Patricia Neufeld November 21, 1978

[truthandsoul]

Patricia Ann Neufeld was murdered at her home in Garden Grove, California (about 30 minutes away from Irvine) on November 21, 1978.



She died of blunt force trauma (bludgeoning) with a bowling pin (not sure where this identification of the murder weapon was originally made) and was not raped.
She was babysitting two small children at the time (not her own), who were unharmed and was discovered by her 10 year old son as he came home from school.

The attack happened during the day, as estimated by the coroner (between 7 AM and noon).
A postman delivering a package at 9:45 AM noticed the front door was open and the TV was on.

The linkage to GSK is loose, but here are the pieces I've found that fit:

1) Nov 21, 1978 is between EAR attacks #41 on Nov 4 and #42 on Dec 2 (both in San Jose, CA), so there's no apparent "alibi".

2) We believe bludgeoning was the preferred method of execution for ONS, although this happens before the first Bedroom Basher (Gerald Parker) attack, who was also a bludgeon killer, the crime scene was quite a mess (see article below. Meaning: perhaps he learned to cover his victims after this). Parker has repeatedly (3x) denied this murder, while having admitted to others.

3) The lack of an apparent rape, the appearance of the front door being open indicating that he perhaps left thru the front door as well as the children being at home are all reminiscent of another aborted attack, as described in Crompton's Sudden Terror:

goo.gl/IAurX

"Marie" was beaten badly by EAR, but not raped. Her two 12 year old twins (one boy, one girl) were at home (sleeping) during the attack. EAR(?) left the front door open when he left. Its unclear why EAR didn't rape Marie, but the investigating officers guessed it was because one of the twins' alarm went off.

4) The crime scene is just minutes away from the Los Alamitos military base (see picture below). If EAR had a military background, as we commonly discuss, this fits better.

Therefore, the things that stick out is the attack during the daytime (between 7 AM and noon), the lack of binding/ligature and the murderer (apparently) left hand/fingerprints. Assume it was a crime of convenience or GSK was still unfulfilled from the aborted Queen Ann attack. The prints just seem uncharacteristic of GSK's usually slick MO. But we agree that the GSK's MO was evolving over time, and this period being a crucial transition from the EAR to the ONS.

Below are some articles and pictures.

[truthandsoul]

[truthandsoul]

Map showing proximity of the murder scene to Los Alamitos and the (current) front of the house where she was killed:

[truthandsoul]

While I was in OC, I went to Patricia Neufeld's former residence in Garden Grove.

At first, it didn't seem like it could possibly be a GSK crime because the escape routes were both to the South (recall, this murder happened in the morning). After walking around a bit, I realized there's a drainage canal to the North, just a few blocks from the crime scene, and this could be used as a footpath to escape, possibly to a parked car:



or even a bit further to the Golf Course or the Los Alamitos military base to the West:



Here's what the drainage canal looks like today (we used to "play" down there all the time as kids, until they put the fences up ):

[lepke]

How come there are so many drainage canals in California, when there are not in other places?

[portofleith]

Aug 6, 2013 8:13:15 GMT lepke said:

How come there are so many drainage canals in California, when there are not in other places?

Lepke,

The canals and drainage ditches in Orange County were primarily developed when it was still prime agricultural land. In Los Angeles many of the drainage canals are to divert water from the old path of the Los Angeles River when it floods.  The Central Valley is filled with irrigation canals which are sometimes dry and sometimes full of water.  The Ransacker used the dry canals to move about.  The murderer of Jennifer Armor dumped her body in the Friant Kern Canal.  Sacramento was GSK's prime hunting ground because these homes were all built around rivers or canals, some of which are banked up like dams.  One really chilling example shows how he used these "features". Victim #18.  Her house sat below the levy.  If your house backed into a greenbelt or canal, most people would not be aware that they were being watched.  She liked to exercise at night  in a room in the second story of the house that had a large glass wall.  There were no curtains.  He probably watched her many nights from whatever tree or perch he had while he was surveilling.

Truthy,

Besides the absence of rape,  I would rule Neufeld out just based upon her looks.  GSKs five female victims could  have been sisters in a family of very pretty women.  While he was not as salective with his rape victims,  he chose his murder victims carefully.

[truthandsoul]

Aug 6, 2013 12:04:28 GMT portofleith said:

Truthy,

Besides the absence of rape,  I would rule Neufeld out just based upon her looks.  GSKs five female victims could  have been sisters in a family of very pretty women.  While he was not as salective with his rape victims,  he chose his murder victims carefully.

Port,

Yeah, I hear you on that!

I'm even considering moving this thread to the "non-GSK forums", but I guess its a good example of something that looks like a duck, but doesn't talk like a duck (or whatever).

Gerald Parker (BB) has denied this one, too, and it doesn't fit his MO that well, either. I get the vibe that it was someone she knew...

[killerchaser]

Here's some more about Patricia Neufeld. www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134066

[wintergirl]

According to the newspaper article there were bloody hand prints that looked like the killer wiped his hands on the door. If this is true and they weren't the victim's fingerprints, this case night be solved by running through national database. The case is listed on a LE cold case site, so they must not have any evidence.

As far as the victims looks, she may look different with her glasses off. It looked like she had a nice figure and was not that old.

[truthandsoul]

Sept 29, 2013 23:14:02 GMT wintergirl said:

According to the newspaper article there were bloody hand prints that looked like the killer wiped his hands on the door. If this is true and they weren't the victim's fingerprints, this case night be solved by running through national database. The case is listed on a LE cold case site, so they must not have any evidence.

As far as the victims looks, she may look different with her glasses off. It looked like she had a nice figure and was not that old.

She was 34 when she was murdered.

In another thread, we mentioned her circumstances (being murdered at home with small children) as similar in MO to some Sacramento-area abduction/murders and one SJ one:

earonsgsk.proboards.com/thread/138/gsk-murders-sacramento-county

Also, Patricia looks more like those victims than the ONS female victims.

I agree; since the fingerprint didn't apparently lead anywhere, it appears they don't have any real evidence in this case.

[ambercat]

Jul 17, 2013 4:34:59 GMT truthandsoul said:

She died of blunt force trauma (bludgeoning) with a bowling pin (not sure where this identification of the murder weapon was originally made) and was not raped.

This article talks about the bowling pin being the murder weapon --

articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/20/local/me-psychic20

[truthandsoul]

Oct 1, 2013 0:38:39 GMT ambercat said:

Jul 17, 2013 4:34:59 GMT truthandsoul said:

She died of blunt force trauma (bludgeoning) with a bowling pin (not sure where this identification of the murder weapon was originally made) and was not raped.

This article talks about the bowling pin being the murder weapon --

articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/20/local/me-psychic20

Ahh! Thanks! I hadn't read the more recent articles.

Did/Do you find further reference that the bowling pin was from the house (one of the children's?)?

Also, on W/S they said it was a rainy day, which I assume they picked up from the TV special on her murder.

[ambercat]

I think the TV Show (Sensing Murder on Investigation Discovery) said that the bowling pins belonged to one of her sons, I don't remember that they said it was raining on the day of the murder but it has been a long time since I've seen it. I did bring up the weather for Garden Grove on Farmer's Almanac weather history and, according to the website, it was raining, so they could have gotten it from there. www.farmersalmanac.com/weather-history/92845/1978/11/21/

[ezraeda]

I just rewatched that Sensing Murder episode to refresh my memory. There are some very interesting facts that make this case feel almost like an escalation between the deaths of the Maggiores, and the Offerman case. The psychics filled in what little LE knows for sure, to describe a predator eerily similar to EARS/ONS. They didn't coincide 100% on every single detail, but there was more than enough agreement to give one pause about the similarities to GSK. A consolidation of both psychics versions describes a familiar scenario. The victim was a young mother in a comfortable, low crime, middle class neighborhood. There were two young children in the home with her at the time of the crime, who were unhurt. She was killed by an intruder, in a blitz attack. It was not a burglary . His sole intent was to kill. She did not know him. He had staked out the area, stalked her, observed the comings and goings from a nearby corner. He knew her schedule. He was a predator who sought out a specific type of victim, a serial offender who went after the " homemaker type." He wanted to punish his victims. He was consumed by rage. His level of anger was shocking. He put much thought and planning into the attack, in an almost ritualistic pattern that was important to him. He most likely came across a backyard fence, or through a gate at the side of the house, and entered the kitchen through an unlocked slider. He wore a ski mask. He used a weapon of opportunity, ( a child's toy bowling pin), and she was bludgeoned about the head in an " overkill" manner. He remained in the house after the attack long enough to go through many personal items, fondling her belongings but taking nothing. He left the front door propped open and the back slider ajar. The psychics both agreed that he lived locally, was an average , middle-American looking man with serious mommy issues and enormous rage towards women. This was not his first murder.He went on to kill again, BUT.....ULTIMATELY WAS CAUGHT. He has never confessed to, nor been linked with, this crime. Sounds familiar, until that last pesky detail about him being caught. Then again, where has EAR/GSK been since 1986? The two women who are featured in this show have given some absolutely uncanny readings of this and other crimes. They fingered G. Parker as a serial, after looking at his mugshot. He has been asked repeatedly by LE about this case and continues to adamantly deny involvement. In my humble, highly unprofessional opinion, this case deserves to be considered as a possibility in GSK's repertoire. Better yet, someone needs to get Pam Coronado' s number and ask her to take a look at the EAR/ONS/GSK files. Just because.

[ambercat]

Oct 6, 2013 4:55:03 GMT ezraeda said:

I just rewatched that Sensing Murder episode to refresh my memory. There are some very interesting facts that make this case feel almost like an escalation between the deaths of the Maggiores, and the Offerman case. The psychics filled in what little LE knows for sure, to describe a predator eerily similar to EARS/ONS. They didn't coincide 100% on every single detail, but there was more than enough agreement to give one pause about the similarities to GSK. A consolidation of both psychics versions describes a familiar scenario. The victim was a young mother in a comfortable, low crime, middle class neighborhood. There were two young children in the home with her at the time of the crime, who were unhurt. She was killed by an intruder, in a blitz attack. It was not a burglary . His sole intent was to kill. She did not know him. He had staked out the area, stalked her, observed the comings and goings from a nearby corner. He knew her schedule. He was a predator who sought out a specific type of victim, a serial offender who went after the " homemaker type." He wanted to punish his victims. He was consumed by rage. His level of anger was shocking. He put much thought and planning into the attack, in an almost ritualistic pattern that was important to him. He most likely came across a backyard fence, or through a gate at the side of the house, and entered the kitchen through an unlocked slider. He wore a ski mask. He used a weapon of opportunity, ( a child's toy bowling pin), and she was bludgeoned about the head in an " overkill" manner. He remained in the house after the attack long enough to go through many personal items, fondling her belongings but taking nothing. He left the front door propped open and the back slider ajar. The psychics both agreed that he lived locally, was an average , middle-American looking man with serious mommy issues and enormous rage towards women. This was not his first murder.He went on to kill again, BUT.....ULTIMATELY WAS CAUGHT. He has never confessed to, nor been linked with, this crime. Sounds familiar, until that last pesky detail about him being caught. Then again, where has EAR/GSK been since 1986? The two women who are featured in this show have given some absolutely uncanny readings of this and other crimes. They fingered G. Parker as a serial, after looking at his mugshot. He has been asked repeatedly by LE about this case and continues to adamantly deny involvement. In my humble, highly unprofessional opinion, this case deserves to be considered as a possibility in GSK's repertoire. Better yet, someone needs to get Pam Coronado' s number and ask her to take a look at the EAR/ONS/GSK files. Just because.

I actually e-mailed both Pam Coronado and Laurie Campbell after watching the show several times back when it was first shown in 2006 or 2007.  I got the impression from Ms. Coronado's response that I must not have phrased my e-mail very well because she thought I was asking about Richard Ramirez (of whom it sounds as though he was either ruled out or she did not believe he was responsible).  My e-mail address has changed since then and I don't have access to that e-mail address anymore so unfortunately I can't look to see exactly what she said.