Elaine Louise Davis

I will post some more on this soon..for now here is some info:

Elaine Louise Davis
Missing since 1 December 1969 from Walnut Creek, CA
Age 17

Her name appears in the Book "Zodiac" by Robert Graysmith, as a POSSIBLE victim of the Zodiac killer. The book stated (in 1986) that she was still missing and gave no further details as to how or why she was considered one of his victims.

She remained "missing" until a Jane Doe was identifed as being her in 2001. Here is the story...

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Article from the San Francisco Chronicle:
Wednesday, May 16, 2001

Body of girl missing since '69 identified:
Disappearance from Walnut Creek home

By Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer

A girl presumed murdered in 1969 -- and who was buried as a Jane Doe in a Santa Cruz cemetery --has been identified thanks to persistent investigators and advances in forensics.

Last week, authorities exhumed the body of Elaine Louise Davis, 17, and confirmed her identity through dental records. Davis disappeared on Dec. 1, 1969, while baby-sitting her 3-year-old sister at the family's Walnut Creek home.

Police found no evidence of a struggle at the scene. In a field behind her house they did recover a button Davis had been planning to sew onto her coat. Two days later, a motorist discovered the coat on Highway 17 near Santa Cruz.

On Dec. 19, 1969, authorities found the body of a female floating off Light House Point. Investigators mistakenly estimated the age of the victim as 20 to 25 years old. As a result, Walnut Creek police never believed that the victim was Davis.

Last year, Walnut Creek Police Detective Lew Doty was reviewing Davis' case as part of the department's regular examination of old unsolved cases. Doty noticed in the case file a reference to the body found in Santa Cruz as well as a dental X-ray belonging to Davis. He checked with criminalist Paul Holes of the Contra Costa crime lab, who told the detective that methods for estimating the age of a victim were less precise in 1969.

Because Davis' body had been buried in a cemetery for unidentified or impoverished persons, authorities weren't sure they could locate her grave. But with the help of the Santa Cruz coroner's office and a forensic anthropologist, investigators were able to find the correct site last week and exhume the corpse.

"There was a lot of damage to the body," Holes said yesterday. "There is no definitive cause of death and determining that now will be basically an impossibility." But modern forensics may yield additional clues, and police are reviewing the case for leads to follow up.

"Maybe something will get jogged," said Walnut Creek Police Lt. Loren Cattolico. "Does someone know something? In 75 percent of homicides, the victim knows the killer. The house doesn't show any signs of ransacking. The kid she was baby-sitting didn't hear anyone at the door. I think she walked outside with someone willingly and didn't come back."

Police said Davis' body showed some signs of cartilage damage in her neck, indicating that she might have been strangled.


It was wthin 5 months of her abduction that Z sent the DRAGON CARD. In it he wrote:

"If you don't want me to have this blast you must do two things. 1 Tell everyone about the bus bomb with all the details. 2 I would like to see some nice Zodiac butons wandering about town. Every one else has these buttons like, [peace symbol], black power, Melvin eats bluber, etc. Well it would cheer me up considerably if I saw a lot of people wearing my buton. Please no nasty ones like Melvin's"

Z really seemed to want to draw attention to the word BUTTON(S)

Extremely interesting about the button Morph and I agree is that why he was so persistent in using the word, this is a potential Z I would think. Very brazen to abduct someone from the house also that the kid she was babysitting heard nothing. It sounds like he possibly used a ruse to get her to leave the house.

Very possible. She was listed in the Graysmith book as a possible victim

"Police found no evidence of a struggle at the scene. In a field behind her house they did recover a button Davis had been planning to sew onto her coat. Two days later, a motorist discovered the coat on Highway 17 near Santa Cruz.
On Dec. 19, 1969, authorities found the body of a female floating off Light House Point. Investigators mistakenly estimated the age of the victim as 20 to 25 years old. As a result, Walnut Creek police never believed that the victim was Davis. "


Wow. This is where I saw my POIs in 2004, just a couple weeks before the Jenner murders of Cutshall and Allan. I know they were involved, because I saw the "pollywog" windshield sticker on one of their cars (and yes, there were two cars involved--traveling together).

Tell me they're not linked...

Really fascinating stuff!

D.a.b. I thought that the sticker was on the back window of the poi's car ?
Where did you read that it was on the front window, its important for me to know ?

sandy betts wrote:

D.a.b. I thought that the sticker was on the back window of the poi's car ?
Where did you read that it was on the front window, its important for me to know ?

here is the composite:

http://jason-lindsay.blogspot.com/2004_09_01_archive.html

Dont you think anybody missing or murdered without someone caught during this period 1969-1978 would have to be considered possibly Zodiac.

salus wrote:

Dont you think anybody missing or murdered without someone caught during this period 1969-1978 would have to be considered possibly Zodiac.

Not if there was obvious signs of RAPE, ROBBERY, DRUGS, or JEALOUSY.

No, Sandy. The sticker was on the rear windshield. The vehicle was a light brown/copperish color.

BUMP, was curious to see if anyone had anymore thoughts on this crime? I just posted about DONNA MARIE FRISLIE, who was also abducted and killed while she was babysitting.

I always thought the timing of the Zodiac "button" letters, soon after police announced that they had found a button from her jacket, was interesting.

Deplorable at Best wrote:

No, Sandy. The sticker was on the rear windshield. The vehicle was a light brown/copperish color.

Deplorable at Best, Perhaps you miss read what I posted ? I did say it was on the rear window. TF posted the drawing , and it shows the rear window ( Thank you TF ).
I asked about this because I have seen a car fitting the description of a POI's car. It was black. and had what looked somewhat like a pollywog on the rear window. It was a Dolphin jumping though a hoop. The license plate of that "black car" , was like ----- 1-U R Saved or 1 R U Saved . I saw that car a few months after the Jenner murders, in Contra Costa County.

When Elaine Davis was taken from Walnut Creek, I had grown up there , and my last name was also Davis, so her case has always bothered me. We have had a similar case here where I live now, about 15 to 20 yrs ago.
This is the first time I have read that it was her "coat/ Jacket" that was found on Hy way 17, instead of a shoe that was hers. I wonder if the reporter got it mixed up with the button that was found in her yard ,as they do sometimes ?( Like they did in the NY Times about me last yr)

My sons girlfriend who was living in Walnut Creek in the late 80's , was receiving strange and very scary phone calls from a older sounding man. He would call her to let her know that he was watching her at her work. To prove he was telling the truth, he would tell her what she was wearing that day. There is a police report about her case in Walnut Creek. The man also threatened her, by telling her that if she didn't stop dating my son , he would kill both of them.

We knew he had to be watching her a lot , because he called her one night just after her parents had left for the evening. He told her that he knew she was home alone, because he watched her parents leave.
There may not be any connection to my suspect and this case, but I feel it is the same man who I believe to be the Zodiac. We do know that at least one Zodiac letter came from Pleasanton, which is a stones throw from Walnut Creek.

A Day @ The Library. Sandy & Zam*

Contra Costa Times 12/4/1969

Contra Costa Times
12/4/1969 con't from page 1

Contra Costa Times
12/5/1969

Contra Costa Times
12/5/1969
con't from page 1

Contra Costa Times
12/7/1969

Alamo Women finds shoe on Northbound off ramp of 680 & Stone Valley Road in Alamo.

Contra Costa Times
12/10/1969

Contra Costa Times
12/11/1969

Contra Costa Times

12/11/1969
con't from page 1A

Contra Costa Times

12/12/1969

Contra Costa Times
12/12/1969
con't page from page 1

Contra Costa Times

12/16/1969

Gold Button found, similar to those on Elaine's Navy Style Pea Coat.

Contra Costa Times

12/18/1969

A Girl resident of Northgate Road, Walnut Creek reported being followed for almost a week. Man between 30 & 35 years old. Looking for possible link between this & Elaine Davis.

Contra Costa Times

12/19/1969

Search moves to Santa Cruz. Blue Coat found in the Santa Cruz Mts. One Button was missing.
Coat was found two days after Elaine's disappearance. The house wife that found it had it dry-
cleaned and kept it prior to turning it in.