CA CA - Jeannette Kamahele, 20, Santa Rosa, 25 April 1972

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Jeannette Kamahele

Endangered Missing

Missing From: Santa Rosa, California

Missing Since: April 25, 1972

Age: 20 -- Height: 5'5" -- Weight: 120 lbs -- Hair Color: Black -- Eye Color: Brown

Jeannette wears a dental bridge. She is of Hawaiian descent.


Jeannette was last seen at 9:30 am on April 25, 1972 by her roommate when she left her residence in Cotati. She usually hitchhiked to her classes at Santa Rosa Community College from the Cotati On-ramp off Highway 101. She may have been picked up by a 20-30 year old white male with afro style hair driving a faded brown early 1950s model Chevrolet Pickup truck.

Between 1972 and 1973 Santa Rosa, California experienced the killings of seven young women whose murders have never been solved. Jeannette is considered a probable victim and her body has never been located. All of the victims were known to hitchhike, a popular mode of transportation during that time. These murders became known as the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders. Jeannette may be a victim of the Zodiac Killer.


Doe Network

Charley Project

 

[jackornaught]

Giving Jeanette a bump...

Come on Websleuthers. Cold case needs some attention. I guess, I'm still amazed that someone can drop out of site, and be gone forever. Yet, the websleuths formums is filled with these stories.

There isn't a whole lot of info to go on. Anyone hear of any other hitchhikers missing that got into a white man with an Afro-style hair cut in the 70's?

 

[Odyssey]

Out of the thousands of MP cases, there are a mere 150 or so that I follow... almost all of them have some sort of avenue to follow, or specific questions that need answers... yet Jeannette is on my list, not sure why... her case just caught my attention even though there is really no direction to go with it... but I still search every now and then to see if any new articles have surfaced...

 

[jackornaught]

Her and I went to the same Junior College. She also dis-appeared from an on ramp that I used to drive over every day.

 

[scriptgirl]

Jack, who is that in your profile pic? Also, do you have any other memories o her?

 

[Richard]

Jeannette Kamahele is mentioned in the book "Zodiac" - almost in passing - as a possible victim of a serial killer in regard to a number of similar abduction/murders in Santa Rosa County, CA. While not specifically linked to the "known" Zodiac murders, it is speculated that she could have been one of that never identified killer's victims.

I believe that there is also some discussion of her case on some of the Zodiac websites.

 

[scriptgirl]

I am really sick of the Zodiac and Bundy being blamed for every unsolved murder. It's getting old.

 

[kemo]

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com/
The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker murders are one of the more interesting unsolved Serial Killings from that era. The bodies of most of the known victims were found but Jeannette was probably one of them. The above link is an excellent reference.
There were quite a few "similar" unsolved murders and missing women in Northern California at the time (early 1970's). This is a case worth pursuing

.

 

[jackornaught]

Jack, who is that in your profile pic? Also, do you have any other memories o her?

Her name is Lisa Smith, not much else is known about her. She dis-appeared in 1970, but that's where the trail dies. Nothing but a newspaper article that she dis-appeared.

She might be alive today, no one knows.

 

[scriptgirl]

Kemo, you are right, these murders are so fascinating. I hope the killers are brought to justice.

 

[CarlK90245]

I was looking at the photo collection of 54 unidentified women linked to serial killer William Bradford.

http://www.officialcoldcaseinvestigations.com/showthread.php?t=12708

Does anyone suppose that #49 is Jeannette Kamahele?

Many of the women have been ID'd, but I don't know if #49 has.

 

[Migmuu]

Here's a better picture for comparison:

I'm torn on whether it's her. 49's eyebrows are bushier, the tip of her nose isn't as round as Jeanette's, her eyes are rounder and the philtrum (spot between her nose and upper lip) is longer. But the hair, hairline, jaw and lips are very similar.

I'd call it in just to be sure. I'd be surprised if they haven't checked 49 against Jeanette, though.

ETA: Not sure why the ''Attached Images'' thing is showing up. I didn't attach an image of Jeanette separately from the three above. Does anyone else see the fourth picture or is it a glitch on my end?

 

[dogperson]

I do think they resemble each other.

 

[leilarose68]

noses are too different i think, but good find

 

[dogperson]

I was reading Robert Graysmith's "Zodiac Unmasked" and he tries to lump the Kamahele disappearance in with the Zodiac murders but I see no connection at all. I thought she was part of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker murders. But just in my own opinion, men who abduct female hitchhikers are probably sexually-motivated serial killers and that just doesn't sound like Zodiac.

 

[Odyssey]

I was reading Robert Graysmith's "Zodiac Unmasked" and he tries to lump the Kamahele disappearance in with the Zodiac murders but I see no connection at all. I thought she was part of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker murders. But just in my own opinion, men who abduct female hitchhikers are probably sexually-motivated serial killers and that just doesn't sound like Zodiac.

I agree that she was part of the SRHM but there are many who think that the Hitchhiker murderer and the Zodiac were one and the same.

I really had my hopes up when I learned that Lisa Smith had been found safe - although she is now deceased, I hoped she had been able to provide some information on the person who attacked her. It may very well have been the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murderer. I do know that LE talked to her, but I have no idea what was learned from it.

 

[scriptgirl]

That has got to be the same person in both pics

 

[dogperson]

Wish we had more than just a sort of side view of the UID to tell more about the nose. Has anyone called this in?

 

[PricklyPear]

Okay, this one is almost certainly wishful thinking on my part, mostly because I'm not sure how they determine the EDD from partial skeletal remains at all, but since the entry itself says that the information isn't correct and they need to update things like height, race, etc., I figured I'd post it here anyway. Maybe you guys have some input?

I think this sketch looks a LOT like Jeannette. The nose looks a little wider and the hairline a little lower, but the shape of the face and especially the chin and cheekbones are dead on IMO: https://identifyus.org/en/cases/9208?page=demographics

I know it's unlikely that a woman who disappeared in 1972 from the Bay Area would show up in Washington state 40 years later. But she's the only one of the suspected Hitchhiker victims not to be found, and she fits Ted Bundy's victim profile. He picked up other hitchhikers (including one in Oregon) and took them to Washington before dumping their bodies. He was wooing Stephanie Brooks in San Francisco around this time and driving back and forth between there and Washington on occasion. And the Jane Doe was found just south of Seattle, which was his hunting grounds.

I know this is all incredibly unlikely, but I wonder if they've looked into it. Or if they have definitely determined the skeletal remains are fairly new and ruled out earlier possibilities. Is it worth contacting them to ask about updated information, do you think?

 

[PricklyPear]

Another possibility: https://identifyus.org/cases/7765

The reconstructed face looks a little narrow to me, but I have to say I question the proportions on that sculpture a lot. It just doesn't look realistic.