Criminology - The Orange County Killer

Episode Date: May 19, 2018

We start off this episode by giving an update on the 2nd court appearance of the suspect Joseph J DeAngelo. Then we continue with the murders committed by the East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer. He strikes next in Orange County murdering a young couple named Keith and Patrice Harrington. We go into their backgrounds and the details of this horrific murder. Then, staying in Orange County, the EAR/ONS/GSK murders a 28-year-old woman named Manuela Witthuhn. The authorities in Southern California discovered that they have a serial killer on their hands. This killer would be dubbed the Night Stalker. This is the original Night Stalker, committing his murders before Richard Ramirez. You can help support the show by going to patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. I'd like to welcome everyone to episode 13, season two of criminology. Now, we've talked about it. We originally said that this season would be 12 episodes, but that is before everything happened with the arrest. We're going to go two or three episodes longer to wrap everything up. But even then, it won't be wrapped up.

But we will move on to another case and then we'll come back periodically and give updates as we're able to interview some of the people that you've heard from this season. They are just so busy right now and everything is happening so quickly that we're going to have to come back later with that information. All right, Morf, let's do a quick update on the East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer Suspect, Joseph J. DeAngelo. He appeared in court on May 14th, and this time he was not seated in a wheelchair like he was in his first court appearance, but he was standing in one of those cages that you see on TV sometimes that they have in certain courtrooms. And you and I made a big deal about his appearance, the way that he was acting in that first court appearance. It was, to me, I thought it was a show. I don't know what you thought about it more. Yeah, there's a lot of speculation that possibly he was medicated, that he might have been suicidal.

So it's been one of those things where we don't really know why it was like that. But a lot of people were outraged by it. They really thought that he was putting on. a show and looking for sympathy. So it was refreshing to see him standing up and being coherent. Yeah, so I was going to say, what did you think about this courtroom appearance as opposed to his first? I was disappointed that they didn't allow cameras in.

You know, all we have are those illustrations of him standing there. But just to know that he was standing up and, you know, maybe it's sunk in that he is where he is, maybe he's getting back to being a little bit normal and he's going to stand up and face everybody and be accountable for what he did. I hope you're right. And I know that's what everybody wants to happen. But I just don't know if it is. I just don't.

So this court appearance had to do with whether or not the warrants surrounding the case will be sealed or unsealed. Yeah. And the press mostly is responsible. for fighting to get those warrants unsealed. They want to know what the warrants contain, and obviously so do we. We want to share it with everybody,

so hopefully they will unseal those warrants. But the defense is arguing that the warrants being unsealed may harm The Angela's defense. And as I just mentioned, there were no cameras allowed in the courtroom for that proceeding. And moving forward, they may or may not be allowed in the court

if it gets to trial. But hopefully we'll be able to see what's going on in the courtroom, and that's probably going to be one of the biggest trials in California history. I don't know what you think, Mike. No, I think if it gets that far, it will be. It'll be one of them, right? It's going to be hard to outdo OJ. That was a big trial, but not having cameras in the courtroom, I think for the public would be devastating, because I do believe this trial, if televised, would be like the trial of OJ Simpson. I think this would be appointment television. People would be finding ways

to camp out on their couch to follow this case as much as they can. And who knows, maybe he'll take a plea deal before then and then he'll just put stuff on paper and confess to a bunch of stuff and it'll be anticlimactic. And one thing we know for sure, we're working on an episode that will come out before the end of the season where we really, dive into the arrest of DeAngelo, the timeline, and so much more. You know, his background, more than we've been able to share so far. So definitely keep an eye out for that. And one thing we want to do is follow up, I think, on what Mike mentioned earlier,

is to do a follow up with everybody that we've talked to this season, some of the different victims and the investigators that we spoke to, and you see what their reactions are to the arrest. and to see how surprised they are with the suspect, Joseph DeAngelo. And, you know, we're excited to talk to those people again and just see the excitement that they have. I don't know about you, Mike, but that's something that I'm looking forward to personally. Yeah, big interest for me to go back and revisit and talk with as many of the people that we interviewed more as we can just to hear what they have to say about this information that's come out. So we've had a lot of people that have emailed us, talked to us on social media, left voicemails,

and they want to know if we're going to have more Paul Holes on. And of course we are. We have extended Paul Holes interview material that we did that we plan to plan in the last couple episodes of the season. But now we also want to do a follow up with Paul Holes, who's probably the busiest guy in the world right now, following his retirement and the Golden State killer suspect being arrested that he had a big hand in. So we're going to try and catch up with him and try and make it happen by the end of the season to have him on once again to see what his reaction is. And you know more if we have hours and hours of interviews with all of these different people, much more than we could fit into the episodes. So we're going to be putting a lot of that on Patreon as we move forward.

So a lot of people have been emailing us and reaching out to us wanting to know more about the case, things that they don't. understand that we've covered this season, some of the new developments, just unanswered questions that they don't feel they fully understand up to this point, which is, it's a big case, so it's perfectly understandable. So one thing we wanted to invite them to do is to call into our voicemail, and you can reach us by calling 661-77 crime and leave your questions with your name, and we'll try and answer them on the air for you. All right, Morp, real quick, Let's give out shoutouts to our new Patreon supporters. We had Nancy Perrin, Andrew Parker, William Ricketts, Jennifer Hardwick jumped out at our highest level, Amanda Hopkins, Christopher Vincent, Tara Norley, Shepard Fargo Stein, and I hope I pronounce that right, Peter Sundberg, Adam Luke Payett, Linay Trustee, Lynette Burnes, Justin Swartz, Justin Swartz, and, and I hope I pronounce that right.

Peter Sunberg, Adam Luke Payett, Linnae Trusty, Lynette Burns, Justin Swartz, and Jen Maderos. And Jen is a big supporter of true crime all time, so much appreciated. But big shout out and a lot of appreciation for our new Patreon supporters as well as the ones that have stuck with us since we started the Patreon. it really helps Morf and I to not only put out this season, but as we get into season three, the research, everything that goes into that, it is a huge help. Each episode, when you read those names for Patreon supporters, it just blows me away that people are willing to help us and support us

and want to see the show move forward. So, again, thanks. It's much appreciated. And I just wanted to make one small correction from episode 12, from our Patreon shoutouts. One of our original supporters from the beginning of criminology was Corah Cahana, and we mispronounced her name as Corey. She's one of our biggest supporters, so we just wanted to get that right and tell her big thanks,

and that her and the rest of the Gallagher girls rock. We just wanted to remind you about our Zodiac book that's coming out based on season one of criminology. The book is Criminology True Crime Podcast Presents the Case of the Zodiac Killer. It's available through Wild Blue Press, and you can find out more details by going to Wildbluepress.com slash Zodiac Preorders, or you can find it on Amazon. All right. Let's do a quick recap of episode 12. We discussed in-depth the March 1980 murders in Ventura County of Lyman and Charlene Smith.

This killer went on to be dubbed the Diamond-Not Killer due to the distinct bindings he used on the couple. We also heard from Lyman's daughter Jennifer and she recounted for us how the family learned of the murders and how the investigation affected them afterwards. And we've received a lot of positive responses on social media about our discussion with Jennifer. And people were thankful that they got to hear from her. It was really a chance for someone to speak on the Smith's behalf since they are not able to speak for themselves. And we did the same thing earlier this season when we spoke with Katie Majori's brother when we discussed her murder and the murder of her husband Brian Majori in 1978.

People have really appreciated hearing from the survivors of some of these attacks, and that's something we really wanted to do this season, was give them a voice so that they could speak for the victims. When we dedicated this season to the victims and their families, that was important to us. And I think we should point out that we reached out to family and friends of all of the victims of the East Area Rapist Golden State Killer and invited them to join us this season to speak for their loved ones. But unfortunately, a couple of those families declined. As it turns out, those will be the two cases we'll be talking about today. So jumping into these cases, the first one takes place in Dana Point in Orange County, about 130 miles southeast of the Ventura murders of the Smith.

It's sometimes said that these murders occurred in Laguna Nigel, which is located in the San Joaquin Hills in the extreme southeastern part of Orange County, California, about 60 miles northwest of San Diego. But they really occurred in Dana Point, which is further south, essentially Oceanside, whereas Laguna deGel is a bit further inland. And Dana Point is a pretty affluent neighborhood with lots of upscale homes, the kind of place you would expect to see gated communities. And as it turns out, that's exactly where this case takes place. The most frustrating thing, the family says, is not knowing why. Keith and Patty Harrington were bludgeon to death in their bed a month ago.

Now their discouraged family is offering a $25,000 reward for any information, no matter how small, leading to the couple's slayers. Detectives say they are out of clues and can't even determine a motive for the murders. At their suggestion, family members pooled their resources and announced the reward Thursday. Patty Harrington's parents and Keith Harrington's three brothers and his father, who discovered the body of the young man and his bride, held an informal press conference Thursday, where they described the victims as a likable pair working and studying hard to get ahead, said Brother Bruce 36, a corporate attorney, quote, they were excellent students, excellent people. They were warm, compassionate. You get numb. We're just now coming out of the numbness. Right now it's a real mystery to us, and a frustrating mystery.

We cannot think of an enemy. We cannot think of a motive, unquote. Keith Harrington was a fourth-year student at UCI Medical School and was beginning to search for a hospital where he could serve his internship. In 1977, he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCI's undergraduate program. Patty Harrington married him four months ago, a former pediatrics nurse at UCI Medical Center. She was working at the time of her death through a nursing registry. He was 24. She was 27. They were slain sometime in the evening of Tuesday, August 19th, or Wednesday morning, August 20th, in the home of Keith's father, Roger Harrington, at 33381 Cockleshell Drive, Nigel Shores, an exclusive guarded community north of Dana Point.

Roger Harrington, who spends most of his nights at his condominium in Long Beach, came home to Cockleshell Drive the night of August 22nd and discovered the bodies. Sheriff's detective say nothing was taken from the house. There was no forced entry. There were no signs of resistance. It was as if they're killer, or killers, slipped in with only one simple intention. Murder. Said Bruce Harrington, quote,

This is one of those things you think will never happen to you. It did happen to us, and we don't know why. the message we have is it can happen to you and for no apparent motive. Cherish what you got because we lost a lot, unquote. Keith and Patty Harrington met only a year ago while both were working at the UCI Medical Center in Orange. She was raised traveling. Her father, Francis Briscoe, was in the Air Force for 29 years. Now he is an attorney and lives in Huntington Beach with his wife, Rita.

Keith Harrington was a product of Southern California. He went to high school in Pacific Palisades after growing up in West Los Angeles. Both were what Bruce Harrington called future leaders and outstanding kids. Brother Ron Harrington, 33, is a Newport Beach lawyer and a former prosecutor, and brother Doug Harrington, 30, is a clinical psychologist. Their father manufactures surveillance cameras, primarily for use in banks. The family has deposited the $25,000 in a California federal savings and loan account, and a 24-hour hotline phone number, 8343,000, has been set up by the Sheriff's Department.

Distribution of the reward money will be determined by the family on the basis of value of information provided. Bruce Harrington said all calls will remain confidential. Quote, maybe somebody has seen something. Even the tiniest bit of information, we ask people to bring it forward. That article you just heard was published in the September 19th, 1980, Santa Ana Orange County Register. And it was in reference to the August 19th, 1980 murders of newlywoods Keith and Patrice Harrington. You can probably tell from some of the quotes in that article that the family of the victims were at a loss to find answers in the shocking and senseless murders of the two new Louiswoods. Keith and Patrice, or Patty, as she was known to her friends and family, were good people with a bright future.

And their murders happened in an area where violent crimes were almost non-existent. Keith 24 and Patty 28 had gotten married in May of 1980 in Orange County. Keith grew up in Los Angeles was the youngest. of four children, all boys, and was close with his older brothers. The family, by all accounts, were go-getters and worked hard for their successes. Keith was no exception. He wanted to be a doctor, and following college at the University of Irvine, Keith got into medical school at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. He was seeking his residency in emergency room medicine. Keith was quite athletic, an avid jogger. He ran five to six miles a day. He was also into skiing and sailing,

and he drove a sporty orange 1970 M.G. Patty Harrington had been raised in an Air Force family and had traveled frequently growing up. She had previously worked as a pediatric nurse, and at the time of her murder, worked on call for a nursing registry. She had met Keith while working at the UCI Medical Center. Like Keith, Patty was active too and enjoyed roller skating and jogging. In the month leading up to her murder, Patty had taken a calligraphy course and just prior to the murders had started taking an aerobics class. Keith's father, Roger Harrington, owned multiple homes and allowed Keith and Patty to live rent-free in one of these homes until they got their feet on the ground following their marriage. The home they lived in was at 333,81,

Cockle Shell Drive, and Dana Point. The home was just over five years old and was in a gated and guarded community known as Nigel Shores. Keith and Patty were a young, successful, and happy couple that seemed to have a beautiful future ahead of them and didn't have an enemy in the world. But on August 19th, 1980,

their lives were cut short, leaving their families and investigators to ask why. On that day, at around five, P.m., Keith arrived home from work and was pleasantly surprised to see his father Roger there talking to Patty. Roger had been there all day installing a sprinkler system. Patty, who had worked the overnight shift, was very tired and was asleep in bed most of the day. At 2 p.m., Roger ran out to get sprinkler parts while Patty was asleep. He came back at around four and found Patty awake reading a book. She seemed fine, only mentioning that she was really tired. At five, when Keith arrived home, the three of them

talked for a while, and Roger mentioned to the young couple that his coffee pot at home was broken and that he was going to have to replace it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Roger. He left around 6 p.m. and headed back to his home. The events later that day would be partially determined through the investigation. But the next person known to have contact with the pair was Patty's sister who called at 11 p.m. Keith answered the phone and according to Patty's sister, he sounded sleepy. He passed the phone over to Patty and the two sisters spoke for about five minutes. Patty told her sister that she was tired and had to go to sleep because she was expecting

a call from the nursing registry at 5 a.m. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Patty's sister and they ended their call. The next day, Wednesday, August 20th, Keith and Patty were set to have dinner at 7 p.m. with Keith's father, along with family and friends at Rogers' home. They didn't show. And that was very unusual for the couple. But Roger and his company went on with dinner. But the next day, Thursday, August 21st, as dinner time approached,

Roger still had not heard from either Keith or Patty, and he decided to drive to their home to check on them. He arrived at their home around 6.30 p.m. And when he got there, he noticed that their mailbox was packed with what looked like more than one day's worth of mail. He saw that both Keith and Patty's cars were still in the garage. Roger tried to enter the front door, but found that it was locked. He walked around to the back of the home, tried to enter through a sliding glass door, but found that locked as well.

Using an extra key, Roger Harrington let himself into the house. The home was very stuffy and hot, and Roger opened a window to circulate some fresh air. There were no lights on. In the kitchen, on top of the counter was a new Mr. Coffee brand glass pot still in the package. Roger immediately thought of Patty and that she likely had run right out and bought a coffee pot for him. him after he had told them that his was broken. That's the kind of person she was. Nearby, a grocery bag sat on the counter.

The home was quiet. Roger walked slowly down the hallway to the bedroom that the young couple slept in, which was not the home's master bedroom. They preferred a smaller bedroom on the southeast side of the home. Roger peaked into the bedroom, but it was just as dark as the rest of the house. The bedroom's window shutters were closed. As Roger made his way to the bed, he could see the outline of two bodies lying covered by a comforter. He slowly pulled back the comforter and found his son Keith dead in the bed.

Patty was lying next to Keith and she was also dead. Roger raced from the room horrified at what he had found and used one of the home's two phones to call one of his other sons. Roger was devastated upon finding the bodies and his son urged him to call police and after hanging up with his son he immediately called the police the police arrived within minutes detectives were called in for what was obviously

a case of double murder the immediate cause of death for Keith and Patty appeared to be bludgeoning both had severe head wounds and it appeared that the blows to Patty were savage there was no sign of a weapon near the bodies The bodies were lying face down on the bed. The comforter that covered the bodies had been pulled up over the heads of the victims,

which minimized blood spatter. But there was a small amount of spatter on the headboard and the wall. Both of the victim's heads were on pillows, their faces looking away from the center of the bed, away from each other. They were both found with various pieces of jewelry on, including wedding bands, earrings, and necklaces. Police noticed that the victim's hands were positioned behind them as if they had been bound, but they were not found with any bindings on.

After examining their wrists, authorities found the telltale signs that their wrists had been bound. So they knew that the killer had removed the bindings before leaving the scene. They did, however, find three pieces of brown mouth. Acrimate type cord. A coroner would later determine that both victims had died as a result of massive head trauma caused by a blunt object. Their time of death was estimated to be sometime during the evening two days earlier on August 19th. Police would later find out that Patty's sister had talked to Patty and Keith at around 11 p.m. that night, so they theorize that the murderer or murderers attacked them soon after.

The coroner also concluded that Patty had been raped. They collected physical and biological evidence, including semen. At the time, they were able to determine that the semen samples belonged to two different men. But it wouldn't be until years later that DNA technology linked one of the samples, the smaller of the two, to Keith. The larger sample belonged to the killer. The killer's DNA sample would also be linked to other crimes years later. Police turn their attention to the rest of the house looking for clues. Keith's home office was a mess and police thought that it may have been ransacked, but people that knew Keith told investigators that, now, this was not out of the ordinary.

There were no signs of robbery and no signs of forced entry. Both patties and Keith's cars were found undisturbed in the garage. In the kitchen, investigators found a single burned wood match. One of the victims had a lock of their hair cut off and it was found on the entryway floor. Unfortunately, the police reports don't specify whether the lock of hair came from Keith or Patty. It's just speculation on my part, Mike, but the lock of hair may have been a momento taken by the killer and possibly dropped on his way out of the house. No, and I think that would make sense, Morp. We know that a lot of serial killers take trophies, take souvenirs, why else would you cut hair from one of the victims and it's not found

in the bedroom, it's found in the entryway, which would, to your point, morph, be leading out of the house. And most likely it was dropped. I think even though I know you're speculating, that sounds very plausible. But all in all, there really was not much evidence from the crime scene. And there was no sign of a struggle. It seemed as if the killer had gained access to the home and completely surprised the couple. They never had a chance. Due to the lack of forced entry, police suspected that Keith or Patty had left a door unlocked and that the killer simply walked through it. Based on the shopping bag and coffee pot being found on the kitchen counter, police thought that either Keith or Patty or both of them had left their home the night of their murders and

gone shopping. Later in the investigation, based on three canceled checks that cleared their bank account, police learned that Patty had signed for purchases at three different stores that night. The three stores that Patty had visited were best products on Marguerite Parkway and Mission Vio, where she purchased a coffee pot with check number 1296, the May Company in Laguna Hills where she bought baby gifts with check number 1303 and a local alpha beta market where she purchased groceries with check number 13.04. These purchases were made between 6 p.m. when Roger last saw the couple and 11 p.m. when Patty's sister called her. Police further narrowed down the time frame to being between 7 and 9 p.m. It's unclear if police were able to determine if Keith accompanied Patty to

these stores. The shopping and phone call from Patty's sister helped the investigators set up a timeline. Now there is one thing, Morph, that jumps out at me. You know, two of the checks were back to back, 1303 and 1304, but then the third check was much earlier in the series, 1296. There's a big gap between 1296 and 1303 on the same night. Yeah, and I thought the same thing too, Mike, as I read through the report, and I don't have an explanation for it, but those are the check numbers indicated in the report. 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 Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Police wondered if the couple was killed by someone within their gated community,

or had an intruder somehow breached the security. They quickly found that there were areas in the back of the gated community where people could come and go. There were no guards there, and they discovered that the fence that surrounded the community was not very tall, and it could easily have been scaled. Police canvass the area, questioned neighbors and residents,

but no one saw anything unusual. Then three days after the murder, it was discovered that a jogger had found a left-handed leather motocross glove covered in blood. The area where the glove was found was on the freshly graded hills of a new housing project. And this area was about three quarters of a mile east of the Harrington's home. At the time it was found, tests were done, and the blood was found to be human. Later in 1998, as DNA was coming on the scene, further testing was attempted on this glove, but due to the degraded condition of the evidence, no new clues could be gained from it. As with most investigations, police started with family, friends, coworkers, and associates of Keith and Patty,

but found no viable suspects. The case seemed like a random rape and double murder. The investigators wound up talking to close to 250 people, ranging from ex-boyfriends and girlfriends to friends, car repairmen, and people who worked for the gated community. They also identified and questioned men that had previous arrests for cat burglaries, prowling, and sexual assaults. On September 11, 1980, investigators in Paddy's and Keith's murders met with investigators from Ventura County who were digging for clues in the double murder of Lyman and Charlene Smith. Neither department had any strong suspects and worked hard to see if their cases could be related.

Over 100 miles separated the murdered couples, but there were many similarities. The two departments also reached out to Santa Barbara County detectives to see if the unsolved double murders of Robert Offerman and Deborah Manning could be related, but the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department was skeptical of a connection. Their victims had been shot. investigators in the Harrington murders also reached out the police in San Diego to compare notes on a double homicide that occurred there but found no connection to the Harrington murders. On September 18, 1980, to mark the one month anniversary, the Harrington family held a press conference. At this press conference, they announced that they were offering a $25,000 reward for information that led to the identification of Keese and Paddy's killer.

The Harrington family for years tried to spread word about the murders of Keith and Patty. But in a time before social media, their efforts fell on deaf ears. The reward they offered was never claimed and no one ever came forward with info about the killer. Keith was due to graduate from medical school in 1981 and that year, his father, Roger, accepted on Keith's behalf a diploma that the school gave to Keith posthumously. If there was any good that came from the case of the Harrington murders, it was the hard work that Keith's brother Bruce did at his own expense in getting Proposition 69 passed. Prop 69, as it's known, is a law in California that requires convicted felons to hand over their

DNA so that it can be entered into a database. As a result, California today has one of the largest state databases in the country. As new felons come into the system and their DNA is entered into the database, the authorities can see if they get any matches to DNA that's on file for unsolved crimes. And it doesn't have to be a direct hit. It simply needs to be a family member in the felon database that links to an unsolved crime. The law went into effect in 2004 and was tweaked until 2009. Prop 69 has undoubtedly led to cases being solved and suspects being cleared.

But there's a catch. there's no grandfather clause. So anybody with felony convictions prior to 2004 did not have to give DNA samples. Investigators searched this database for years, waiting and hoping the Golden State Killer or a relative of his would be convicted of a felony in California. But that never happened.

There was no match. However, had the law been around the 1990s, the Golden State Killer would have been identified long before now. But more on that later this season. So we've talked about the murders of a couple in Santa Barbara, the Offerman Manning murders. We talked about Lyman and Charlene Smith and Ventura, and now we've talked about the murders of Keith and Patty Harrington. The details in each of these double murders were very similar in many ways, but there were slight differences, and they were spread out over almost 200 miles. But there were rumblings in some jurisdictions that invests.

these crimes that a single killer may have been responsible. And some of the East Area Rapist investigators from up in Northern California, including guys like Larry Crompton from Contra Costa County, were starting to catch wind of these attacks in Southern California. To them, the M.O. seemed a lot like the East Area rapist. The main difference was that these victims were being murdered. But notions that the East Area Rapist had moved to Southern California and had started to kill people seemed to be dismissed by investigators in Southern California. There was nothing that the East Area Rapist investigators could really do.

Orange County had suffered its first brutal double murders with the Harrington murders, but the killings in the area weren't over. To some, the murders of the Harringtons and the Smiths were reminiscent of the bedroom basher. a rapist and killer who struck in Orange County from 1978 to 1980, murdering five different women. The bedroom basher had killed using hammers and lumber to bludgeon his victims, but there were differences between the bedroom basher's ammo and signature and that of the murder of the Harrington's. Eventually DNA identified the bedroom basher as Gerald Parker, who was convicted of the basher murders and sentenced to death by lethal injection. His DNA did not match the murderer of the herringer. Harrington's. Police continue to investigate the Dana Point murders of the Harrington's in Orange

County into 1981. Then almost six months after the Harrington's were murdered, police in Irvine, which is located in another part of Orange County, were called to the scene of a horrific murder. Irvine police have assigned an eight-man task force to investigate the murder of an Irvine woman who was found dead at her home early Friday. The victim, Manuela, Eleanor Whithune, 28 of 35 Columbus was found dead by her mother. The autopsy showed she had been struck in the head by a blunt instrument, probably about midnight Thursday. The woman's husband, David Witthune, who was out of town, became concerned when his wife

did not answer the phone and asked her parents to check on her. Irvine police said Mrs. Witthune's death does not appear to be related to any other crimes in the area in recent months. However, the police patrol in the area has been stepped up. An Irvine police spokesman said the department has received a number of calls urging increased home security. article ran in the February 9th, 1981, LA Times. The victim in that murder was 28-year-old Manuela Witthune, and her body had been discovered by her mother at Manuela's residence,

located at 35 Columbus in Irvine on February 6th. Manuel was a junior loan officer at California First Bank. She was married to David Witthune, who worked in the auto parts industry. The pair had been married for just over five years and didn't have any children. David had been hospitalized with a viral infection that required him to stay in the hospital for a few days. This left Manuela alone in their single-story three-bedroom home. Manuel didn't like being alone without David. Her father had offered to let Manuela have his large and protective German Shepherd until David was out of the hospital, but she turned him down. On Thursday, February 5th, 1981, Manuel finished work and headed home.

home. At about 6 p.m., she stopped to talk to her neighbor across the street from her home. She had given them some unopened cartons of milk that she had in the refrigerator. Since David was away in the hospital, she knew she wouldn't finish the milk on her own before it went bad, so she offered it to her neighbors. She seemed to be in a rush as she gave the milk to her neighbors, but was in good spirits. She next stopped at a neighbor a few homes down and had a short conversation. She told these neighbors that David was away in the hospital and that she got cold at night all by herself and she had resorted to sleeping inside a sleeping bag on top of her bed. These neighbors also stated that she was in good spirits and that she had told them that David would be out of the hospital the next day Friday the 6th. At dinner time, these neighbors noticed that Manuel's Mercedes was parked in front of her house.

between 6 and 6.30 p.m. But when they looked again around 7.30, it was gone. Around 7 p.m., Manuela had driven to visit her parents on Loma Street in Irvine, a little over two miles from her home. After visiting with them, she headed to the hospital to see David. She visited with David for a while and then headed home telling him that she planned to read a book once she got home. From his hospital bed, David called Manuela at home at around 11 p.m. and spoke to her for a few minutes. The next morning, he tried to call Manuel at home a few times, but she didn't answer. He called over to her parents and asked him if they would make the short drive to check on their daughter. They said they would and had it over there arriving at the Wittoon home at 35 Columbus at 12 p.m. When they got there,

the couple entered the home and soon found Manuel's lifeless body on her bed, in his sleeping bag. There was blood everywhere on the sleeping bag and on the wall nearby. It was a terrible moment for Manuel's parents to experience. They called police who arrived on the scene shortly afternoon. Investigators assessed the scene. Manuel's body was lying face down inside of her sleeping bag. She had been struck on the head and based on a tear in the sleeping bag, police felt that the sleeping bag was over her head when she was bludgeoned. Most of the blood was contained inside the sleeping bag, but there was some blood spatter on the wall behind the bed.

When police examined her body, after removing it from the sleeping bag, they found that she was dressed in a black velour rope. They discovered that there were deep indentations on her wrists and ankles, an indication that she had been bound. But as in the previous Harrington case, the bindings were not left at the scene. A coroner who examined Manuel's body

determined that the cause of death was the massive head injury, which resulted in the cerebral contusion and hemorrhage. Time of death was estimated to be approximately 2 a.m. in the morning on Friday, February 6th. The coroner also determined that Manuel had been sexually assaulted, semen samples from the rapist and murderer, would years later reveal DNA that would be linked to so many more shocking crimes? Police looked around the home for any indication of forced entry,

and they found that the rear sliding glass door had been pried. One interesting thing that stood out to police was that most of the prime marks were on the inside of the door. A flathead screwdriver was found nearby, and it was covered in various types of paint. police felt that the killer likely had pride open this sliding glass door with the screwdriver. Police were also looking to see if anything was missing from the home, and later, aided by David Whithune, after he was released from the hospital, determined that a few things were indeed missing. A distinct crystal ball and a lamp with a cannonball like shape were both missing. Both of these objects had some weight to them and were solid, and either one may have possibly been the murder weapon. Neither item has ever been found.

As they made their way around the home, they found several burnt matches in various locations. A television set that was kept in a back bedroom was found outside of the house on the patio. Police thought that the killer intended to take it with him, but maybe was interrupted and abandoned it. Or that he planned to step on it to help him get over the with Hune's fence. In the yard, investigators found very distinct tennis shoe prints from a shoe style that was commonly worn by racquetball players. It would come out that the Witt Hunes had seen mysterious footprints in their yard a few months before Manuela was murdered. But they didn't pay very much attention to them. Perhaps one of the most interesting things reportedly missing from the Witt Hune home was the tape out of the answering machine.

I've heard two different accounts about the tape, one that it was removed from an old answering machine that was kept under the bed and another account that the tape was removed from the one currently used by the Wittians at the time of the murder. Either way, it's interesting because of the possibility that the killer took it, perhaps to listen to Manuel's voice as a souvenir

or he took it because his voice was on the tape, perhaps as a caller to the home. For years after the murder, David struggled, with the loss of Manuela right up until he passed away in 2008 at the young age of 55. For a period of time,

some people even suspected him of the murder, which had to be awful for David. But he seemed to have the most ironclad alibi in the world. He was hospitalized at the time of the murder, and on top of this alibi, his DNA didn't match.

So that would have been something very tough to go through, something that he had to endure for the rest of his life. The Orange County murders of the Harringtons and Manuel O'Hittoon were shocking and horrifying, but they wouldn't be the last murders in Orange County with similar MO. In episode 14, we head back to Galita where another shocking double murder would happen. In Southern California, would finally realize that they had a predator on their hands who would become known as the Nightstalker, committing his crimes, before Richard Ramirez, making this Nightstocker, the original Nightstocker.

So, Morp, this is a good place to wrap up episode 13, but we have some voicemails slash questions that we receive from listeners. All right, so let's play those and then we'll talk about them. Hi, guys. First time, long time. My name is Eric. I'm from Lennon, California, and a big-time fan of your podcast. I've been listening since the first season.

I've listened to T-Cat. I listen to all that stuff. I got my friends listening to it. Ben and Tina, what's up, guys? Anyways, I want to know if after the season is ending, you know, season two, you know, already found the East Area Rapids. I was really into it because I listened some other podcasts, like Case Files. They did a really excellent show about it, and you guys cover the, you know, the F out of it.

So I was wondering if you guys would give updates after, you know, going into season three and stuff like that. So anyways, Mike and Mike. Love you guys. Have a good night. Good night. Good day. after the arrest. So we will have more episodes out and bringing you information as we get it.

Yes, hi. My name is Scott Sanchez. I'm calling from Pasadena, California. And in my opinion, you guys have not just the best true crime podcast, but you guys have the best podcast I've ever heard. You guys include so much detail that you paint the picture for the listener. It's almost like we're there at the scene from just the description you guys get. My question is, as far as the Golden State Killer, do you think that sometime, either in the 70s or 80s, that his wife found out either what he was doing or what he had done, which is why they separated in 1991 but didn't get divorced?

And that would also explain why he just stopped because she held it over him. You have to do a great job, keep up the good work, and thank you very much. So Scott, we really appreciate the kind words. Yeah, Morph, I mean, those type of comments make us feel really good about what we're doing. Because we've said before. I mean, and I think everybody listening knows a lot of work went into this season. We have more work to do because we're extending this season. But it's an unbelievable feeling to have somebody say that what you're doing,

doing is good. We appreciate it. We like it. We enjoy it. That's just a great feeling. And it's also a feeling we experienced a lot at CrimeCon. And that was unbelievable more for, you know, just people to come up that we had never met and to tell us things like that. Yeah, personally, that makes me want to continue to work hard to bring cases to people like we've been doing so far. And to answer your question, Scott, you bring up things that are on our minds as well as a lot of other listeners out there. Facts have come out that Joseph DeAngelo's wife has been estranged from him for decades now.

And people are wondering what's going on with that whole situation. It seems a little bit odd. And reportedly, she's not cooperating with police. And that's troubling to me personally. I want to know what she knows and what she can add to the story. But from what's being reported so far, that's not happening. So what we want to do is on the future episode where we discuss developments and the most recent information, we want to dive into that a little bit further and find out as much as we can about that situation and hopefully get some answers.

So probably little chance more if that we're going to be able to get an interview with her, I would think, right? Yeah, I don't think that's likely. But if she's out there, if she's listening, if any of his family would like to talk and share their side of the story, please reach out to us. Remember, if you still have questions about anything we've covered this season that we haven't answered, and you'd like to ask us, give us a call out 661-77 crime, leave a voicemail with your name and your question, and we may play it on the air. If you like the show and you haven't done so already, please take a minute to go out, rate and review the show. That helps new listeners find us, and it's very much appreciated. And we're very active on social media. If you want to find us on Twitter, you can find us with a handle Criminology Pod.

We're also on Facebook. You can find us by searching Criminology Podcast. You can also find our discussion group by searching Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans. And before we leave, we'd like to introduce you to a true crime podcast called Yours and Murder, hosted by our friends, sisters, Rachel, and Rebecca. If you haven't given a listen, try it out. like it. What do you want in a true crime podcast? Do you want well-researched material, but an easy-to-follow format? Do you want a bit of dark humor, but want sensitive topics handled, well, sensitively? Do you want hosts who are lactose intolerant, but eat macaroni and cheese anyway? Well, I think you

might be looking for us. I'm Rachel. And I'm Rebecca, and we're the hosts of the true crime podcast, yours in murder. And this isn't any old true crime podcast. I have a lot. I have a have a background in forensic science. And I have a background in journalism, so we're able to combine our knowledge and bring you interesting new perspectives on cases. Not that we're all serious. We have a bit of a dark sense of humor. Just a bit.

I mean, we like morbid jokes and cat jokes. Lots of cat jokes. So if you're looking for something new and a bit out of the ordinary, check out yours in murder. You can find us on all of your favorite podcatchers as well as iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and tune in. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter or check out our website at yours and murder.net.

We hope to see you soon and until next time we are yours and murder.