Almost Trailside: A True Story (13 page)

Time has a way of working things out and eventually I was able to put that horrible tragic weekend and Dan Tanner’s haunting words aside.

Tommy heard of a campground not far away that was in the opposite direction of the Santa Cruz Mountains. I agreed to one night. Even though it was suppose to be a cold rainy weekend, I knew we would be cozy and warm in our travel trailer.

The campground was nice, nestled back into the East Bay hillside not too far from the freeway above Mission San Jose. It rained on and off but we didn’t care. We were comfortable as I knew we would be.

In between the rain drops, we went on walks and sat around the glowing campfire that Tommy enjoyed building. That little trip renewed my interest in camping. I began to feel more comfortable. I always loved nature and was happy that I could enjoy it again with my family.

Soon an unexpected opportunity presented itself. In the mail, we received an invitation to look at a membership campground. We had never heard of this concept before so we decided to investigate it.

The membership campground was just what we needed. The campgrounds were all over the United States and many within driving distance of our home. I was encouraged to enjoy camping again in this type of more secure and safer feeling membership camping environment…so we happily joined!

During the next ten years, we pulled our travel trailer all over California, Oregon, Washington, and Canada. We saw some of the most beautiful west coast country, from glistening oceans and sandy beaches to fishing ports, redwood forests, and quaint villages nestled deep within welcoming mountain towns.

We fished in rivers, lakes, and streams. Some of the fish were catch and release but others we cooked on our camp stove. We visited friends and relatives in various states and made some nice acquaintances along the way. We picked and ate wild berries, swam in lakes and swimming pools, caught lizards and crickets, and hiked through the most lush and verdant forests imaginable.

We bird watched, star gazed, and witnessed some of the most beautiful and brilliant sunsets that the west coast has to offer.

One of our favorite vacation spots was a small campground just south of Disneyland in Southern California. The campground featured a swimming pool and a little grocery store. Each camping space had a redwood picnic table and a small area of green grass. Every night, to our delight, the colorful fireworks from
Disneyland exploded over our heads. If we were out during the day enjoying the surrounding amenities, we always made certain we were back at our campsite in time for the fireworks display. Sometimes we would lie on top of the redwood table gazing up at the beautiful fireworks. We stayed at that campground a few times over the years, but eventually progress took the land and now our special place is part of the bigger larger Disneyland experience.

In various states and cities we discovered museums, architecture, restaurants, and gardens. We rode horse back, floated on river rafts, and fed wild squirrels and chipmunks. We rode ski lifts up to the highest mountain tops, and enjoyed river and lake ferry rides. Every trip was an adventure.

We went out in our travel trailer as often as possible always looking for new places to visit and discover. This type of safe camping environment gave our two young boys a sense of family, of nature, of travel, and some wonderful life-long memorable experiences.

We fondly called it “luxury camping”.

Chapter IX

W
ho is David Joseph Carpenter, better known as the Trailside Killer and rapist? What prompted him to kill and rape over and over again? Agents, officers, doctors, judges, and lawyers have been trying to figure him out for decades.

David Joseph Carpenter was born to Elwood and Frances Carpenter on May 6, 1930 in San Francisco, California. His parents lived in a modest house in the city. David had two siblings; one older half-brother who lived in another state and one younger sister.

As a child, David was physically and psychologically abused by his alcoholic father who beat him and neglected him and his near-blind domineering mother who beat him severely and repeatedly. He often went to school with bruises on his legs, black eyes, and visible welts. His parents forced him to take ballet lessons and piano lessons. Both parents told him he was worthless.

By the time David was seven, he was stuttering so badly he had a difficult time in school. His parents made him dress in fancy clothing. He was often ridiculed, which made him painfully reclusive. He took out his frustrations on animals by torturing them. He also wet the bed and exhibited other unusual behavior.

At age fourteen, David was committed to Napa State Hospital for sex offenses.

As David Carpenter grew into adolescence, he looked for opportunities to express his developing sex drive.

At age seventeen, David was arrested for molesting two of his young cousins, ages eight and three years old. He served one year in the California Youth Authority. When released, he became more predatory and continued offending until he got married.

In 1955, at the age of twenty-five, David Carpenter married nineteen year old Ellen Heattle, a union that produced three children within five years; one son and two daughters. David Carpenter’s wife reported that he had an enormous sexual appetite and had to have intercourse three times nightly.

David tried to control his demanding sex drive by subjecting his wife to his constant need but eventually he could not control himself. He had violent rages and prowled around looking for other women. Finally, his drive was so desperate that he resorted to outright violence.

In 1960, at age thirty, and one month after his third child was born, David Carpenter befriended a woman, Lois DeAndrade, and invited her to his home to meet his wife. One day he picked her up, but instead of taking her to work as promised, he drove to a wooded area of the Presidio in San Francisco pretending to be
lost. Then he grabbed her, straddled her, and used a clothesline to bind her. With a knife, he threatened her, stabbing her hand. When she resisted and tried to get away, he struck her six times in the head with a claw hammer. Prior to and during the incident, he lost his severe stutter. The victim described his speech as slow and deliberate in contrast to the way he usually talked.

This woman might have been David Carpenter's first murder victim but she was saved by a suspicious military patrol officer who heard her call for help. When the officer saw what was happening he commanded David Carpenter to stop. Carpenter shot at the officer but missed. The officer returned the fire, shooting Carpenter twice, once in the abdomen and once in the leg, and then arrested him.

The woman survived. David Carpenter claimed to have blacked out during the attack. He was charged with one count of assault with intent to commit murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

In 1961, in a U.S. Federal Court, because the offenses were committed on federal property, David Carpenter, age thirty, was sentenced to fourteen years in federal prison.

During this time, David Carpenter’s wife, who had put up with his temper tantrums and sexual demands, divorced him. She had just given birth to their third child several months earlier.

In the spring of 1969, David Carpenter, age thirty-nine, was freed after serving only nine years of his fourteen year sentence.

In August 1969, a few short months after his release from prison he married Helen. Although he attempted to lead a normal life, he could not control himself.

In January 1970, just five months after he remarried, David Carpenter attacked and tried to rape Cheryl Lynn Smith, by hitting her car with his to force her out of it, which he succeeded in doing. When she struggled against him, he stabbed her and ripped her clothes off but she managed to get away, get back in her car, and race away toward help. In the process, she was able to get David Carpenter’s license plate number.

That same day Carpenter broke into a home, kidnapped and raped Wilma Joyce, and stole her car.

Two days later, after the two attacks in Santa Cruz County, David Carpenter drove to the Sierras and continued to target women. In Calaveras County he continued his spree, holding Sharon O’Donnell hostage with a shotgun but she managed to escape while he was changing license plates.

A few days later, he stole a car from Lucille Davis, then kidnapped and raped Barbara, whose infant was present during the attack. Barbara remarked that David Carpenter was kind to her child. He was arrested that same day in February 1970, in Modesto, California.

While awaiting his trial, Carpenter conspired with four other inmates at the Calaveras County jail to break out and escape. Although they did escape by cutting through bars and going out the skylight, they didn't get very far and were captured a short time later.

David Carpenter was convicted of armed robbery, kidnapping, and auto theft, but not for any sex offenses due to a plea bargain. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

After his release in 1977, he was a suspect in the notorious
Zodiac Killer
murders, although handwriting samples, fingerprints, and DNA eventually cleared him.

T
he Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in northern California, and possibly Nevada, in the late l960’s and early 1970’s murdering victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco. The Zodiac murdered four men and three women, ages sixteen to twenty-nine, in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. The killer originated the name “Zodiac” in a series of taunting letters sent to San Francisco Bay Area newspapers in the form of cryptograms of which only one has been definitively solved. In August 1969, the Zodiac Killer sent letters to three Bay Area newspapers in which he took credit for recent murders. The letters also contained a cryptogram which the killer claimed contained his identity. He demanded that his letters be printed on each paper’s front page or he would cruise around all weekend killing people in the night until he ended up with a dozen victims. The Zodiac Killer kept San Francisco Bay Area police departments and news media busy with his threats of killing through letters, postcards, and telephone calls. He sent portions of the shirt tail of one of his murder victims to the police, said he planned to kill a bus full of school children, and threatened mass murder using a bomb. The Zodiac claimed a chilling thirty-seven murders in letters to the newspapers and police, but investigators agree on only seven confirmed victims, and five other suspected victims who were either shot and killed, stabbed to death, or abducted. To date, the Zodiac Killer’s identity remains unknown. The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969. The Zodiac Killer’s crimes, letters, and cryptograms to police and newspapers have inspired many movies, novels, and television productions
.

Late in 1977, David Carpenter was quickly returned to federal prison for violating his parole and sentenced to two more years.

In 1979, Carpenter was placed in a halfway house in San Francisco while awaiting parole but he was not listed as a sex offender, although he clearly was. Within three months time, the first trailside murder occurred.