Criminology - The Fish Head Beach Murders

Episode Date: April 6, 2019

In 2004, Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall were a free-spirited couple who had their whole lives ahead of them. They had so much in common. They came from very religious families and their religion played a huge part in their lives. They had both graduated from a bible college which is where they met. They loved life and were extremely adventurous, choosing to hike, camp, and go white water rafting. Jason and Lindsay were set to marry but they were murdered before it took place. They were on one of their adventures up the coast of California when their bodies were found near Jennifer, Ca on a stretch known as fish head beach. There were suspects but their murders remained a mystery until 2017 when police held a press conference to announce they had arrested a suspect in the murders. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello everyone and welcome to episode 55 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, how are you doing this week? I'm a little bit under the weather, but I'm trying to muscle through it and get through it and get this episode out. All right. So you are going to be a team player.

you're going to power through. That's what you're saying. Powering through. Took some emergency and I'm going to try and fight it, fight it out. All right. To make sure that we get this criminology episode out to the audience. That's awesome. It's commendable. And how are you doing? What's, what's new with you? No, I'm, I'm doing great. My Kentucky Wildcats got beat in the NCAA tournament. So, you know, for me, that's kind of like the low time of the year when my wildcats are bounced from the tournament unless they win the whole thing. And then I'm, you know, on cloud nine. But that doesn't happen very often. So that'll give you more time to do some podcast stuff then.

Exactly. Less watching basketball, more podcasting. All right. We have some new Patreon supporters. So let's give some shoutouts. We had John Barkley, jump out. out at our highest level. Brandy Kouye, Alicia Kirkpatrick, Crystal Yazzie, and Adrian Houston. So a lot of new support there. We appreciate it. It goes a long way. You know,

more if you and I say it all the time towards helping us put out the podcast, helping us defray some of the costs of the podcast, all that good stuff. Yeah, we can't thank people enough for their support. And if anyone's interested in joining our Patreon, you can go to patreon.com slash criminology and sign up. Time is running out to register for CrimeCon. I mean, more if we're going to be there second week of end of first week, second week of June. If you want to go this June, right, come see Morph and I, Gibby, if you like those shows, and a whole bunch of other great true crime podcasters. There will be a bunch of them on podcast row.

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book, stickers, and more. and we'll give them to you in person at CrimeCon. So we hope to see you there. Okay. So we have all the early episode stuff out of the way. Let's dive right in. We're talking about the Fishhead Beach murders. This was nearly 15 years ago when a young, free-spirited Christian couple was shot to death in their sleeping bags on Fishhead Beach.

in Jenner, California. So like I said, the murders became known as the Fishhead Beach murders. You may also see them listed as the Jenner Beach murders. These senseless killings sparked outrage in the community, but it wasn't just that. They garnered national media attention. But the hunt for the killer lasted 13 years before this person was ultimately arrested in 2017. And in every case we talk about where, you know, someone is murdered, multiple people are murdered. All of the victims are important. You know, you feel for them,

you feel for the families and those connected to the murders. In the case that we're talking about today, especially tragic because the victims really were two great young people. And They were in love. They had their entire lives ahead of them. But their lives were cut short in a senseless act of violence. Jason Allen was born on May 16th, 1978 in Edison, New Jersey, to Robert and Dolores Allen. He had two sisters, Elizabeth and Vanessa. At the start of fifth grade, his family moved to Zeeland, Michigan, where he graduated from Zeeland High School in 1996. After high school, he attended Appalachian Bible College in Bradley, West Virginia. It was there that he met the love of his life, Lindsay Cutschall, before he graduated in 2001.

Lindsay Cutshaw was born on September 9, 1981, to Chris and Kathy Cutshaw in Cushaw, in Cushston, Ohio. Eventually, her family moved 11 miles northeast to Fresno, Ohio, where her father became pastor of Fresno Bible Church. Lindsay was homeschooled and earned her high school diploma in 2000. She chose to attend the Appalachian Bible College where she met Jason Allen before graduating in 2003. Jason and Lindsay were inseparable. Those who knew them referred to them as a couple who were made for each other. They shared a lot of interests.

I think first and foremost was their love of God and the Christian, ministry as children. Both Jason and Lindsay wanted to be missionaries, which they did as young adults. Lindsay went to South Africa and Jason to Grenada. And I think that's something. Morph. I mean, for me, as a kid, I wanted to be a policeman. I wanted to be an astronaut, things like that. I definitely was not thinking as a child about wanting to be a missionary. I really think it tells you a lot about these two kids. Yeah, I think that really says a lot about their character. These kids were good kids that their spirituality was important to them and their lives

were based on that. So after meeting in college, the couple spent a lot of time outdoors. They went backpacking. They went rafting down West Virginia's New River Gorge. And they weren't just rafting for fun. They became both of them class five rafting guy. So, you know, like we've talked about, you really can get a sense of, you know, not only what kind of couple Jason and Lindsay were, but who they were as individuals.

When you consider the fact that they both went across the world, they left their families to go on these missions to help other people. I have to reiterate it. It says a lot about their character. After Jason graduated college in 2001, he worked odd jobs to support himself and led Raft groups at various rivers across the U.S. He camped all over the country and at one time lived in a bus. And this bus had a TV, a couch, and even a kitchen. After Lindsay graduated from college, she chose not to live with Jason in the bus. Instead, she lived in a tent and stored her Honda Rebel motorcycle under a tarp.

Jason eventually settled in a nearby farmhouse to be close to Lindsay. In the winter of 2003, Jason went to Puerto Rico on a mission trip with a friend. He missed Lindsay and called her often. He decided he was going to propose to her in Fresno when he returned, and that's exactly what he did. He showed up at Lindsay's doorstep, carrying an orchid with an engagement ring in a box. Lindsay later told a friend of Jason's that Jason, who was known to be fearless and strong, was nervous when he proposed. Despite the missionary work and the couple strong faith, I think it's pretty clear to see that Jason and Lindsay still had this fun, adventurous side to both of them.

You know, they went camping. They rode motorcycles. In a lot of ways, they were like any other 20-year-old couple. Their engagement was a natural next step for them to take in their relationship. And they set a wedding date for September 11th, 2004. The wedding was going to take place at a farm belonging to one of Lindsay's father's parishioners, and it was going to be Lindsay's dad, Chris, that was going to officiate the wedding. But more if I have to go back, I just have to talk about the fact that September 11th,

2004 is somewhat strange, I think, to choose as a potential wedding date. Maybe being the kind of people they were, they wanted to honor them in some way by being married on that day. And that very well could be. That very well could be. I guess in my mind, I was thinking, man, that was such a tragedy to every year. And that's only three years after, right? 9-11, to every year have your anniversary fall on this historically tragic day.

To me, seems a little strange, but I actually think maybe you're right. Maybe they chose it to honor the victims, the people that lost their lives that day. The couple had planned a honeymoon on a beach in Costa Rica in November of 2004. But before that, right? So they were going to wait a couple of months to go on this honeymoon in between the time they got married and they were set to go on this honeymoon. They planned to live in a tent and they were going to live it up. They were going to go rafting in West Virginia. They were going to do all the things that they love to do together. So they had all of these amazing plans. But tragedy would strike. Before any of it would happen, before they would even get to their wedding day. In June 2004, Jason and Lindsay drove from Fresno, Ohio to Coloma, California to work as rafting guides at the Rock and Water Christian camp. Jason had worked at the camp five years earlier. On Friday, August 13th, the couple spent the day on the American River in an inflatable raft with children from the camp.

Afterwards, they met up with other guides for a mandatory safety debriefing. When the debriefing was over, the camp staff saw Jason and Lindsay sitting on the back of Jason's 1992 Red Ford Tempo. The car had a duct tape right front headlight and a kayak rack on top. The couple told people they were going away for the weekend to visit friends in San Francisco, which was about a two-hour drive from camp. This was the last weekend the couple had together before Lindsay was going home to plan their wedding. Lindsay packed a small cooler with food and ice and the couple left camp sometime between

6 p.m. and Jason and Lindsay left their checkbooks at the camp and took light camping gear. This was the last time the camp staff saw the couple alive. Two days later on Sunday, August 15, Kathy Cutshaw was waiting anxiously for a call from Lindsay. Lindsay called her mother every Sunday while she was out in California, they normally talked for about two hours. But this call never came. And Chris and Kathy both knew that something was wrong. For Lindsay to miss this regular call with her mother, that wasn't good. Back at the Rock and Water camp, the staff was also getting worried because Jason and

Lindsey had not returned from their weekend getaway. And even the staff at the camp knew that was not like Jason and Lindsay. These were two extremely responsible individuals. They were expected back at camp around 5 p.m. They never showed. Staff knew something was wrong. If they were supposed to be there by 5 p.m. Jason and Lindsay would be there. So the next day, camp leaders reported the couple missing at 3.50 p.m. to the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office. Lindsay's parents flew out on Tuesday, August 17th, followed by Jason's parents the next day, August 18th. All of the parents stayed with Craig Lomax, who was the owner and director of the camp, the Rock and Water Camp. Kathy Kutchall called a friend of Lindsay's who worked at the Ohio Bank that issued Lindsay's credit card.

Kathy wanted to know if the friend could help in any way to see if the friend could help her determine if there's any use on Lindsay's card. This friend was able to trace the couple's whereabouts through credit card receipts to San Francisco and discovered that Lindsay had made a $9 purchase of Tabasco sauce at Pier 47 at Fisherman's Wharf. The camp staff first searched for the couple in the Auburn area of the Sierra Nevada Foothills where Jason and Lindsay liked a camp. When they didn't find them there, they drove the San Francisco and handed out flyers at Fisherman's Wharf. On Wednesday, August 18th, a 17-year-old boy and his girlfriend were in Jenner, California, a long fishhead beach.

They were on a cliff, taking in the, the sights of the ocean and all of that. But this boy's girlfriend dropped her purse over the side of the cliff and he went to try to get it. The problem is he fell. What is estimated to be about 50 feet. Luckily, was able to grab on to the side of, you know, this rock cliff. But they had to call in a helicopter crew to rescue this boy and eventually they were able to. A paramedic attached to the helicopter by a hundred foot rope was lowered down to grab this boy. But it's during this rescue that the helicopter crew spotted two people on the beach, looked like they were laying in sleeping bags, but they were not responding at all to the noise of this helicopter.

And you know, morph especially where you live, helicopters are very noisy. Yeah, you're not going to just freeze and not move a muscle or blink an eyelash when helicopter goes over you, especially if you want to get up and see what's going on and why they're flying around. Yeah, and it wasn't like it just went by them, right? It's like hovering over top of them for a period of time. So the crew of the helicopter, they go to investigate. And what they find is a couple dead on Fishhead Beach about 20 yards from the surf.

So detectives are called into the scene. And you can see pictures of this part, this stretch of the beach, Fishhead Beach. It's pretty inaccessible. It's isolated, littered with large pieces of driftwood and tree trunks. The bodies were fully clothed, side by side, and zipped up tight in their respective sleeping bags. Nearby the two bodies was a Christian book, some wedding literature, some camping gear. They also found a couple of backpacks.

These two bodies were identified. later that day as Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshaw. Jason's Ford Tempo was found near the scene, parked on Highway 1, more than 200 feet above the beach. Police impounded the car, hoping to get evidence such as DNA and fingerprints. Police search the beach for items that may yield DNA such as hair and bodily fluids. Multiple people came forward to say that they had seen an out-of-place and distinct car parked near Jason's tempo. They described that as a late 80s, early 90s, early 90s sedan with peeling tin on the windows and a white decal of an evolving polywog or tadpole on the right rear window. Police, however,

were never able to track down this vehicle or its driver. An autopsy performed on Friday, August 20, 2004, concluded the couple was shot in their heads while in their sleeping bags. They were asleep when they were shot and died almost instantly. There were no signs of a sexual assault. trauma or robbery. The bodies have been on the beach for more than 24 hours when they were found. Murder suicide was rolled out because no weapon was found at the crime scene. The town of Jenner was on edge after the murders. One resident who spoke to the local news station a few days after the bodies were found said, it's crazy. In an hour, I'm going out to that exact spot where the murders took place for a seal watch. It's hard to imagine. It's hard to imagine.

that something like that could take place here. Another resident said, I was telling my boyfriend how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. Now we see this is a place where someone who camps on the beach gets shot. Sonoma County Sheriff's Office had 25 of its 40 detectives working the case. Photos retrieved from the couple's camera showed them in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, showed them at Alcatraz, and then after that, the couple headed north along the Sonoma Coast to Jenner, California. Detectives retraced the couple's steps and investigated 50 tips by people claiming to have seen the couple. On August 14th, Jason and Lindsay stopped for gas along Highway 116 in Gernville. The gas station attendant remembered Jason walking in and buying a few

items. The front desk manager at the Jenner Inn claimed Lindsay had called several days prior and booked a room, which she canceled the same day. The manager said that Jason and Lindsay showed up at the inn either Friday or Saturday night. The couple was told the inn was booked, so they said they would camp somewhere. The next morning, she saw the couple eating breakfast in the dining hall of the Jenner Inn. The manager was quoted as saying, I asked them if they were having fun. They said they stopped in San Francisco. They were just a happy couple trying to get away for the weekend. 20 miles away on Bodega Highway, a man said he saw Jason and Lindsay come into his surf shop in Bodega either Saturday or Sunday. Apparently, they asked him where they could camp for

free in the area. Ideally, they were looking for a spot they could hike to. Apparently, Jason relayed to the owner of the search shop that he and Lindsay were told by someone else to go up north to the beaches around Jenner. And the owner said that probably would be a good place to camp, but it's also illegal. Two other sightings occurred in Jenner, but these are disputed by the victim's families. In one siding, Bert Rangel, owner of a restaurant slash in called the River's End said he was absolutely sure. He saw the couple between 8.30 and 9.30 p.m. on Monday, August 16th. Bert said that the couple walked in, asked if there were any cabins available. But there was no vacancy. They were told this and the

couple left. So I think this is proof that the couple didn't have any specific plans. They didn't have a destination in mind. They just wanted to go have some fun and relax and didn't plan to go to the beach where they were killed. Yeah, I agree. It sounds to me like they were on an adventure, kind of a, maybe they had a general idea of where they were heading, but no particulars, right, mapped out ahead of time. They were going to go wherever the adventure took them.

Julie King, a part-time employee. at the cafe at the Jenner Inn, said she saw the couple outside the cafe on Tuesday, the 17th, one day before the bodies were found. The business was closed, and she said Jason was shouting something to the effect of, Open up in there, people are hungry out here. But the families and friends of Jason and Lindsay doubted the witness's sightings for a variety of reasons. One, the couple was supposed to be back at Rock and Water Camp by 5 p.m. on August 15th. Also, Rangel said Jason had a goatee at the time, but he actually didn't.

And furthermore, Jason and Lindsay would not have run out of room together before marriage due to their Christian values. And they had taken a vow of celibacy before marriage. They were also very frugal and would not have splurged on a cabin, motel room, or a meal at the cafe. Police were unable to find out where Jason and Lindsay stayed on Friday, August 13th. But they suspected that the couple camped somewhere. They also couldn't come up with an apparent motive in the killings. Police thought it was possible the couple had been killed because of their religious beliefs. And then later on, a theory emerged that perhaps someone assumed the couple was having sex in their tent and didn't approve of that behavior.

And as strange as that may say, seemed to a lot of people, a suspect would emerge in this case that would bolster that theory. On August 26, 2004, the Carroll-Sund Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in the couple's murder. And just two days after that, America's Most Wanted aired a segment on the couple's murders. And to me, more if this is huge, America's Most Wanted was a show that I watched every week. I think a lot of our listeners probably did. That was a big boom, right, to be profiled on America's Most Wanted because of the thousands

and thousands of tips that the show generated. It had a very big audience. And I think John Walsh did such a good job handling the cases. that they had on, that that had to make the families feel good that he was taking this case on and putting it out there for the country to see. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency? We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer.

For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved, until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC August. in 2020. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. On Tuesday, September 14, 2004, police issued a press release regarding the murder weapon. The press release read, we are releasing firearms information on this case. Ballistics information indicated that the weapon used was most likely a 45-calibre Marlin rifle. There are two specific models that match what we are looking for. A Marlin Model 1890,

94 rifle, lever action, chambered in 45 long cold, or a Marlin model 45, semi-automatic camp carbine, chambered in 45 ACP. So not to get too far into the weeds into guns, but, you know, people are going to hear 45-45, and it can get somewhat confusing. So 45 ACP, that's what most of us think as a 45. This is what you would shoot out of, let's say, in 1911, handgun, you know, something like that. There's a lot of guns chambered in 45. But the 45 long cold, that goes back to the 1800s.

I mean, we're talking about the Wild West, the gunslinger, six guns, as well as their lever action rifles. Now, it's still used today, but it's a very, very old cartridge. And I think to your point, Mike, the police also took that in consideration because they said that they're very unique in that caliber because they're not common in rifles. And there were fewer of these rifles manufactured than many other sporting or hunting rifles. Oh, and there's no doubt about that, right? 45 long-cult lever action type rifles. People don't buy a lot of those. They make them today.

But they're not sold in great numbers like the AR-15s, like, you know, other type of hunting rifles are. And the police probably thought that was something good because they'd have a very unique gun that they were looking for. Police also mentioned in the press release that the time frame for the deaths was believed to be from Saturday night, August 14th, to early Monday morning, August 16th. Two months later, then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in the murders. But months went by and police had no suspects. They didn't have a murder weapon by March of 2005. Police had confiscated about 100 rifles.

Each weapon was sent to the California. Department of Justice for ballistics testing, but no match was found. On top of that, police received over 900 tips. It was said that they filled eight black binders with reports on this case. Now, eventually, police became interested in two men. These were two men who claimed to have resentment towards Christians. But both of these men were checked out. by police and cleared of any involvement in the murders.

One of the men was a Sonoma County parolee who reportedly told a friend he had killed the couple after making them renounce their faith. But it turned out that this guy was in the Sonoma County jail on a parole violation at the time of the murders. So obviously there's no way that he could have done it. and he was ultimately killed in October of 2004 in an alleged robbery attempt. The second man was a drifter from Wisconsin. Locals in Jenner said a drifter was in town at the same time Jason and Lindsay were there.

One man in particular said he ran into the drifter and offered him a cigar. He also said there was a kid sleeping on a park bench that morning. Police stopped 21-year-old Nicholas Scarceff of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin in Fort Bragg, California. about 100 miles north of where the couple's bodies were found. Police never said why they pulled him over, but he wasn't arrested at the time and was let go. However, later on they believed he had information about the murders. They put out a nationwide alert for Scarcef, who turned himself in after discovering the police were looking for him.

Scarseth fit the drifter's description. He had a lengthy criminal record in Wisconsin, but the crimes ranged from retail theft, underage drinking to marijuana possession and criminal damage to property. He didn't have this big long history of violent crimes like murder. Scarces parents defended their son, said he was not a violent person. Police questioned him, but cleared him of any involvement in the murders when they discovered that he wasn't in Jenner at the time that the murders occurred, police also had to wonder if anyone back at the camp had anything to do with the murders. They went back,

they talked to camp members. They also talked to the kids who were on the rafting trip with Jason and Lindsay the day they left camp. They were hoping the kids maybe knew where the couple was going to stay overnight that night, but no one knew anything. Police were able to rule out the camp members in the murders. In 2006, police released publicly some evidence found at the crime scene, which included devil-like faces carved in driftwood, a distinctive beer bottle, and a DNA sample that they think may have come from the killer. The DNA sample was possibly still out of taken from the beer bottle, although police

didn't release that information. At some point, police discovered that the couple made entries into a visitor's journal that was kept in a small wooden hutch on Fishhead Beach. This hutch was in a makeshift shelter, which was referred to as the drift wood in by visitors to the beach. Visitors would have fun on the beach, whether it was camping, fishing, drinking, or whatever, then make an entry into the log. Lindsay's entry read, The sun is going down in the horizon. All I see is the beam shining on the cliff face, and I know that God is awesome. I look around and I see his creation all around me. Jason wrote, as I stir this mac and cheese, I think to myself, what a wonderful life. I've just spent two awesome days with my fiancé, Lindsay. Can life ever be so perfect? Only with a person

who is so great. God gives me this privilege in life, and he has given me a wonderful woman to enjoy it. While Jason's and Lindsay's entry into the journal were very normal and not very exciting, other entries in the logs seemed more sinister and bizarre. As each day passed, the trail grew colder, but then in 2009, almost five years after the murders, a possible lead emerged. 62-year-old Joseph Henry Burgess, a New Jersey native, was killed in a shootout with Sandival County, New Mexico deputies on July 16th, 2009. Prior to his death, a figure dubbed the Cookie Bandit was breaking into vacation cabins in that

area and stealing food and supplies. Sergeant Joe Harris and his partner, Deputy Teresa Moriarty, were conducting an undercover stakeout of a cabin when Burgess happened to store. storm in. He fired his gun first during a struggle with Harris, but then Harris shot back, killing Burgess, who died at the scene. Harris was shot in the groin and his partner, Teresa Moriarty, was uninjured. Joe Harris was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital where he died several hours later. We are disappointed that he was dead and that we can't actually talk to him. Now to a major development in the brutal murder of a missionary couple with ties to West Michigan,

Zeeland resident Jason Allen and his fiancé, Lindsay Cutsall, were found murdered on a remote Northern California Beach in the summer of 2004, still zipped up in their sleeping bags. Today, we are learning a person of interest in that case, a man known for years as the cookie burglar, Joseph Burgess, was shot and killed in a shootout with police. A New Mexico deputy also dying in that gunfight. Tonight, we're going to take a look at the man who eluded police for years and other crimes he is tied to. But we're going to begin with 24-hour news 8th's Brett Thomas, who's been following this story since it broke back in 2004. He's in the newsroom right now with Brian Sterling.

Brian? Yes, and Brett, in fact, flew out to Northern California in the days after the murders. And he stayed around for us this afternoon to report on this story. the police in California calling him not a suspect the person of interest, but certainly he fits the suspect profile almost to a T. Yeah, he fits that M.O. that they were looking for from day one when we were out in California looking to investigate this story. They said they were looking for a drifter.

That's exactly what this guy was. The problem here, though, is that the answers that Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutchell's parents may have been looking for might have died in the mountains of New Mexico. They weren't there to catch a killer. Just to nab a man only known as the cookie bandit, a person who was breaking in the cabins to steal supplies. A burglar, not a murderer. But a surveillance mission in the mountains of New Mexico

turned into a gunfight. In the end, a deputy and an unknown man lay dead. That man, police found as he investigated the scene, a suspect in the murders of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutchell. A five-year mystery perhaps solved. 62-year-old Joseph Burgess, a survivalist, a drifter, a man who fit the MO, police had developed half the decade ago.

They had reason to believe he could have done it. But was he ever in Northern California? There's no way to tell. On August 18, 2004, Jason and Lindsay were shot in their sleep as they camp beneath the stars. It was on this stretch of sand known as Fishhead Beach. The two shots were fired and two Christian counselors who were to wed were sentenced to death. By someone, for some unknown reason, the mystery perplexing investigators for all that time. Allen's parents marking each anniversary without resolution, but even if this is the man who took their son's life, the biggest question may never be resolved.

Even if they do determine that it was him, that's only half the mystery, because now that he's dead, you may never know exactly why he would have chosen to kill our children. Bob and Dolores are holding back hope, still skeptical. They've been down this road before. Will there be evidence for a definitive link? Where's that rifle? Police say the killer used. It wasn't with Burgess. Will there be a DNA match?

Evidence was found at the crime scene in California, but nobody knows for sure if it came from the person who pulled the trigger. There have been promising leads before, and there have been many hopes dashed. Now two families wait as investigators begin a daunting task. I take us through some of those other promising leads. I remember I recall a diary that was found with some ominous sketching in it. They released the evidence at one point.

in time looking for the particular gun. Take us through some of the developments over the years. Well, almost immediately, they were looking for a suspect who was from Wisconsin. He was a 21-year-old. He was a drifter. He fit kind of the M.O. He was in Jenner, California. They thought that was the guy. They found him. They questioned him. Wasn't it? As far as that book you're talking about, at the top of those hills there, where you go down to the beach, there's a sign-in book where you can just sign in and say, you know, I've been here before. They had people, they just had some writings in there like I am Spider-Man and some other writings that were kind of ominous to some pictures that were drawn in there. They wanted to know

who had drawn those pictures. Don't know if they ever found those people or not. And down on the beach, there are drawings down there that are very scary looking of skeletons and devil heads and that sort of thing. They were looking for people who, the person who put those on there. They thought maybe that could be the person who did it. Overall, there have been all sorts of leads. There have been suspects that have come and gone. There have been people who have wanted to take revenge on a friend or a boyfriend or a husband by saying that they did it. And so police investigate that. The Allen family gets phone calls, you know, relatively often, possibilities that are going on, but those don't pan out. Following Burgess's death, New Mexico authorities discovered he was

a fugitive, wanted in Canada. For the killing of Swedish exchange student, 19-year-old Leif Carlson and 20-year-old Canadian Ann Durant on a Vancouver Island beach in 1972. The couple was found shot to death in their tent. Burgess told the locals that he disapproved of young, unmarried Christian couples spending time together. After he killed the couple, he fled the country. Noticing the similarities between the Canadian killings and the General Beach killings, Canadian authorities contacted Sonoma County investigators, who traveled to New Mexico to obtain DNA from Burgess. They sent the DNA away to be analyzed.

When the results came back, Burgess's DNA did not match DNA found the scene of the Jenner Beach murders. Sonoma County authorities were once again in a standstill. This was really a letdown for police that thought they may have had their first big break in the case, and perhaps a solid suspect. Around the same time that Burgess was killed in 2009, internet sleuths after reading about details of the cut shop, Allen murders online, started looking at the possibility that the couple was murdered by a

long dormant killer. And specifically, they thought maybe it was Zodiac. The isolated beach location and the motiveless attack on a couple bore many similarities to the confirmed Lake Beriasa attack by Zodiac in September of 1969. In that attack, Brian Hartnell was badly wounded and Cecilia Shepard was killed. But it was an earlier 1963 attack in which Zodiac was a suspect that really mirrored the murders of Lindsay Cutchall and Jason Allen. Those were the murders of Robert Dominguez. and Linda Edwards. And you may recall all of this from morphine going into, you know, a lot of the

details in season one of criminology during our Zodiac coverage. In the Domingo's Edwards case, the young couple was shot to death on an isolated stretch of beach in Santa Barbara County, 400 miles south of Jenner by someone using a rifle. As in the case of Lindsay Cutshaw and Jason Allen, there was no sign of sexual assault or robbery in the Domingo's Edwards case. And in a bizarre similarity, near the Santa Barbara crime scene was a makeshift wooden shack. Zodiac was first suspected by many to have committed the murders of Domingos Edwards because of similarities between that attack and the Lake Barry S. attack. It's also rumored that there may have been physical evidence or even boot prints

that link to Santa Barbara and Lake Beresa crimes. But the issue here is that Lindsay and Jason were murdered. 30 years after Zodiac last met a letter, and over 40 years since Robert Dominguez and Linda Edwards were killed. So how likely would it be that Zodiac would still be prowling a beach looking for victims 30 years after his last letter? I guess for me more if it's a stretch, right? 30 years is a long time since his last letter, 40 years since Dominguez and Edwards were killed, does it seem likely that all of a sudden, Zodiac is going to, I don't want to say come out of retirement, that sounds strange, but just all of a sudden pop up, murder a couple, and then go back

into hiding. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think it's likely, but it is worth pointing out that Jenner is only about 65 miles northwest of Vallejo where Zodiac was most active. There was never enough to officially link Zodiac to the Cuttschall Allen murders, and he was never considered a serious suspect in the case. In August 2014, Jason and Lindsay's friends and family gathered on Fishhead Beach for a memorial service on the 10-year anniversary of their murders. Several Sonoma County Sheriff's Office detectives were also there. Jason's parents were unable to make the trip, but they sent a letter to be read aloud at the service. The Allen said that they would stand on the Lake Michigan shoreline in solidarity with

those who had traveled to California. Three years after this memorial service, a suspect emerged in the couple's 2004 murder. On March 24, 2017, 38-year-old Sean Gallen of Forestville, California, shot and killed his brother, Seamus Gallen, inside the family home. Seamus died instantly. And the mother reported the shooting to the sheriff's office. And Sean Gallen was arrested that very day at a local convenience store.

So he's arrested. He's in jail. A couple of months later. In early May 2017, Sonoma County Sheriff's Office had a press conference where they announced that Sean Gallen was a suspect in the 2004 deaths of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshaw. A break in a nearly 13-year-old cold case hitting close to Craig Lomax's heart. That mystery, just that lack of closure, has, always disturbed me. 26-year-old Jason Allen and 22-year-old Lindsay Cutschall

shot and killed in August 2004 while camping on the Jenner Coast. Their body still zipped inside their sleeping backs. Being really, really shocked that someone, you know, what kind of darkness could come upon this innocence? Sean Gallen now under arrest. Sonoma County Sheriff's detectives long considering the 38-year-old a person of interest, but it would take Gallen to be in custody for the murder of his own brother

to gather enough evidence and charge him in the Jenner murders. He had information about the killings that no other person could have known. Lomax knew the young couple as counselors in El Dorado County at Rock and Water Christian Camp in Lotus, telling us the murders happening just weeks before their wedding. Looking at his picture, there's a flash of anger, there's a flash of like, oh, but I think more it's really sorrow. Remembering Lindsay and Jason as avid rock climbers, river guides, backcountry leaders, and mentors. They're really, really special folks, very, very lovely people who were really serious about doing good things for other people,

really serious about their commitment to God and just fervent Christians. Justice now inching closer. approaching the 13th anniversary of their murders. The sheriff's office has identified Sean Gallen, a 38-year-old resident of Forestville as Jason and Lindsay's killer. Gallen was recently arrested for the murder of his brother in their Forestville home. Gallen is well known to Sheriff's Office investigators, and early on in the Jenner murder investigation,

Gowan was a person of interest and detectives never ruled him out as a possible suspect. Upon Gallen's arrest for the murder of his brother, Sheriff's Office detectives took another opportunity to talk to him about the murders in Jenner. Gallen made statements to the detectives with new information and additional investigative leads into the case. He had information about the killings that no other person could have known, and we have located evidence that cooperates his statement. Based on what detectives have have been able to learn, we feel confident that we have Jason and Lindsay's killer in custody. From the specifics of the statement and the leads that we're following up around the statement

aren't things that we're going to have to keep to ourselves right now. That'll eventually come out in court. Sheriff, what was the connection of Sean Gallen to the young couple? And what was the motive? Why did he allegedly kill him? We don't know any connection between Sean Gallin and Jason and Lindsay. And the motive is still something that we're working on today, verifying his statements and continuing to talk with him. And hopefully someday we'll be able to get the specific mother. Does Gowland have a violent? Go ahead, Julie.

Why was he initially a person of interest? We received over 1,200 tips on this case over the years, and we had gotten information from people in the community about him, and we're following up on those things from the beginning. What kind of information were they giving you about him? Those are details that I'd rather keep to us at this point as we go forward in the process. Can you say when he was arrested, sir? This gentleman right here.

Does Gellon have a violent criminal history? I'm forbidden by California law to release people's specific criminal history information. so I can't tell you that, but I assume that some of that will come out in court. Yes, sir. When you say that there was no connection between the victims and Sean, are you implying that this was a completely random crime that he stumbled upon them and committed the crime? We believe it is a random crime, and we are confident that there was no connection between them, yes. And more if I always think this is tough.

I mean, obviously the family has to be elated. that police have someone that they believe killed their loved ones, but I think at the same time they have to be guarded, wondering, you know, is this really the person or is this going to turn out to be just another one of those people that looked good on paper? But then, you know, the DNA comes back.

Something comes back and they find out, No, it's not the right person, and they're back to square one again. Sean Gallen had an active personal Facebook page right up until his arrest on March 24th, 2017. That day, he posted over 10 bizarre posts. It's clear by looking at his page how mentally unstable he truly was. The last selfie he uploaded to his page shows him holding a homemade weapon, and it's captioned with, check out this nice spear I made. He often used caps in his post and talked about rape fantasies,

weird conspiracy theories, and traveling to other worlds or planets. In May 2018, Sean Gallen was charged with killing Jason Allen and Lindsey Cutshaw in 2004. He'd already been charged with killing his brother Seamus. He had also been charged with the attempted murder. bombing of two individuals in Gernville on June 10th, 2004. In that case, Gowlin left a package containing a bomb on top of a Honda Accord that was parked outside a house. The man and woman that resided in this house, they were a couple, and it was the woman

that touched the package. and when she did, the bomb exploded, injuring her arm in hand. Now, police believe that the bomb was actually meant for the man that lived in the house. So, more if when you think about it, this guy, Sean Gowan, has been charged with a lot of carnage. Yeah, this guy really seemed to be one dangerous individual. And he had run-ins with the police and a history of bizarre behavior. On January 27, 2009, Gallen fired an arrow into a vehicle outside his apartment in Gernville, injuring a man inside. Police surrounded the apartment for 30 hours, but Gowland managed to escape.

He turned himself in March 5, 2009. On June 22nd, 2009, Gallon was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to three years in prison. His felony conviction prohibited Gallon from having firearms and ammunition. After he was charged in 2018, Gallen appeared in court but did not enter a plea in the murders of Lindsay Cutshaw or Jason Allen. Gallen pleaded not guilty to the bombing of the couple as well as murdering his brother. So we've talked about Sean Gallin. We heard some things in the press conference. We talked about the fact that he was arrested for killing his brother.

What we have not given yet is why police. believe he killed Jason and Lindsay. So while he was in custody, he hit their radar. We know that. They questioned him. It has been said by the sheriff's office that Gallin relayed information about the killings that no other person could have known. Now, we don't know what that is.

They're not going to release that information. they've also come out and said that after that, they found further corroborating evidence. So I think at this point, Morf, they feel the authorities do very good about Sean Gallin being the murderer of Jason and Lindsay. The problem is this hasn't gone to trial yet. So we don't know the outcome. We don't know all the minute details, the ins and outs. That's going to come later. We're going to have to follow this case.

And I'll be watching it closely, too, to see what comes out in the trial. And also, what's interesting is prosecutors in the case were weighing whether or not to seek the death penalty against Gallen. But now that there's a moratorium on the death penalty in California, that's off the table. So they don't have to make that decision more if that decision hasn't been made for them. I think the other thing that will be interesting as we're following this case. And I know everybody listening will probably follow it as well is to find out how his defense team approaches his defense. I'm talking specifically from the standpoint of what appears to be, I think you would agree more of some type of mental illness. I believe Sean Gallen is mentally ill in some former fashion.

Yeah, I tend to agree with that. He really had some bizarre behavior. And I wonder how that will be presented in court. Yeah, I think, you know, will they try to use that in their defense? But again, it's just another thing we're going to have to wait to find out. But that's it. That is the case of the fishhead. beach murders. Thanks goes out to Debbie Buck at truecrime diva.com for writing and research

assistance in this episode. Take a minute. Go out. Give us a five-star rating if you love the show. And I don't always talk about this, but you know, something else that's very important is telling your friends. You know, that helps other folks find the show as well, right? The ratings, the reviews, the posts on social media, but also telling your friends. If you like it, say, hey, check this out. Good old fashioned word of mouth. Exactly. And if you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at

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So we'll talk to you then. Take care, everyone.