PROXY VICTIMS

[dougguard]

We tend to be critical in retrospect  of supposed missed chances decades ago regarding the original investigation and the investigators involved. Some unjustified and some of accurate critical retrospect. Specifically concerning the early ransacking events in Rancho to Visalia and back again. However, those who defended the early investigation relied on the fact that lacking was the total inability of investigators to work backwards, specifically from each victim. Total random selected victims and not one ounce (for that time) of evidence, stymied the investigation.  However, I would opine that clues were apparent that some of the victims had more in common than age, status, race etc.


The one female victim I personally knew bore more than a passing resemblance to female victim Harrington. Both victims in fact were similar in appearance to "Bonnie" ...when Bonnie was in her twenties. I understand by looking at just some of the photos the resemblance is just more than passing. This is what I believe without concrete proof? By proxy JJD was killing Bonnie via female victims and there is clear evidence of that but also before he started killing, he was raping by proxy also.  I have often been mystified why JJD never lashed out at Bonnie, her husband or other individuals connected to his perceived wrongs. I am interested in knowing who his prosecutor was? Who or what women he was associated with at that time?


Given the validity of this assumption, there could have been the hypothesis formed that victims had similar appearances and this could of been critical to early apprehension? Some of you out there may also agree with me that more than just a couple of smoky-eyed brunettes and platinum blonde, big-haired victims were targeted?  In the annals of serial killers, it has been common for certain types of female victims to fall prey who bore more than just a passing resemblance to each other.  The list is long there, pick your killer? Also, when the killer is caught, the flashpoint of their rage has sometimes been identified such as mother, jilting girlfriend etc. Here, in this case it is quite evident he was targeting Bonnie on numerous occasions on multiple victims. In fact, I would opine that male victims came into play as well in being targeted because they resembled somebody JJD hated. Lyman Smith comes into consideration there? (He looked like too many lawyers).Too many facts to suggest otherwise that these were random opportunistic killings and rapes.  

In this modern age of specialized criminal investigations, working back from the victim is often accomplished by the specifics of the crime. Now that we know "Bonnie" was a factor in the case forty years ago, I ache with the question why she was not searched for at that time?  I would like to get his yearbooks, check out his teachers, classmates or any other individuals who could resemble a future victim.

[jenn]

I have also wondered why he never did anything to Bonnie or her family. They lived very close by and had the type of one story house that JJD preferred. It was also located on a very large lot with plenty of landscaping and no neighbors nearby. He certainly had the opportunity. Who knows, maybe he used to go over there and peep and then go off and do the rapes.

[walter]

Mar 1, 2019 4:27:51 GMT jenn said:

I have also wondered why he never did anything to Bonnie or her family. They lived very close by and had the type of one story house that JJD preferred. It was also located on a very large lot with plenty of landscaping and no neighbors nearby. He certainly had the opportunity. Who knows, maybe he used to go over there and peep and then go off and do the rapes.

Probably he was worried they would be able to easily identify him.

[cherylh]

JJD seems to have been pretty careful about not attacking people who could be linked to him.

His police training influenced his choice of victims.

I often wonder if he did keep any souvenirs. His training would have taught him that doing so was extremely risky. If he did keep them, they were well hidden.

Though I do wonder about that play house he had -- that locked from the inside.

[bronwyn]

I think some of it had to do with the lack of information technology at the time. All there was to work with was the name 'Bonnie', no idea of actual geographic location or age. LE would have to go to each individual school district and request yearbook copies going back a certain number of years. How many years? They had no real idea of EAR's age at that time, and since he was actually older than was thought, the yearbooks that may have yielded a clue probably would not have been looked at. So detectives are going to each individual high school in the Sacramento area, manually looking through yearbooks to find all students names Bonnie. The only other avenue would be if schools had yearbook photos on microfiche at the local library, but most did not. Let's say that this had been done, and over a ten-year span of graduates around Sacramento they have identified 300 girls named Bonnie. Now what? Do they try to locate each Bonnie to find out if she had a bad breakup in her past? It is not even clear if the EAR was referring to his past, or if Bonnie was someone still in his life. To try and find engagements, marriages, etc., would require hours spent at the various libraries in Sac reading through all the local newspapers for engagement notices regarding Bonnie. There was no way to filter results based on marriage, divorces, etc. It was all incredibly laborious, manual and time-consuming, even as new crimes are being committed in your jurisdiction. The man-hours required to do this kind of research was massive, and it all really was a huge shot in the dark. Before the internet, and digitized files, things were so different. Even now there are many legal files buried in courthouse basements that will never be uploaded to the internet because the time involved to scan and upload is too daunting. Just trying to backtrack from the name 'Bonnie' may have yielded some results, but even if they found THE Bonnie, I doubt JJD would have been given a second look at the time. If she said, "Oh, the breakup was amicable, he's never bothered me since," JJD would probably have been overlooked.

[almagata]

Mar 1, 2019 22:39:27 GMT bronwyn said:

I think some of it had to do with the lack of information technology at the time. All there was to work with was the name 'Bonnie', no idea of actual geographic location or age. LE would have to go to each individual school district and request yearbook copies going back a certain number of years. How many years? They had no real idea of EAR's age at that time, and since he was actually older than was thought, the yearbooks that may have yielded a clue probably would not have been looked at. So detectives are going to each individual high school in the Sacramento area, manually looking through yearbooks to find all students names Bonnie. The only other avenue would be if schools had yearbook photos on microfiche at the local library, but most did not. Let's say that this had been done, and over a ten-year span of graduates around Sacramento they have identified 300 girls named Bonnie. Now what? Do they try to locate each Bonnie to find out if she had a bad breakup in her past? It is not even clear if the EAR was referring to his past, or if Bonnie was someone still in his life. To try and find engagements, marriages, etc., would require hours spent at the various libraries in Sac reading through all the local newspapers for engagement notices regarding Bonnie. There was no way to filter results based on marriage, divorces, etc. It was all incredibly laborious, manual and time-consuming, even as new crimes are being committed in your jurisdiction. The man-hours required to do this kind of research was massive, and it all really was a huge shot in the dark. Before the internet, and digitized files, things were so different. Even now there are many legal files buried in courthouse basements that will never be uploaded to the internet because the time involved to scan and upload is too daunting. Just trying to backtrack from the name 'Bonnie' may have yielded some results, but even if they found THE Bonnie, I doubt JJD would have been given a second look at the time. If she said, "Oh, the breakup was amicable, he's never bothered me since," JJD would probably have been overlooked.

I'll just say this. 

Someone in Auburn remembered when JJD was fired that he was once engaged to Bonnie and there was discussion that she made a good decision when she decided not to marry him just like we made those comments after he was arrested as being GSK.  People in little towns know each other and pretty much everyone knows the cops. 

[dougguard]

I apologize for not making my point concise and more clear. (12 hour shifts). Piecing the four geographical time spans, Sacramento, Tulare, Sacramento again then to Central and Southern California with physical description based on Detective McGowan, someone would have come forward years ago. This never happened. Today! Bonnie and her former husband have been pretty successful in cleansing themselves from the internet. He was considered one of the top forensic fraud accountants in this country and now he has virtually disappeared? However, the husband of Bonnie, the brother of Bonnie or other people who may have been presented with this type of information years ago may have made a call if given the facts. Not to mention the Detectives in the Snelling murder. But the chain had to start with the Cordova Meadows ransacking of the early 70's. This would have also eliminated the younger age assumption made in 1976.

Every girlfriend and wife I ever had, told me about past loves and I am certain this applies to most couples. In the case of JJD! I would never infer that Bonnie knew or suspected JJD and kept quite because the press or cops never mentioned his mutterings of "Bonnie" during the Sacramento attacks.

However, if other men such as suspicious in-laws, new husband, former law enforcement employers were made aware of these specifics, especially the geographical timeline? Then perhaps 2018 would not have been a year of jubilation?

[Captain]

Mar 1, 2019 22:39:27 GMT bronwyn said:

I think some of it had to do with the lack of information technology at the time. All there was to work with was the name 'Bonnie', no idea of actual geographic location or age. LE would have to go to each individual school district and request yearbook copies going back a certain number of years. How many years? They had no real idea of EAR's age at that time, and since he was actually older than was thought, the yearbooks that may have yielded a clue probably would not have been looked at. So detectives are going to each individual high school in the Sacramento area, manually looking through yearbooks to find all students names Bonnie. The only other avenue would be if schools had yearbook photos on microfiche at the local library, but most did not. Let's say that this had been done, and over a ten-year span of graduates around Sacramento they have identified 300 girls named Bonnie. Now what? Do they try to locate each Bonnie to find out if she had a bad breakup in her past? It is not even clear if the EAR was referring to his past, or if Bonnie was someone still in his life. To try and find engagements, marriages, etc., would require hours spent at the various libraries in Sac reading through all the local newspapers for engagement notices regarding Bonnie. There was no way to filter results based on marriage, divorces, etc. It was all incredibly laborious, manual and time-consuming, even as new crimes are being committed in your jurisdiction. The man-hours required to do this kind of research was massive, and it all really was a huge shot in the dark. Before the internet, and digitized files, things were so different. Even now there are many legal files buried in courthouse basements that will never be uploaded to the internet because the time involved to scan and upload is too daunting. Just trying to backtrack from the name 'Bonnie' may have yielded some results, but even if they found THE Bonnie, I doubt JJD would have been given a second look at the time. If she said, "Oh, the breakup was amicable, he's never bothered me since," JJD would probably have been overlooked.

Excellent point. I think people forget how big the population is in Sacramento and the surrounding areas. I always find it ironic that people describe the cities JJD struck/worked in as having a small town vibe. Sacramento's population is 500k, Visalia's is 130k, & Auburn's is 13k. Those numbers are current numbers but even in the 70's, those cities would've still had significant populations. That's a LOT of people to comb thru at a time when information was much more limited.

For some perspective, my town has less than 2,000 people. My county covers 3,258 square miles yet we only have 30,000 people.

[Red909XMZ1]

Yes, he did not go after brunettes exclusively.

As you spot-on noticed, he also added "platinum blondes with big hair" to his sick list of prey.

[samisdad]

Mar 1, 2019 4:27:51 GMT jenn said:

I have also wondered why he never did anything to Bonnie or her family. They lived very close by and had the type of one story house that JJD preferred. It was also located on a very large lot with plenty of landscaping and no neighbors nearby. He certainly had the opportunity. Who knows, maybe he used to go over there and peep and then go off and do the rapes.

It does give one cause for wonder... Did she and or her family know or discover something about JJD?  If so;
How was it discovered?
Was there an incident?
Or, was conjecture and distrubing rumors later confirmed by a troubled history?
How would it have been discovered or shared?

If so who or by whom?
What was Bonnie's Dad's job?
Did she have family in Law Enforcement? 

[f1guyus]

Just as an aside sometime after the first Stockton attack our local paper ran three stories within a very short time stating that: A. The EAR victims were all blondes. B. The EAR victims were all brunettes. C. Hair color didn’t appear to be a factor. Take your choice.

[rhawes7]

Mar 1, 2019 4:27:51 GMT jenn said:

I have also wondered why he never did anything to Bonnie or her family. They lived very close by and had the type of one story house that JJD preferred. It was also located on a very large lot with plenty of landscaping and no neighbors nearby. He certainly had the opportunity. Who knows, maybe he used to go over there and peep and then go off and do the rapes.

Plus they were engaged so she unfortunately knew about his micropenis...That would give him away instantly