Deputies hunt slayer of 2 campers (Murder at California beach an anti-Christian hate crime?)

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Aug. 21, 04 | Peter Fimrite

[churchillbuff]

The mysterious shooting deaths of two campers from the Midwest who planned to wed next month have prompted a massive manhunt on California's North Coast, where some residents in the Russian River area were terrified that a killer was on the loose. [snip]...[I]nvestigators were considering the possibility that they were killed in a hate crime against Christians because the pair were missionaries who spent the summer working as river guides at Rock-N-Water, a religious camp near Coloma in El Dorado County about 40 miles east of Sacramento. ...[snip]

[kezekiel]

[I]nvestigators were considering the possibility that they were killed in a hate crime against Christians

Wait a minute. Can I read that again??

...hate crime against Christians

My. In the Bay Area no less, they actually acknowledge that there is such a thing. I'm still rubbing my eyes in disbelief.

[kezekiel]

[I]nvestigators were considering the possibility that they were killed in a hate crime against Christians

Wait a minute. Can I read that again??

...hate crime against Christians

My. In the Bay Area no less, they actually acknowledge that there is such a thing. I'm still rubbing my eyes in disbelief.

[tubebender]

Do you have any local scuttlebutt on this murder. I think it happened at Jenner by the Sea???

[freebilly]

Yeah, it happened in Jenner. I've got a beach bar-b-que with a church's group planned out there on Sept 17th, too. I'm thinking I might move the party a few miles south to Bodega Bay....

[pacocat]

Very strange case. I've been following it on another board and the speculation has a wide range. They camped on a fairly isolated stretch of beach--it took a few days to find them. Doesn't seem like a rape/murder or a robbery, but possibly either 1) thrill kill ala Zodiac; 2) someone from the camp who knew them and followed them; 3) they might have stumbled upon an illicit crop earlier in the day.

The sound like nice kids.

[pacocat]

Sounded, I mean.

[churchillbuff]

they might have stumbled upon an illicit crop earlier in the day."""

I guess people do get murdered for stumbling over such "farms." Casualties of the drug war.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

4) Crime of passion? A jilted lover?

These two were about to be married. I would check on her recent relationships.

[HollywoodRepublican]

Or, in these gender-bewildered days, his previous relationships. But it sounds more random than that, at least so far. Poor kids.

[Mr. Jeeves]

It's got to be drugs. They inadvertently camped at a drop site, and someone killed them in their sleep rather than taking a chance they might wake up and see something they shouldn't.

Since the whole North Coast economy runs on marijuana farming, I think the risk of solo hiking and camping in the area is greater than the authorities care to let on.

[churchillbuff]

I think the risk of solo hiking and camping in the area is greater than the authorities care to let on.""

Good point. A friend who's an attorney in the Mendo area told me it's dangerous in the hills. This was the first time I'd heard anything like that - naive me. You're right, this isn't something the general public hears from the chambers of commerce and the tourist bureaus and even the police.

[pacocat]

Read in passing on another board that a man had been hacked to death in the area a few years ago--had walked into a patch of 'crop'.

I just hope it's not something like the Zodiac..and more to follow.

[SunnySide]

"But it sounds more random than that, at least so far. Poor kids."


I would NEVER camp in an isolated area this day in age, especially in California. Way too many whacko's and screwy druggies roam forest preserves and camp grounds. Remember that murder who killed the mother, daughter and her friend in some other California camp ground not too many years ago. We recently camped out and a mother was dropped off with her two small daughters to camp by themselves next to us. She got drunk on beer, by night fall she was loaded, loud and obnoxious. At 12 midnight she decided to go for a swim and she took the two little ones with her! Insane!

[tubebender]

LEO raided a "Medical Marijuana" Patch near Upper Lake on Clear Lake this week. Oh, did I tell you it was 22,000 plants...

[tubebender]

Here is the link to the story... Farm

[VOA]

Deputies hunt slayer of 2 campers (Murder at California beach an anti-Christian hate crime?)

Definitely a scary story...made the front page of The Los Angeles Times today.

When two folks get shot, nothing (obvious) is stolen and no sexual-assault involved...
now that is SCARY!

[HollywoodRepublican]

"Remember that murder who killed the mother, daughter and her friend in some other California camp ground not too many years ago."

Ah, yes, that was dreadful. And the victims in that case were in a cabin, not asleep outside -- purely random victims of a fame-seeking thrill killer.

[HitmanLV]

My instincts say this is more personal, maybe a spurned lover or something. This doesn't ring of 'hate crime' to me.

[Mr. Jeeves]

A lot of people who live in Northern California buy expensive houses and BMW's without having any obvious means to afford them. It isn't hard to do the math - drugs are a huge part of the local economy, and probably a significant factor in the tremendous rise in real estate prices here over the last thirty years (there aren't that many software stock-option millionaires). And if you get in the way of someone's income stream and threaten their ability to afford the California lifestyle they have become accustomed to, you die - like these kids did.