Nikki Alexander Benedict, 14 , considered by law enforcement a possible Zodiac victim

Nikki Alexander Benedict, 14 years old, was by LE, concidered a possible Zodiac victim.

She lived in Poway, Ca (ca 20 miles n/e of san Diego) at 13530 Olive Tree Poway ca

She was murdered May 1st, 1967, the very day after the 3 BATES HAD TO DIE LETTERS postmarked 30, 1967.

(NOTE that the date of her birthday is the same as the Zodiac Los Angeles letter March 13, 1971 )



http://www.skcentral.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=4032&pid=79757

On Oct. 30, 1966 Cheri Jo Bates was stabbed to death and nearly decapitated. Some time after her death a man claiming to be her killer began making some phone calls admiting to the murder. And eventually the man mailed in a number of letters, and carved a poem on a desk top. Later on the handwritting would be confirmed as Zodiac's. While some have disputed if Zodiac killed Bates. Two glaring facts stand out. He atleast mailed the letters and made the phone calls. And whoever killed her wore size 10 military shoes, which Zodiac wore as well.

The day after the first letter was mailed in the Bates murder another girl named Nikki Benedict was killed. She was also stabbed to death with a small knife similar to Bates. Earlier in the day her and her friend had been stalked by a man with short brown hair and thick glasses. A police sketch was made from the incident. The police then would later connect the incident and sketch to Zodiac, and considered him the prime suspect in the unsolved case.


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nikki-Alexandra-Benedict/371490464707?ref=ts#!/topic.php?uid=371490464707&topic=14105

Nikki Alexandra Benedict UNSOLVED - Open Case: Nikki Benedict, after departing from her best friend's home on Halper Road (off of Pomerado Road), for home in East Poway, was found just apx. 100 yards from the intersection of Poway Road and Community Road in an open field. In 1967, most of the south eastern triangle between Pomerado Rd, Community Rd. and Poway Road was open, undeveloped fields. Nikki was returned to her family shortly after her death. She was found unconscious, and died on arrival to the hospital. The case of who took Nikki's life is still an open "cold" case in the San Diego County Sherrif's Dept.

If you have any information of any kind, please contact San Diego County Sheriff's Dept's Homicide Detail: Detective Richi Hann at 858-974-2321
*Reference Case #204 249 *This case was originally covered by Detective -- now Sergeant, Pat Gardner.

*Please also send an email to info@fieldsofamber.org so we can follow up with the Sheriff's Dept.

John F. Duffy Administrative Center
9621 Ridgehaven Ct
San Diego, CA 92123
General line: (858) 974-2222



Here are some links:

http://hattricktrio.com/benedict/nikki.htm

https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=363564512881&topic=15681#!/pages/Nikki-Alexandra-Benedict/371490464707

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nikki-Alexandra-Benedict/371490464707?ref=ts#!



Wish we could get hold of the sketch of the Nikki A Benedict suspect.

Concerning POWAY, this is what I had in my files:


Darlenes x-husband Jim Crabtree is listed to an address a few hundred feet (ca 4 houses apart) from the possible Zodiac murdervictim Nikki Alexandra Benedict.
But, I don´t know what year he was listed/lived there?

This IS the right James D Crabtree even though the month in his DOB is wrong, the correct month is May.

U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1
about James D Crabtree
Name: James D Crabtree
Birth Date: 8 Apr 1944
Phone Number: 277-3610
Address: 8621 Complex Dr 44, San Diego, CA, 92123 (1987)
]13421 Olive Tree Ln, Poway, CA, 92064-4921]
[633 Post St # 630, San Francisco, CA, 94109-8215 (1995)]
[44-106 Kalenakai Pl, Kaneohe, HI, 96744-2523 (1994)]


Here is who is listed at the address:



1. Available

Possible Employment / Business Associations:

E-WIRE Metals Service Centers and Offices (Jim Crabtrees bizz)
VALENTINE HOLDINGS, LTD

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
BOULDER, CO
HONOLULU, HI
LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ
LAS VEGAS, NV
SAN DIEGO, CA
KANEOHE, HI
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
POWAY, CA
PHOENIX, AZ Possible Relatives:

MERRELL, JOSETTE GEORGIA (Age 63)
CREABTREE, ALAN J (Age 51)

Possible Roommates / Associates:

LEWIS, PATRICIA S (Age 65) (Jim Crabtrees wife)
LEWIS, SUNNY P (Jim Crabtrees wife, her nickname)




Possible Zodiac murdervictim in Poway
Nikki Alexandra Benedict , 14 years old, murdered by stabbing May 1st 1967 , the very day after the "Bates had to die letters" April 30, 1967.
Howard says that LE told him that Zodiac was a suspect in the case. The suspecrt was apparently a perfect match of the Zodiac killer composite.
The case is still unsolved.
Nikkis mother Julie Benedict was an editor at the "San Diego County Indepedent"
They lived at : 13530 Olive Tree Ln, Poway, CA


Jim Crabtree and Poway
James Crabtree/Jim Phillips Darlene´s x-husband have, at som point, been listed to and address in Poway, Ca, a few hundred feets (ca 4 houses apart) from the possible Zodiac murder victim Nikke Benedict, who was killed (stabbed) May 1st 1967, the very day after the "Bates had to die letters".
Jim Craabtree´s address: 13421 Olive Tree Ln, Poway, CA
Nikki Benedict address: 13530 Olive Tree Ln, Poway, CA




And the Suennen family have relatives in Poway, the question is how far back.

Note that Poway was a very small little town back then only a few thousend people I belive it was ca 8000. Poway didn´t officially become a city until December 1980.



Johanna and Frank Suennen and Poway
Add to that that Darlene´s sister Johanna Suennen (born Jul 11th 1960) is listed with LOTS of adresses in Poway.
Also kind of interesting that Johanna married a Michael SLOVER as in Nancy Slover (not sure if they are related, and they didn´t marry until 1977, and divorced 9 Feb 1982 both marry and divorce in Solano County).
Also Darlenes brother Frank Arthur Suennen is listed in the Poway area and San Diego.


SO, one thought among many; did the Suennen family have relatives in Poway all the way back in 1960´s? and did Jim and Darlene visit Poway when they traveled around in 1966/1967?.
Was Jim, or somone he/Darlene knew, in some way involved in the death of Nikki Benedict? and did Darlene know and was killed to shut her up?
All pure speculation of course.

Nikki´s school:


Meadowbrook Middle School‎

12320 Meadowbrook Ln
Poway, CA 92064-3599

(858) 748-0803

from Howard Davis website

http://www.thezodiacmansonconnection.com/victim_benedict.html

Nikki Benedict - Possible Zodiac Victim?


On May Day (the major witchcraft Sabbat of Beltane and it's Feast of Fires) 1967 (during the last quarter phase of the moon) a young hazel-eyed blond girl, 5' 6" with an athletic build (like Bates) was found on a path near a swale (water element?) bleeding from stab wounds to her chest an inch apart. (We will accept this as info is always withheld). The knife had a small blade (like the knife used on Bates.) Her name was Nikki Alexandra Benedict.



The incident took place in the town of Poway, CA (There seems to usually be a Celtic, Irish, Welsh, or English connection to the Zodiac. Poway is the name of a county in Wales.) near Riverside just a short time after the 4/30/67 Zodiac missives were received in Riverside. The '67 note said, "There will be more". Nikki was killed a day later!



Like Bates, she had to have been stalked, as this was the first time the teen walked home and did not take the bus. The '66 Zodiac letter said "I am stalking your girls now". Homicide detectives said the girl had not been raped, but "there were indications she had been killed by a sexual psychopath (some believe Z possessed the same psychopathic behavior) who became enraged at her resistance."



The police report says, "A wound on her neck (recall Bates) indicated a sharp instrument had been used to try to force submission, and bruises on her elbows and knees indicated a struggle had taken place on the ground." (Like Bates.)



Detectives said the murder weapon was a large pocket knife or a small hunting knife. (Some people question whether or not the Bates killer brought a small knife with the intention of killing her with it.) Of course, it was adequate enough to kill with - as Bates' death certificate and autopsy report says, "Multiple stab and slashing wound[s] of the abdomen and neck inflicted with a sharp instrument or knife". This was done with a SMALL knife - she was "almost decapitated"! The same person could have committed both murders.



It was recently discovered that one of the prime suspects in the Benedict murder was the Zodiac as a man was seen watching Nikki and her friend earlier in the day. The friend's description matched that of the future Zodiac! Remember this suspect's description was given in May of 1967 and Zodiac was not described or shown in the papers / posters until October of 1969!

Great find, TF! San Diego -- very, very interesting. Since you mentioned Crabtree, I have to say that Troy Houghton lived in San Diego and he flashed young girls of the same age, 13-15. He was caught and went to trial in January 1967 in Cheyenne. This might explain the choice of a 14-year old girl here. Beginning of May 1967, Troy would have been leaving San Diego by car for Missouri to testify at Mower's trial.

I would love to see side by side, a comparison of teh autopsy reports. I wonder if there is evidence that the same type of knife, and length of blade was the same in both the Bates case & the Benedict case? I also wonder if there were any anonymous letters to police or Benedict's Family in her case?

From the 5/3/67 Long Beach Independent:


From the 5/2/67 Pasadena Star News:

I just found this in the Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach. Apparently, Nikki's mother, Julie, was the news editor for the Independent newspaper of San Diego county Hmmmm. Who would have had it out for a newspaper news editor in San Diego county in early 1967? Hmmmmm

We must have posted this at the exact same time! Go figure?

rand wrote:

We must have posted this at the exact same time! Go figure?

LOL.... we are traveling the same route, but arriving at two different destinations.

rand wrote:

I just found this in the Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach. Apparently, Nikki's mother, Julie, was the news editor for the Independent newspaper of San Diego county Hmmmm. Who would have had it out for a newspaper news editor in San Diego county in early 1967? Hmmmmm

A young and up and coming Zodiac. I know who you think was responsible, then again, it could have been that her killer worked at the same paper as her mother, or knew the family and targeted the girl. There seems to be no clear motive here, so maybe it was a thrill-kill, or the killer was disturbed before he could sexually assault her. So many possibilities.

morf13 wrote:

I would love to see side by side, a comparison of the autopsy reports. I wonder if there is evidence that the same type of knife, and length of blade was the same in both the Bates case & the Benedict case? I also wonder if there were any anonymous letters to police or Benedict's Family in her case?

Here is a good report on Howard's site:
http://www.thezodiacmansonconnection.com/autop_benedict.html

Would love to know what the numbers written in the palm of her hand represented.

Death of young girl in ‘74 still haunts man
Pat Kumpan
Published 09/27/2006

Pat Kumpan

Editor’s note: This is the first of occasional stories on unsolved local crimes.

Thirty-two years after Patty Kuzara, 7, was murdered in Poway, San Diego Sheriff’s detectives continue to wonder what piece of untold information might solve the mystery surrounding the youngster’s death.

Sometimes, it’s that small detail that can crack a “cold case,” as detectives refer to murders that are unsolved, despite their repeated efforts long after the tragedies occur, according to Det. Pat Gardner with the Sheriff’s homicide unit.

Gardner is currently working on another cold case, that of the murder of 13-year-old Nikki Benedict, another Poway girl slain in 1967, he said.

But looking into a cold case is painstakingly slow and he’s not ready to make any comments until he has reviewed all the evidence and re-interviewed people, he said.

Anyone with information about either the Kuzara or Benedict homicides, should call the homicide unit at 858-974-2321.

Patty Lee Kuzara, a Midland Elementary School student, was walking home from a babysitter’s home in Poway Portal Homes, the first subdivision inside the Poway city limits off Poway Road, about dusk on Saturday, Sept. 28, 1974.

According to police reports, her mother told her to walk home if she wasn’t ready to be picked up at a specified time from the babysitter’s home.

At the time, Poway was considered a fairly small, but safe community with about 9,000 or 10,000 people.

Several witnesses spotted Patty Lee that Saturday night en route to her home on Putney Road off Midland Road, according to stories written about the incident in the Poway News Chieftain.

Her mother, Nancy Kuzara, reported Patty Lee missing about 7:45 p.m., after she did not show up at home.

Deputies plotted the girl’s path east along Poway Road, where merchants said they remember seeing the girl walk past their shops. She was seen crossing through the Safeway store’s parking lot, which is currently Henry’s Marketplace, on the corner of Poway and Midland roads, north on Midland toward her home on Putney Road, just blocks away.

Something caused the girl to turn toward a field that separated Midland from Community. Her footprints were found on Midland as she approached a church, but those prints abruptly turned toward the field, according to the police report.

Did someone call to her? Did she hear some kind of a noise?

Extensive searches were conducted during that Saturday night of her disappearance and into the wee hours of Sunday morning by 60 men — sheriff’s deputies, the department’s search and rescue team, along with local volunteers.

Her body was ultimately discovered with several blows to the head about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday by teenage boys on their way to services at the First Baptist Church on Midland Road.
One of the News Chieftain’s headlines a few days later asked “Where Were You The Night Patty Died? The Sheriff’s Department Wants To Know.”

Sgt. Doug Clements, who headed the investigation, told the News Chieftain in 1974, “If someone was walking their dog, driving to the store or out in a yard, I want to know about it.”
Clements also said that he didn’t want the community to “play detective.”

“Give the information to us and let us work with it,” he said in the newspaper interview. “If we don’t have it, it won’t help us.”

But not enough information, or evidence, could help identify who killed Patty Lee. Clements often said publicly that the murderer was probably someone living in the community.
Patty Lee was buried in a family plot on her grandparent’s ranch in Wyoming.

Her parents, Nancy and Dennis, subsequently divorced.

During a recent interview with Ian McQuage, who now lives in Missouri, the former Poway resident claims he was in the field where the Kuzara girl was murdered.

He was not quite 7 years old at the time, and he, along with a school chum, loved playing in the fields around Poway.

“It was pretty safe, a small community then,” McQuage said. “We explored the fields and local creeks and went most places on bikes.”

While some adults might not have believed him at the time, he vividly recalls being told by the murderer to “put your face into the dirt and don’t look up.”

The words were stern enough that McQuage was petrified and didn’t move a muscle, he said.

Deputies later asked if he could identify the murderer and he said “no.”

He could only say that the man was dark-haired. But when asked about the man’s height, he couldn’t specify how tall he was.

“When you’re a kid, everyone looks tall to you,” he said.

These days he remembers the sounds of the little girl being hit on the head, her moans and then stillness.

He doesn’t sleep much 32 years after the incident. And police contact him from time to time to see if he remembers anything else, but the tragedy remains a haunting impression, despite the lack of details that could help catch a murderer.

http://pomeradonews.com/article/News/News/Death_of_young_girl_in_821674_still_haunts_man/29087

Thanks for the posts and replies here, interesting stuff.

Great find TF. To have the husband of a Z victim show an address just doors down from a suspected Z victim, at the other end of the state, in itself seems quite unusual. In May 1967, Darlene was in the middle of divorcing Crabtree IIRC, and they would certainly have been living apart, but who know where? Wish we had that old Crabtree thread from the Zodiaczee board.

I must say though I sometimes wonder about how the people finder sites go about gathering information, lumping it together, and if it's 100% accurate. When searching other POIs I have come across addresses and connections that I'm not certain were correct. Again though if this Crabtree/Poway address is correct, perhaps there is significance to it. Merits further investigation no doubt.

bentley wrote:

Great find TF. To have the husband of a Z victim show an address just doors down from a suspected Z victim, at the other end of the state, in itself seems quite unusual. In May 1967, Darlene was in the middle of divorcing Crabtree IIRC, and they would certainly have been living apart, but who know where? Wish we had that old Crabtree thread from the Zodiaczee board.

I must say though I sometimes wonder about how the people finder sites go about gathering information, lumping it together, and if it's 100% accurate. When searching other POIs I have come across addresses and connections that I'm not certain were correct. Again though if this Crabtree/Poway address is correct, perhaps there is significance to it. Merits further investigation no doubt.

Good points. The people finders sites, Intelius, etc, contain records and documents going back 30 years or so, and are from public sources.

The best ways to find out info about people from 40 years ago, is to find GRANTOR/GRANTEE records of theirs from a particular county if they owned property. Even Ficticious business names will be on record in certain counties. Also Marriage license applications, and other vital records are helpful as well, some of these can be found on Ancestry.com

Local libraries will in many instances have old phone directories on microfilm.

Lastly, if you have a certain POI or suspect, and want to see where he may have been in CA, search this database:
http://scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP/Default.aspx

Hi Bently I have most of the Crabtree thread from The Zee, courtesy of the Great Firefly. I've had a cursory look at it, theres around 38 pages or so, as far as I can see after he split from Dee and around the time of their divorce in 67 he appears to be in SF living in the Haight. He mentions Santa Cruz, Albany, Ashland, Oregon and Canada within the pages of the thread no mention of San Diego or Poway.

Solar Pons wrote:

Hi Bently I have most of the Crabtree thread from The Zee, courtesy of the Great Firefly. I've had a cursory look at it, theres around 38 pages or so, as far as I can see after he split from Dee and around the time of their divorce in 67 he appears to be in SF living in the Haight. He mentions Santa Cruz, Albany, Ashland, Oregon and Canada within the pages of the thread no mention of San Diego or Poway.

I recall discussion of him in southern CA, but forget the exact details. I also asked him flat out if he had ever visited PENNSYLVANIA with Darlene, as told by her family to police, and he strongly denied it.

TF very good information you found ! For sure this is a pretty interesting case's that needs to be looked at closer.
First I have to say that we can not put any ideas in peoples minds about Darlene's ex and this case. We do not want what happened to Zodiac Zee site, happen here !

To maybe help put your minds to rest about him allegedly being a good suspect in this case.
Darlene was in Reno at this time,( I believe) and she did go to visit Jim in San Francisco Feb 67. I don't have her divorce papers in front of me, so this date is just from memory. Her final was in April 67, and I believe he would have had to sign those papers. So it is doubtful that he was in Poway durring that time.

I will ask Pam if she had any relatives living in Poway in 1967. I do have Jim and Darlene living in Rosemead
( close to Riverside) in 1966. At least that is what he put on their papers.
His hair by the way was a light reddish brown not dark brown. He has blue eyes and is 5 ft 6 in tall.
Can not see with out his glass's.

I stayed in Poway in the mid 90's , nice small town not far from Riverside.
The idea that the killer let a boy witness live is amazing. So this would indicate to me, this guy wasn't living in Poway, or he was about to move right away. I think this because he didn't worry about the small boy , perhaps running into him again and yelling that's the killer ! If he planned on staying in Poway, he would have killed the boy as well, is what I think.

We had a young girl in Fairfield Ca. by the name of Nikki Campbell who was murdered and her killer has never been caught. Nikki looked exactly like my granddaughter ,and was about the same age.
My stalker followed her and my daughter to school one morning. He must have stayed until recess, because he walked up to my granddaughter and asked her if she knew a girl named Carol ? This was just months before Nikki was killed. It would have had to be after 1990 I think , because I went to the school and reported the man to the principle. I am pretty sure I showed them his picture, they seem to think he looked like a man who worked for the water dept here.


The numbers 555 are important to me because of another murder that took place behind the University of Berkeley early 90's. I had heard about the murder and wondered if I could find some clues ? On the trail to her murder there was a large sized monument dedicated to Admiral Nimitz, and the numbers on it were 555. Coincidence sure it could be just that , but then again maybe not ? Those numbers are important to me because my first born was 5-5-55. That was how I remembered seeing those numbers.

Oddly enough the same 555 was a code the police used for the Trailside murders 1979 - 81. According to a man I spoke to on the trail that day, he believed he saw the killer almost every day on the Nimitz trail. But as soon as the girl was killed the man never came back. The old man told me the man was a very mean man , because he went out of his way to bump into him, and almost knocked him over. This old man was in his late 80's and walked with a cane. So that told me the killer in this case stalked this victim as well.

The park police told me they felt that there were two killers working together. One was the look out, and the other did the killing. The old man told me what the man looked like, because I didn't bring the picture I had of my suspect with me that day ! He said he looked to be about 60 yrs old 5ft 10 or so, husky with brown /gray hair hair. I don't remember if he told me he saw glass"s or not .The killer was a chain smoker ,and had left a lot of cigarette butts at the crime scene. It looked as if he would return to that same spot often, because the cigarette buts were in different stages of decomposition.

Thanks S.P. you and I were typing at the same time.

Concerning when Jim Crabtree was in southern california /Mexico:


August 1966: Santa Barbara CA
Spring 1967: went possibly to Mexico
(Crabtree posted at Zee forum about his car: "the CAR was found in Tiajuana" so I presume that he might have been in Tiajuana, though he denied it and said he gave his car away to somone who was going there. But the police report stated that he told them he was in Mexico spring 1967)




From the old Zee forum:


August 1966: Santa Barbara CA

Jim Crabtree Posted: 26 Feb 2010 :

Have been to Santa Barbara... actually stopped there for a few weeks with Dee... worked at the Santa Barbara Star Free Press... covered the story of Jayne Mansfield's child getting mauled by a lion... more timeline goodies for you guys...


The "Mansfield's child getting mauled by a lion" happened AUG 1ST 1966, so JC was in Santa Barbara with Darlene at that time.


And in police report it was stated that Crabtree:
"after the divorce with Darlene in spring 1967, went to Mexico in spring 1967, stayed a few weeks and returned to San Francisco."

So this would have been right at the time of the Nikki Alexander Benedict which occured may 1st 1967, which is spring 1967

Spring 1967: went possibly to Mexico


Theforeigner posted . 27 Feb 2010

Concerning Darlene´s death

As I understand it from the police report you first got to know that Darlene had died/been killed, Feb 3rd 1970.
That is 7 months after her death.
According to the police report, you, after the divorce with Darlene in spring 1967, went to Mexico in spring 1967, stayed a few weeks and returened to San Francisco.
Then "Wandered around the country" and returned to San Francisco in Jan 1969 and met your comming wife.
In May she got pregnant and you both moved into a house in Santa Cruz, were you lived at the time the police first contatced you. (all this according to police report)
Now what I´m wondering about is; didn´t anyone you knew, and who knew you had been married to Darlene, tell you that she had been murdered?
I mean it was a very high profile case in the bayarea, were you lived, and two of the murders, Faraday and Jensen Dec 20, 1968 and Darlene Jul 4th, 1969, had been commited in the Vallejo area were Darlene lived.
Another thing I wonder about is; do you know why it took the police 7 months to get in contact with you? I´m asking because husbands and x-husbands are always the prime suspects in cases like Darlenes murder.

By the way, I may have missed it, but judging by the title of this thread its called " Benedict was by LE considered a Zodiac victim". I didnt see any definite information stating that she was considered a Zodiac suspect

I did confirm today....there WAS a sketch of a man in Nikki's case that DID look like the Zodiac sketch.

morf13 wrote:

I did confirm today....there WAS a sketch of a man in Nikki's case that DID look like the Zodiac sketch.

If this sketch does indeed prove to be a Zodiac lookalike then I think this is very important as it could more solidly link Zodiac to the Bates murder (and general activity in Southern CA). We have a tenuos link to the Bates murder through the letters but to have a girl murdered in the same way the day after he sent the letters and the guy matches the composite of Z is too much of a coincidence IMO.

It sounds like he wasn't lying when he said "there are far more down there".