the next to die. His body was found by a dog walker in Golden Gate Park early one morning in June 1974. Stevens had been stabbed five times. According to the coroner's report, "Approximately 10 feet west of the deceased's feet was a large disturbed area of brush, with a pool of blood. There were drag marks from this point to where the deceased was found, indicating that an
He's blamed for 12 killings, 45 rapes - and authorities don't know who he is
Less than two weeks later, another early morning walker found another body on Ocean Beach: Claus Christmann, a 31-year-old German. According to the coroner, "The deceased's pants were unzipped and open." The report details multiple stab wounds on Christmann's neck and shoulders, "In a manner which seemed as though the assailant had attempted to decapitate the deceased."
A police bulletin released regarding those first three killings reads, in part: "Victims one and two have homosexual propensities and due to underclothing and makeup in victim number three's pocket he also may have the same propensities." Police said the third victim, Claus Christmann, was wearing "orange bikini shorts" at the time of his death. According to the coroner, he was married.
In the summer of 1975 two more bodies were found. Frederick Capin, a registered nurse in his early 30s, was found stabbed to death beside the highway that runs parallel to Ocean Beach. The coroner notes, "There was dried blood smeared on the soles of both shoes, on the hands, about the face and upper torso, anterior, lateral and posterior." Capin was wearing a corduroy jacket and a striped "Picasso" shirt when he died.
A month later, the fifth and final corpse was found in bushes near the 16th tee of the Lincoln Park Golf Course, a little to the northeast of Ocean Beach. "Deceased had no underpants and his blue pants were unzipped," wrote the coroner. The dead man was Harald Gullberg, a 67-year-old Swedish sailor.
Five men had been found dead within 4 miles of each other, all within 18 months. "There was fear among gay men," says Randy Alfred, news editor at The Sentinel, a gay newspaper. "Particularly among men who were attracted maybe to the young hustler types."
The search for the killer
A few months after Gullberg's death, the SFPD released the artist's sketch and a description of the suspect. Inspector Rotea Gilford, the lead investigator on the case, told The Sentinel that the suspect "often sits in bars doodling caricatures and cartoons on napkins." Sometimes referred to as the Black Doodler, he was described at the time as African-American, between 19 and 22 years old, slender, a little shy of 6 feet, and frequently wore "a Navy-type watch cap."

So, After All... Who is the Black Doodler? | True Crime Magazine
"On January 24, 1974, a dead body of a 49-year-old Canadian-American immigrant, Gerald Cavanaugh, was discovered lying face-up on Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Considered to be Doodler’s first victim, Cavanaugh had resisted his killer before getting stabbed to death.

Another victim, Klaus Christmann, was found on July 7, 1974, violently slashed in the throat and stabbed in multiple areas of his body. Christmann, while married with children, was believed to be a closet gay.

All of Doodler’s victims seemed to share the similarity of being gay. Also, all the victims had been brutally stabbed to death.

Although to this day, the suspect has never been publicly named or apprehended, the Black Doodler investigation led police to question a person of interest. Sadly, the investigators couldn’t proceed with criminal charges because the three survivors didn’t want to “out” themselves by testifying in court. While the suspect was very cooperative, he never admitted guilt towards the murders or the surviving attacks."