California Serial Killers [crime, california]

If you know me, you know one of the things I most like to read about are serial killers. I've noticed over the years of reading about these fascinating people that a great deal of them live and commit their crimes in the Golden State. Why are so many of these killers in California?

While living in Los Angeles, I compiled a list of Californian serial killers. I started out by dividing the list into simply Northern and Southern California, eventually adding Central California, and ultimately, an entire category for just the Los Angeles area itself.

California has a disproportionate amount of serial killers compared to the rest of the nation while LA has a disproportionate amount of serial killers compared to the SF Bay Area and the rest of California.

What makes the Golden State, especially the LA area, such a popular destination for serial killers?


California Serial Killers

Northern California

San Francisco Bay Area

Zodiac Killer
Trailside Killer - David Carpenter
Michael Bear Carson & Suzan Carson

Sacramento

The I-5 Strangler- Roger Reece Kibb
The Vampire of Sacramento - Richard Chase
Gallego Sex Slave Killers - Gerald & Charlene Gallego
Dorothea Puente
Morris Solomon, Jr.
Leonard Lake & Charles Ng (Calaveras County)

Santa Cruz

Herbert Mullin
The Co-Ed Killer - Edmund Kemper

Yosemite

The Yosemite Killer - Cary Stayner

Humboldt

Wayne Adam Ford

Yuba City

The Machete Murderer - Juan Corona

Central California

Bakersfield

Vincent Brothers

Fresno

Marcus Wesson

Southern California

Los Angeles

The Night Stalker - Richard Ramirez (also SF Bay area)
Charles Manson
The Dating Game Killer - Rodney Alcala
The Red Light Bandit
The Grim Sleeper - Lonnie David Franklin, Jr.
The Hillside Strangler - Kenneth Bianchi & Angelo Buono, Jr.
The Freeway Killer - Patrick Kearney (shares this nickname with William Bonin and Randy Steven Kraft)
Sunset Strip Killer - Doug Clark
Michael Hughes
Timothy Joseph McGee
The Freeway Killer - William Bonin
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo
Chester Dewayne Turner
The Lonely Hearts Killer - Harvey Glatman
Wineville Chicken Coop Murderer - Gordon Stewart Northcott
Mack Ray Edwards
Thor Nis Christiansen
Louise Peete

Orange County

The Freeway Killer - Randy Steven Kraft
Bedroom Basher - Gerald Parker
I-5 Killer or I-5 Bandit - Randall Woodfield

San Diego

The Clairemont Killer - Cleophus Prince, Jr.

Riverside

Riverside Killer - William Suff
Dana Sue Gray
Phillip Carl Jablonski (Riverside & SF Bay area)


Sources:

List of Serial Killers by Country

California’s Most Notorious Killers


If I've left anyone off the list, feel free to comment or contact me and I'll update the list.

Best Things to Do on Father's Day in SF [holidays, events]

There is a lot of (mostly) free stuff going on in the Bay Area for Father's Day this year, so there is no excuse not to take Dear Old Dad out!

1. The Northern California Pirate Festival is happening in Vallejo from 10:00am to 6:00pm and celebrates all things Pirate.via FunCheapSF:

Celebrate all things Pirate, as Pirate Entertainers, Musicians, Singers, Swordfighters, Craftspeople, and more turn Vallejo’s waterfront into a Pirate Town the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Tortuga. Come on out for this two-day festival over fathers day weekend and have a swashbucklin’ great time at the SF Bay Area’s only Pirate Festival.

The entertainment roster encompasses performers featured on the main stage, the children’s stage, main gate stage, swordfighting & pirate’s “brawling” areas, participating vessels and roving entertainment

2. The 57th Annual North Beach Festival will be held in San Francisco from 10:00am to 6:00pm in Washington Square Park.

3. The 61st Annual Juneteenth Festival is happening in San Francisco from 11:00am to 7:00pm in the Fillmore.

4. For all you dancers, there is a free Michael Jackson "Beat It" Dance Class in SF from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Bollyhood Cafe.

5. If you are a parkour fan, be sure to check out the 1st Annual Urban Ninja Festival in Berkeley from 12:00pm to 6:00pm at Memorial Glade (UC Berkeley).

6. The Stern Grove Festival 2011 kicks off tomorrow in SF at 2:00pm with the sounds of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.

7. The Father's Day Kite Day is happening in Berkeley from 12:00pm to 4:00pm at Cesar Chavez State Park.

8. For the urban history nerds (and cannon enthusiasts!) there is a hike of shipwrecks and and cannons starting at 2:00pm at the Presidio in San Francisco.

9. World Music Day will be held in Palo Alto from 3:00pm to 7:30pm.

Click here for even more free events!

1974 was a Golden Year for Film [film, 1970's]

Wow. 1974 sure was a golden year for film; it was also quite a year at the Academy Awards!

I’m currently watching The Conversation, which was filmed here in San Francisco and directed by one of my all-time favorite directors, Francis Ford Coppola. I have a slight obsession with movies filmed here in the Bay Area.

I also adore The Towering Inferno, which came out the same year and was also filmed in San Francisco. It was up against The Conversation for Best Picture (they both lost to another Coppola film, The Godfather III). It did end up taking home the award for Best Cinematography, and it truly is a visual treat.

My all-time favorite film, John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” also came out that year, and Gena Rowlands was nominated for Best Actress but ended up losing to Ellen Burstyn for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

Let Timmy Smoke! [pot, culture]

Tim Lincecum seems like a pretty cool dude. His minor pot bust was way overexposed in the media, but hey, at least it sparked some pretty cool t-shirts.

I saw the "Let Timmy Smoke!" t-shirts being sold all around SF right after the Giants won the World Series; I should have grabbed one then!

Kudos to Tim for appearing on the cover of High Times magazine!

Methamphetamine [drugs, society]

Watched Meth: A County in Crisis earlier, and now watching "Meth's Deadly High" on Lifetime.

The first show detailed the meth problem in Missouri, and focuses on the epidemic in Franklin County, but meth is a plague rampant everywhere in the United States.

The Bay area is no stranger to the meth problem either but has launched rigorous campaigns to combat the meth crisis and according to Life or Meth, meth usage has almost halved in three years here in San Francisco.

Meth is also a huge problem in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California; the photo below details the admissions into drug and alcohol rehab centers over a four year time in California.

One can clearly see meth usage has spread like wild fire in California in just several years.

The San Diego area is also known for its numerous bizarre crimes involving meth; below is a video of the infamous incident in San Diego on May 17, 1995, when meth-addicted Shawn Timothy Nelson stole a tank from the National Guard Armory near Mesa College and went on a rampage through a city, only stopping when he ran into a median on the highway.

Two Walnut Creek Teens Die in Rafting Accident [bay area, news]

Two Walnut Creek teens were found dead this past Saturday, victims of a tragic rafting accident. The teens were identified as 16-year-old Matthew Miller and 17-year-old Gavin Powell, both of Walnut Creek and popular students at Las Lomas High School, where classes resumed today for the first time since the accident over the weekend.

Crisis counselors and other mental health professionals were available to speak to grieving students. Below is a video tribute to Matt and Gavin made by one of their friends.

Moving Back to SF [life stuff]

I can't believe Meghan and I are moving back to the Bay area in 14 days! There is much packing to do.

We will be moving to the East Bay but hope to find a place in The City or perhaps Fairfax in the next few months.


I am going to become a master packer having to move around so much!

94-Yr-Old Woman Graduates from College [touching story]

This is a touching story. A 94-year-old Oakland woman, Hazel Soares, just received her BA in art history from Mill's College in Oakland.

She is believed to be the second oldest person in the world to graduate from college, second to Nola Ochs, a woman who graduated from Fort Hays State University in Kansas three years ago at the age of 95. You go, girl!

Hazel is a living example of the "it's never too late to realize your dreams" mindset.