The Trailside Killer

Welcome to Civics and Coffee. My name is Alycia and I am a self-professed history nerd. Each week, I am going to chat about a topic on U.S history and give you both the highlights and occasionally break down some of the complexities in history; and share stories you may not remember learning in high school. All in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee. 

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Hey everyone. Welcome back. 

Happy Halloween weekend. If you’ve been a long time listener, then you know how much of a super fan I am of the holiday. Every year I count down the days until the leaves turn crisp and the air feels just a bit chillier. And if you’ve been around for a while, then you also know I love to do a season appropriate episode every year around this time. And this year is no different. 

In the late 60s, one of California’s most notorious serial killers stalked his victims on deserted roads and secluded hideaways. The Zodiac, as he came to be known, has never been caught and his spree of crimes remain unsolved. Just over a decade later another man would also stalk his prey, this time using the serene backdrop of various California state parks to select his victims. 

Known as the Trailside Killer, David Carpenter attacked over a dozen people and was convicted of murdering seven. He remains the suspect in a series of other crimes, including a 1979 murder of a 23 year old Montana transplant thanks to DNA evidence. The story of Carpenter’s crime spree is both incredibly sad and terribly frustrating as many of his crimes could have been prevented. 

So this week, I am diving into the Trailside Murders. What happened? What is Carpenter’s link to the Zodiac? And how could his crimes have been prevented?

Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let’s do this. 

Before I begin, I want to extend my condolences to the loved ones of Carpenter’s victims. While Carpenter is sitting on death row, his actions forever altered the lives of those who knew and loved the numerous men and women he victimized. The story of Carpenter and his crimes, as I will share, is all the more tragic given his movements were permitted due to a bureaucratic mishap. I also want to put a trigger warning at the start of this episode for all my listeners out there. This is a story that involves sexual assault and extreme violence. Any younger audience members should skip this week and come back next time. And with that, let’s begin.

David Joseph Carpenter was born May 6th, 1930 in San Francisco. Growing up, he apparently suffered from a severe stutter and was heavily abused by his mother. Whether due to a troubled childhood or from some other mental defect, Carpenter seemed to get a sick sense of satisfaction at sexually assaulting others. His first charge was in 1947 when he was just 17 years old. The sources I found vary on what exactly he was incarcerated for; one article I read indicated he was accused of molesting a three year old girl. Another reference I saw stated Carpenter was jailed over assaulting two of his cousins. Either way, he served a year in a juvenile detention facility before being released to start his life over. 

His movements are unclear from the date of his release until 1955, when he got married and had three children. His next confirmed attack occurred in 1960 when he offered to give a woman a ride home. His target, Lois Rinna, is mother to famed hollywood actress Lisa Rinna who knew Carpenter through family and so she thought nothing of getting into his car when he offered to take her home. Once inside his vehicle, Carpenter drove down a secluded road in the Presidio and, once parked, began his attack. As Lois recalled years later, Carpenter was quote, “straddling me, and he had a hammer in one hand, a knife in the other” end quote. 

Carpenter swung at Lois several times, cutting her hands, before he was stopped by a military police officer who saw the car head toward an area of the Presidio that was not open for the public. Carpenter was arrested for attempted murder and was sentenced to prison, getting released after seven and a half years. Not everyone believed Carpenter was fully rehabilitated, as at least one psychiatrist who interviewed him felt he was prone to sexual violence when under duress and that it was a matter of when, not if, he would strike again. 

And strike again he did. On January 27, 1970, Carpenter sexually assaulted a 19 year old girl after apparently forcing her off the road when he struck her vehicle with his. This was followed by an attempted kidnapping of 35 year old Bonny Doon, when he invaded her home and held her at gunpoint. He briefly escaped custody with four other inmates in April, who may have used hacksaws to free themselves from the confines of their cell. This string of crimes apparently made him eligible for a lifetime sentence, but luck was on Carpenter's side and he served just under ten years. In an odd turn of events for which I could find no rationale, Carpenter served 7 years in state prison before being transferred to federal custody to serve out the remainder of his sentence. 

His transfer to a federal facility had devastating consequences as it prevented his name from being listed on California’s sex offender registry upon his release. The registry, which was established in 1947, was the first in the nation and seeks to provide the public with information about potentially dangerous individuals in their area. Because Carpenter was in federal custody when he was released, his name was not included on the state list of offenders recently released to a halfway house in the tenderloin in 1979. His next attack would come just three months later. 

The next victim was Edda Kane. The 44 year old was hiking along Mount Tamalpais when she encountered Carpenter. The details of their interaction remain scarce, but she was shot in the back of the head with a .44 caliber gun. Her naked body was discovered on August 29, 1979 in a kneeling position, buried in a shallow grave along a secluded part of the trail. Just a few months later, in March of 1980, another body was discovered on the same trail. This time it was 23 year old Barbara Schwartz. Like Kane, Schwartz was discovered in a kneeling position. Unlike Kane, however, Schwartz was repeatedly stabbed, suffering over twenty wounds to her chest. 

His next series of victims were all discovered along the same Point Reyes Park trail in November 1980. 22 year old Diana O’Connell was visiting from New York when she went missing while hiking the state park. 26 year old Anne Alderson also went missing in the area, followed by 19 year old Coast Guard Trainee Richard Stowers and his fiance Cynthia Moreland, who went missing on October 11th. They were discovered along with 25 year old Shuana May, when she was reported missing by friends after missing a planned hike. 

The discovery of four bodies in the same park brought increased attention as the local press and perhaps even law enforcement may have wondered whether the Zodiac was back. The serial killer had been dormant for over a decade at this point, but his memory remained fresh in the minds of bay area residents and the murders were similar in nature. The one main difference between them was the sexual assaults. Authorities responded by placing signs along bay area trails warning women against hiking alone. Law enforcement also stopped cars heading off toward Mount Tamalpais, warning them of the dangers of hiking the popular tourist destination. The publicity only seemed to further complicate the investigation, as a man who claimed to be the Trailside Killer contacted the local television station KRON over a dozen times, stating he suffered from auditory hallucinations and made promises to turn himself in at UC Berkeley. He never appeared. Several psychologists also attempted to aid the police in their investigation by providing a profile of the suspect, however their assertions proved incorrect and only served to delay the investigation further. 

As 1980 turned into 1981, Northern California remained on guard, anxiously awaiting news that the person responsible for the murders had been apprehended or another body discovered. Unfortunately, Carpenter was still at large and struck again on March 29th, this time at the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz. Twenty year old Ellen Hanson was hiking with boyfriend Steve Haertle when they came across Carpenter, who was walking alone along the same path, headed in the opposite direction. As Santa Cruz was nearly a hundred miles away from Mount Tam, the couple likely didn’t realize the amount of danger they were in as they tried to enjoy the beauty of the area. Unfortunately, when they crossed paths with Carpenter a second time, they soon learned just who was on the trail.

Upon seeing the couple again, Carpenter pulled a gun. Ellen sensed death was near, making a comment to her boyfriend that the man before them was going to shoot them no matter what they did. Carpenter, perhaps trying to put his intended victims into a false sense of security, claimed he was not going to kill them. He just wanted to rape Ellen. She refused. Carpenter then shot at the couple four times, killing Ellen and hitting Steve in the neck and causing him to pass out. When he awoke, he ran as quickly as he could to an observation deck for help. Somehow, Carpenter was still in the area and noticed Steve’s movement and began to follow the 21 year old hoping to finish the job. Luckily for Haertle, there were several people around and he was able to point to Carpenter as the man who attacked him. 

Despite these witnesses, Carpenter managed to escape again and would take one more life before he was finally apprehended. His final victim was 20 year old Heather Scaggs who was attending the Hayward Trade School where Carpenter worked as a printer. According to Scaggs’ mother and boyfriend, Carpenter offered to give Heather a ride to Santa Cruz to help her get a job and buy a used car. He told Heather to bring cash and not to tell anyone which made her boyfriend rather suspicious. Given the murders were primetime news, Scaggs was likely nervous of taking the stranger up on his offer, even calling her mother the night before her disappearance in tears stating she did not want to go. 

Her mother pleaded with her to miss the meeting, but Heather felt she could not pass up the potential job opportunity and dismissed her fears as paranoia. She was discovered May 24th in Big Basin State Park, raped and shot in the face. But, with a living witness, law enforcement officers managed to draw up a composite of their suspect. The drawing prompted an older woman to contact the police and suggest they look into a man she’d been on a cruise with nearly three decades earlier: David Carpenter. 

He was taken into custody on May 14, 1981 by San Jose Police. When questioned, Carpenter claimed he overslept and never met up with Heather. However, the officers noticed the man sitting before them held a striking resemblance to the sketch of their suspect, despite the fact that he had recently made changes to his appearance by growing a new beard and removing his glasses. He was quickly arrested and put into a lineup, where he was identified by Steven Haertle and seven others. 

After his arrest and charge, police discovered a .38 caliber handgun at a San Francisco construction site that traced back to Carpenter and was the same caliber weapon used to murder most of his victims. On parole when he was arrested, Carpenter was suspected by authorities, however his parole officer considered him to be a model parolee. Even the U.S. Parole Commissioner stated after his arrest that Carpenter had quote: “done everything you could ask anyone to do in terms of complying with his parole supervision,” end quote. Due to his crimes occuring in separate jurisdictions, Carpenter faced two sets of trials: one for his marin county murders and one for those committed in Santa Cruz. 

Given the pervasive media attention of the crimes, Carpenter’s trials were moved south. He was tried for his Santa Cruz County crimes first, heading to court in Los Angeles in 1984 before facing trial again in 1988 in San Diego for the crimes committed in Marin. He was convicted both times and sentenced to death. At 93 years old, Carpenter is the oldest member of San Quentin’s death row. California is currently under a capital punishment moratorium and so it remains unknown when or if Carpenter will be put to death for his crimes. 

Since his incarceration, Carpenter has been tied to at least one additional slaying. In 2010, DNA evidence linked Carpenter to the murder of Mary Frances Bennett. The 23 year old was discovered on October 21, 1979 near the Palace of the Legion of Honor at Lands End and suffered nearly thirty stab wounds. A Montana native who had recently moved to the area for an internship at an accounting firm, Bennett was likely attacked while jogging around the area. 

Carpenter maintains his innocence of all crimes despite the overwhelming evidence against him. Those who have visited him describe him as a narcissist who shows no remorse for the havoc he caused. Convicted of attempted murder in 1960, there are many who are justifiably angry that Carpenter was ever released, let alone after a second conviction of kidnapping shortly after his first release. David Joseph Carpenter stands convicted of murder, rape, attempted rape, and robbery, in addition to his previous charges. 

Operating just after the Zodiac, Carpenter’s description was eerily similar to the uncaught killer. Authorities even briefly considered Carpenter as a potential Zodiac suspect, before dismissing him due to his incarceration. 

A man who was in and out of jail or prison for a majority of his life, there is a solid argument to be made that Carpenter should have never been free to murder seven people in the span of eight months and that the parole board failed to understand the danger he posed to society. Regardless of the failures of the justice system, whether real or perceived, ultimately the fault lies completely with the man responsible for murdering ten people. At 93, Carpenter will likely die in San Quentin and will never be able to hurt anyone else ever again. 

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Thanks, peeps. Have a safe and happy halloween. I’ll see you next week. 

Thanks for tuning and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Civics & Coffee. If you want to hear more small snippets from american history, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening and I look forward to our next cup of coffee together. 

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