Mysterious dark car of El Dorado County 1976-1978 era
Dec 11, 2018 22:27:12 GMT
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Post by nick on Dec 11, 2018 22:27:12 GMT
I interviewed two separate El Dorado County Sheriff's Deputies and was told of the following story, of course, I do not know if the vehicle was related to JJD or not but it is interesting none the less. I have chosen to combine the two stories they are very alike but I was told the tale years apart. The second source was just in the last few months and the original storyteller has unfortunately passed away. The passing is what made me go looking for a second source so the story did not die with him.
In and around the time period of 1976-1978 the Patrol Deputies of El Dorado County assigned to the graveyard shift had more than a few encounters with a speeding car very late at night headed Eastbound on Highway 50. For those of you not from the area this area would be the freeway leading from Sacramento (Rancho Cordova) toward Lake Tahoe with El Dorado County between them. Highway 50 in and around Rancho Cordova was where the Sacramento County Sheriff's X-ray units (EAR task force) would deploy immediately after an EAR attack occurred setting up on the freeway entrance ramps in an effort to catch him fleeing. In El Dorado, the deputies, of course, knew of EAR but no attacks had occurred there so at the time they did not suspect they anything other than a reckless speeding driver problem.
The first incident occurred while Deputy DeGray had just finished a vehicle stop near El Dorado Hills Blvd exit on Eastbound US 50 a dark unknown make and model car passed him something told him to follow the vehicle it was 4:30 AM and it was the only car on the road beside his marked patrol car. As DeGray pulled on to the roadway the dark car immediately sped up he attempted to light the car up with overhead lights and when he did the car accelerated rapidly away from him he put the metal to the metal and floored it yet this car continued to pull away from him seemingly effortlessly putting distance between the two cars. DeGray did not get close enough to get a license plate and could not even confirm there was one on the bumper at all. There is a hilly section of roadway that allowed DeGray to see the dark car's taillights then suddenly the lights disappeared the driver had "blacked out"the lights of the vehicle. DeGray and other Deputies spend an hour looking for that vehicle and the Deputies assigned to Tahoe area had come down and reported not seeing any vehicle pass them the dark car had escaped somewhere. More or less a week or two passed when Deputy Brad had a very similar incident with another dark car that when he tried to pull them over they fled and the vehicle had a tremendous amount of power and also pulled away very easily while being pursued this occurring at almost 5:00 AM. There was another extensive search in the area for the vehicle and again no license plate was seen. The fleeing vehicle had blacked out again and disappeared.
This happened again and again over several months the activity was spread out and nearly went unnoticed until shift rotation when a few of the Deputies who had given chase to that dark car were placed together on the graveyard shift. They discovered it had happened more than anyone thought because there were incidents where the Deputies had not reported the car as a pursue because they could not catch up to it. They developed a plan and each night in they were not on calls after 3:00 am they placed themselves on varies freeway off-ramps waiting for the car. There was one particular night one of the Deputies did get close enough to see a plate but it came back with no record on file meaning it was not assigned to a car. This encounter had two units driving at a very high rate of speed slipping and sliding trying their best to just keep up with the dark car this was not a sports car or a muscle car it was a dark colored sedan with 4 doors much like the vehicles driven by the Deputies but it was much faster. They had some theories as to the driver of the vehicle they all agreed he was a good driver or absolutely crazy or both but there was also the statement "he drove like a cop" the way he blacked out the way he used the entire roadway and just how he drove overall. There was suspicion he was a cop working at another agency in the Sacramento area and he got off work and drove like a bat out of hell going home. There was talk it was a CHP vehicle and they were doing some kind of off the books testing. There was of course also this was a criminal fleeing a crime and was attempting to get out of the area in a fast way.
I saw a few short liner reports with date and times that could place JJD fleeing the Rancho Cordova area it could also be a coincidence but they were happening on dates and close enough to times when EAR had some close calls with Sac Sheriffs. The last reported sighting of this dark car also happened when EAR shifted to other communities.
The vehicle was lost near Placerville each time or before the town itself. I was told Placerville PD may have had their own encounters with the dark car but I could not locate anyone to confirm or deny it. Those not familiar with the area Placerville links to Auburn via Highway 49 and would be a possible route used by JJD to return to his home in Auburn. Once JJD got on to 49 there would be very little LE on those roads that early in the morning.
I am not sure if this is related to EAR but there can be some arguments in favor he was a mechanic and the plate on the vehicle was like other vehicles seen by witnesses as junked cars possibly stolen. The route was something Sac Sheriff's thought he might take and also seasoned cops reported the driver as driving very cop-like and using LE tactics to escape.
Thoughts and questions anyone?
In and around the time period of 1976-1978 the Patrol Deputies of El Dorado County assigned to the graveyard shift had more than a few encounters with a speeding car very late at night headed Eastbound on Highway 50. For those of you not from the area this area would be the freeway leading from Sacramento (Rancho Cordova) toward Lake Tahoe with El Dorado County between them. Highway 50 in and around Rancho Cordova was where the Sacramento County Sheriff's X-ray units (EAR task force) would deploy immediately after an EAR attack occurred setting up on the freeway entrance ramps in an effort to catch him fleeing. In El Dorado, the deputies, of course, knew of EAR but no attacks had occurred there so at the time they did not suspect they anything other than a reckless speeding driver problem.
The first incident occurred while Deputy DeGray had just finished a vehicle stop near El Dorado Hills Blvd exit on Eastbound US 50 a dark unknown make and model car passed him something told him to follow the vehicle it was 4:30 AM and it was the only car on the road beside his marked patrol car. As DeGray pulled on to the roadway the dark car immediately sped up he attempted to light the car up with overhead lights and when he did the car accelerated rapidly away from him he put the metal to the metal and floored it yet this car continued to pull away from him seemingly effortlessly putting distance between the two cars. DeGray did not get close enough to get a license plate and could not even confirm there was one on the bumper at all. There is a hilly section of roadway that allowed DeGray to see the dark car's taillights then suddenly the lights disappeared the driver had "blacked out"the lights of the vehicle. DeGray and other Deputies spend an hour looking for that vehicle and the Deputies assigned to Tahoe area had come down and reported not seeing any vehicle pass them the dark car had escaped somewhere. More or less a week or two passed when Deputy Brad had a very similar incident with another dark car that when he tried to pull them over they fled and the vehicle had a tremendous amount of power and also pulled away very easily while being pursued this occurring at almost 5:00 AM. There was another extensive search in the area for the vehicle and again no license plate was seen. The fleeing vehicle had blacked out again and disappeared.
This happened again and again over several months the activity was spread out and nearly went unnoticed until shift rotation when a few of the Deputies who had given chase to that dark car were placed together on the graveyard shift. They discovered it had happened more than anyone thought because there were incidents where the Deputies had not reported the car as a pursue because they could not catch up to it. They developed a plan and each night in they were not on calls after 3:00 am they placed themselves on varies freeway off-ramps waiting for the car. There was one particular night one of the Deputies did get close enough to see a plate but it came back with no record on file meaning it was not assigned to a car. This encounter had two units driving at a very high rate of speed slipping and sliding trying their best to just keep up with the dark car this was not a sports car or a muscle car it was a dark colored sedan with 4 doors much like the vehicles driven by the Deputies but it was much faster. They had some theories as to the driver of the vehicle they all agreed he was a good driver or absolutely crazy or both but there was also the statement "he drove like a cop" the way he blacked out the way he used the entire roadway and just how he drove overall. There was suspicion he was a cop working at another agency in the Sacramento area and he got off work and drove like a bat out of hell going home. There was talk it was a CHP vehicle and they were doing some kind of off the books testing. There was of course also this was a criminal fleeing a crime and was attempting to get out of the area in a fast way.
I saw a few short liner reports with date and times that could place JJD fleeing the Rancho Cordova area it could also be a coincidence but they were happening on dates and close enough to times when EAR had some close calls with Sac Sheriffs. The last reported sighting of this dark car also happened when EAR shifted to other communities.
The vehicle was lost near Placerville each time or before the town itself. I was told Placerville PD may have had their own encounters with the dark car but I could not locate anyone to confirm or deny it. Those not familiar with the area Placerville links to Auburn via Highway 49 and would be a possible route used by JJD to return to his home in Auburn. Once JJD got on to 49 there would be very little LE on those roads that early in the morning.
I am not sure if this is related to EAR but there can be some arguments in favor he was a mechanic and the plate on the vehicle was like other vehicles seen by witnesses as junked cars possibly stolen. The route was something Sac Sheriff's thought he might take and also seasoned cops reported the driver as driving very cop-like and using LE tactics to escape.
Thoughts and questions anyone?
