Going West: True Crime - The San Francisco Doodler // 468

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

In the 1970s, shortly after the horrific reign of the Zodiac Killer, another serial killer wreaked havoc on San Francisco, killing as many as seventeen men he’d met at bars and nightclubs across the city. Intriguingly, the killer reportedly sketched his victims before stabbing them and leaving their bodies to be discovered in public places - most commonly on a beautiful beach along the city's edge. This is the story of The San Francisco Doodler.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west Hey guys, man. So we are living in LA right now. We are in the midst of all these absolutely unbelievable fires. Actually one of them, the closest one to us is happening right now while we're sitting in our house recording. That is the Palisades fire that is sneaking and creeping over into the valley and getting just way too close for comfort. This whole week has been insane.

I mean, our hearts really go out to anybody that has lost a loved one or their home or, you know, all the firefighters that are working so hard and coming from different states and different countries. Yes, big thank you to everybody who is here helping. I mean, we've got people from Oregon, Arizona, Mexico, Canada, everywhere. Everybody is here right now trying to help out our community

and it's just devastating. It's just felt like where's the other shoe? You know, like when's the other shoe gonna drop? What's gonna happen next? Because we have never seen anything like this here. It is unreal. Actually today, we're covering a California case, not in LA, but this one's in the Bay Area.

So pivoting a little bit to today's case This is a lesser known serial killer case that happened around the same time as a very notable Serial killer case in the Bay Area in San Francisco to be specific Yes, and this one was recommended by Todd and Ariana, so thank you guys so much for recommending this case It's very very interesting, and I think you guys will know that this killer's MO was extremely specific and very very cryptic. Oh absolutely, you know there's a silly name in the title but that title is there for a reason because it has to do directly with that MO. So let's distract ourselves, let's dive

right into this one. Alright guys this is episode 468 of Going West, so let's get into it. San Francisco police are stepping up efforts to catch a serial killer known as the doodler who has eluded capture for nearly 50 years. This week police released a new sketch of the suspect and increased the reward for information leading to his arrest to $250,000. Authorities say the Doodler killed at least six gay men over 18 months in 1974 and 1975. The killer told a surviving victim that he was studying to be a cartoonist. Investigators say he would meet his victims in the gay bars then charm them by sketching a portrait of them just

before he took their lives. Police say whoever made the first 911 call related to the case back in 1974 is a person of interest and they believe that person still lives in the Bay Area. I believe there might be a dead person on the beach right across from Yulela Street. At a time when the city of San Francisco was gripped in terror while in the throes of the investigation of one of the most grisly serial killers in the country's history, the Zodiac Killer. Another was operating in quieter circles, the city's gay community. Even in San Francisco,

which is largely believed to be the nation's unofficial gay capital in the 1970s, homosexuality was still not widely seen as acceptable. It actually wasn't even until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental aberrations, which is totally disturbing. It's disturbing that it was there in the first place. Yes. But with this kind of mindset, you know, very much still in the air and struggling under

the weight of the investigations into the Zodiac Killer, as well as the lesser known Zebra Murders, which was a spree of racially motivated killings in the city between 1973 and 1974, San Francisco police were having trouble curtailing the amount of violence in the city at the time. There was just so much going on. In fact, in 1974, so the same year the Doodler murders began, God it's going to be funny to say that this whole episode. Doodler. Doodler. This is a horrible word. Well, it just makes me think of SpongeBob.

It does? Yeah, DoodleBob. Oh, of course. Anyway, moving on. I'm stupid. Moving on. So the police announced regretfully that a third, one third of the city's murders were going unsolved, like morale was low. And gay victims were going missing and becoming murder victims at a much higher rate

than other citizens. And as many as 17 of those men can be attributed to one murderer who is still shrouded in anonymity, the very monster we're talking about today. Although it's believed to be as high as 17, his six confirmed victims have yet to see justice. His reign of terror lasted less than two years, but made a lasting mark on San Francisco's thriving gay community that remains even now, as the murders continue to go unsolved 50 years later.

Well, let's give you guys a little bit of a timeline here. So, on January 27th, 1974, at 1.25 a.m., the San Francisco Police Department received a 911 call about a bludgeon body found near the water's edge at Ocean Beach, which is a narrow strip of beach on San Francisco's west side. Now, the body was found near where Yuloa Street concluded and it was practically submerged right where the water met the sand. An unidentified man had called the police to report this horrific finding, but the operator took note that he really didn't seem to be alarmed nor in a hurry to report this, which was a little bit odd to them considering how gruesome and unusual

this discovery obviously was. Now again, this is 1974, so the call was placed from the payphones at the public restrooms along this beach, and the caller actually declined to give his identity, so naturally, there is some speculation that the caller was the killer himself. But since he didn't give his identity, no one has any idea who this was. The body on the beach was found in the pitch black, as it was the middle of the night when the call was placed at about 1.30am, and it was partially submerged in the water along the shoreline, so the person who saw him would have had to have been walking the beach just after the victim's murder occurred. The crime is not believed to have been motivated by robbery because the victim still had cash in his pocket and a watch on his wrist.

And since that was all he had on him, the man's remains went unidentified for months after his death. Unfortunately, this is the case with multiple of the killer's victims, as we're going to get into. And a big reason for this is because many of the victims were kind of forced to live on the fringes of society due to their sexual orientation. So some of them didn't have any family to come home to, or unfortunately to report them missing. The victim from this January 1974 beach finding, 49-year-old Gerald Earl Kavanagh,

was born on March 2, 1923 in Montreal in Canada. So he worked either as a furniture finisher or at a mattress factory and had no family in this area. So his disappearance essentially went unnoticed by his family or anybody back home because he was totally on his own in San Francisco. And really quick, I just wanna pause. I know I already mentioned the Zodiac Killer, but to put this more into perspective

for just the whole area of San Francisco this first 1974 murder happened after the Zodiac's reign if nobody has the Zodiac dates memorized because those murders all took place between 1968 and 1969 so keep that in mind because really with the doodler's killings coming so shortly after that, it must have been really terrifying and confusing for a whole other serial killer investigation to be going on at this point in time. It's really a shame because even though there were more victims in this doodler case than the Zodiac killer, it just did not garner the same amount of attention.

Yeah, I mean, even to this day, there is a very sadly small amount of information on this case that we're talking about today. But back to Gerald. Now, investigative reporter Kevin Fagan with the San Francisco Chronicle covered the murders extensively, even releasing a podcast in 2021. And he is responsible for most of the information revealed about Gerald after his

death. Because again, really, like we're saying, nobody was talking about it. Yeah. And also, you know, he had no family, really didn't know anybody in San Francisco. He was on his own. Yeah. And that that we'll see is kind of a pattern with a lot of these victims, which obviously just doesn't help the situation. So here's what has been made public over the years about Gerald. Gerald left home as a young man and moved out of Canada and into the United States to serve in the US Army at the tail end of World War II. He then moved to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, which is a bastion of the hippie movement. You know, it was made very famous for its anti-war sentiment and the kind of free love ideologies of the 1970s.

Gerald was a quiet, private man who kept to himself and mostly stayed away from his family, though he made a point to visit his mom back in Canada every year or so until her death in 1967, which was only seven years before his own death. If he was open about his sexuality, it was not to his family, who were fairly strict Catholics. After his death, his name was actually frequently misspelled. There's a U that's often added to Kavanaugh, which is further proof of his quiet life and existence. Now, when his body was discovered,

Gerald was found fully clothed, having sustained as many as 17 stab wounds to his body. There were defensive wounds on his wrist, and the detectives believe that he was sober and awake for the entirety of his attack. It's believed that he met his murderer in the Castro district of San Francisco the evening prior and legend has it that before the murderer zeroed in on his prey in general, he hunched over a sketch pad and drew his victim, a practice that is what earned him the moniker, the doodler.

He would then approach his victim with the drawing and strike up a conversation, almost trying to lure them in or impress them using the drawing, kinda putting their guard down this way. Then after talking for a bit, they would leave together, and when the doodler could get his victims alone, he would strike when it was least expected.

When the doodler, who is described as a young, soft-spoken and charming man, approached Gerald, a closeted man nearing 50, Gerald was likely flattered. And by the way, I say closeted because, like I said, his family didn't know that he was gay. He really didn't have very many people that were close to him. And the Castro is an area that we know he was gay. He really didn't have very many people that were close to him. And the Castro is an area that we know he frequented. We know that's where he met his killer. And that is like

the gay Mecca of San Francisco. Right. So that so it is believed we are going to talk about that with some of the other victims as victims as well, especially because of the time a lot of people didn't feel like they could come out. But that is I said closeted so somehow the doodler lured him lure out loud right now anybody listening say the doodler lure lured a doodler lured that's a tongue twister it is yeah the doodler lured Gerald down to the beach and took his life violently with those 17 stabs. And Gerald is believed to be his first victim. Now that stretch of beach was known as a spot

where couples would kind of go to hook up after the bars closed. So it is believed that that's why they had gone down there like many others did or at least Why Gerald went down there while it is very clear that the doodler had darker alternative motives for going somewhere more private After his autopsy was conducted and his identity was uncovered Gerald was buried in nearby Colma, California So he was never taken home to be relocated

near his family in Canada. And also because we keep saying doodler and because I talked about the kind of belief and I said, as legend has it, that he would draw his victims. There is no definitive proof that the doodler drew a sketch of Gerald before killing him. But due to kind of what's to come

and there being some survivors of the doodler drew a sketch of Gerald before killing him, but due to kind of what's to come and there being some survivors of the doodler, it is believed by investigators that that is possibly what happened here as it seemed to happen later on. J. Yeah, things are going to get very, very interesting in that regard. R. Oh yeah, the story is, I'm surprised this is not as well known as something like the Zodiac, honestly. J. Well, after Gerald, the doodler struck again pretty quickly, but his next victim, unlike Gerald, was well known and loved in the gay community and the drag club circuit. Joseph Stevens, known on stage as J.J.A.E. and by his family as Joe, was born on January 20th, 1947 in Fort Worth, Texas.

He was one of five growing up alongside brothers William and John and sisters Mary Melissa and Alma Teresa, both of whom went by their middle names. Joseph is remembered as dazzling, funny, and bubbly, and was famous in his circle for his drag performances, featuring his larger than life onlife on-stage persona and stunning bespoke outfits. He was also a singer and a stand-up comedian and frequently worked at Phenokios, which had started as a Prohibition-era

speakeasy and became a hot spot for nightlife and entertainment. So many locals knew, loved, and cherished him. As a child, Joseph's family relocated to Concord, California, which is an eastern suburb of San Francisco, and he spent the rest of his life in the Bay Area. His sister Mary, who now goes by Melissa, remembers putting on elaborate sketches and comedy shows together, and that they eventually blossomed into the first iteration of Jay's comedy show. She described her brother as a kind and gentle soul, as well as her best friend, saying, quote, He was so gentle.

I just can't see anyone being mean to him. In an interview with Katie Zalaznok, author of the San Francisco Doodler murders, Melissa remembered fondly that Joseph was, quote, so much fun. He was so much fun. We did a lot of talent shows together and acting together. My parents, bless their hearts, gave us the run of the garage. So we had neighborhood shows and we had a really great relationship. It was theatrical and definitely not your norm.

I don't think he ever came outside and played baseball with us. He was very, very feminine. She described him as a triple threat with a sharp wit and a voice like electric honey. The whole family knew early on that there was something different and special about Joseph. And Melissa even recalled that as a child, he asked to be called Carolyn at home. So Joseph never shied away from the amazing person that he was. Joseph was supposed to be drafted for the Vietnam War, but was actually denied entry because he was gay.

And his father reportedly kicked him out of the family home for this. I feel like that probably happened a whole lot in the 60s and 70s. Yeah, just so devastating. But with this, Joseph made the choice to head to San Francisco, where he found, obviously, like Heath alluded to, such an amazing community that loved and supported him, With this, Joseph made the choice to head to San Francisco where he found, obviously

like Heath alluded to, such an amazing community that loved and supported him for exactly who he was. But his sister Melissa did later recall that her family was able to make amends with her brother and that their father even became somewhat supportive of his son's success. So once Joseph found that sense of community and belonging in the drag performance circuit in San Francisco, he started performing routines to songs by Barbara Streisand, Marilyn Monroe, and Julie Andrews, among many others.

He even took home an award for best drag performance of the year. But sadly, in the early morning hours of June 25, 1974, five months after Gerald's body was found, 27-year-old Joseph's body was found near Spreckels Lake in the northwest quadrant of Golden Gate State Park. Now, Spreckels Lake is a small body of water parallel to nearby Fulton Street and not far from Ocean Beach where Gerald was found. Similar to where Gerald had been discovered, Joseph was recovered from an area notorious for being a place where couples could meet up discreetly.

He suffered a C-shaped cut beneath his eye and the coroner believed that he had received it after being struck from behind and falling down. Unlike Gerald, he suffered no stab wounds on his front side. His stab wounds were actually leveled starting from behind. He also had both of his lungs punctured and his injuries were described as a rapid secession stabbing at his back five times. And his toxicology report indicated that he had consumed only one alcoholic drink that night, likely at the Castro bar where he had met his killer.

So this is kind of crazy because if he's willingly going with this person, the doodler, who is unidentified, then he's just walking along the beach and this guy strikes him and just rapidly starts stabbing him in the back. Like, can you even imagine thinking that maybe you're going to be going down to the beach for some sort of hookup, and then somebody just attacks you from behind like this Savagely, yeah, it's horrifying and that's why as we're gonna get into as well There are a lot of reports that the doodler was a very charming guy He probably seemed like a nice person and somebody that you would want to spend an evening with and then before you even realize it It's presented to you that that is very much not the case.

Yeah, I mean this guy was very very good at manipulating people and earning their trust. Now Joseph's car was found later that morning, but when it was discovered, it was totally mashed up. Basically at 5 a.m. on the morning of June 25th, 1974, his car was spotted in Hayward, California a Southeastern suburb over an hour away so suspicious of the car's activity an officer attempted to pull the driver over but he panicked and he sped off a high-speed chase ensued as this unknown person drove away in Joseph's vehicle remember after he was murdered concluding with the collision of the car into a house.

The driver fled before police could catch him but is described as a white man with blonde shoulder-length hair. Which remember that because that does not match the description of the doodler. But like what the hell, you know, they're wondering at this time was this the killer trying to hide Joseph's car somewhere You know plan it in a different area an hour away. Was it some random? Unconnected person trying to steal the car Not knowing that it belonged to a very recent victim of murder. It's just so odd But how wild is that that the car that this person is crashing into a house? Belongs to a guy

that was just murdered over an hour away. Yeah it's insane and also at this point they don't have any description of the killer. Joseph is just the second victim so they're like is this him? We don't know. Well after the discovery of Joseph's body the San Francisco police assumed that the cases were related. You know that the killer was the driver but now feel that the cases were related. You know, that the killer was the driver. But now feel that the car theft was likely a crime of opportunity after it had been left at the park following Joseph's murder. And that this person had no idea that it belonged to a murder victim, and they just simply wanted to steal it. Unfortunately, the Hayward Police Department later admitted that they lost or possibly destroyed the records of the strange car chase that took place in Joseph's car after his death, so much of the intimate details of what happened are now unknown.

Joseph's sister Melissa naturally was disappointed that the San Francisco Police Department spoke with her only twice after her brother's murder, one instance of which was to identify her brother's body. She said sadly, quote, Nobody, nobody did anything about Joe's murder. Nothing. Nothing. My family and myself, we just felt like it was just another gay bashing and they don't care. She remembered speaking with one homicide detective, who asked if her brother had been seeing anyone and whether he had any enemies, both questions to which she answered that she didn't think so. So they seemed to have few, if any, leads.

And then, another horrible tragedy occurred. The During the same year that 27-year-old Joseph Stevens was murdered, another tragedy struck his family. In fact, Joseph's murder set off a devastating chain of events that would alter the rest of his family's lives forever. Joseph and Melissa's little sister Alma Teresa, who went by Teresa, was diagnosed with schizophrenia two years before Joseph was murdered. And she had an extremely difficult time adjusting to life without her brother, you know, when he was murdered in June of 1974. In October of 1974, so just about four months later, Theresa, who was just 18 at the time,

bludgeoned their mother, Mary, with a sledgehammer in the midst of a psychotic break. She then dismembered her mother's body and burned her in the fireplace of the family home, where 10 to 12 pounds of remains were later pulled and confirmed to belong to Mary Stevens. Teresa also went after her sister Melissa with the sledgehammer, but thankfully,

Melissa was able to escape and flee to the police station to get help. According to Teresa, evil spirits were emanating from their mother Mary and that's why she did what she did. Teresa was arrested and sent to an institution for the mentally ill after having been found innocent on the grounds of insanity. And Teresa did have a history of violence brought on by her mercurial mental health and recently attacked one of her brothers with an ice pick. So she was transported to a hospital in an ambulance shortly before she murdered her mother. Alas, the Stevens family continued to be marred by misfortune when just two years later

their dad William died in a tragic office fire. William had fallen asleep smoking a cigarette while working alone in his real estate office where he also resided. So after this horrible tragedy, only three children remained, Melissa and two brothers, the latter of whom understandably declined to speak with reporters about all of this stuff that was going on and Melissa was so traumatized by the ordeal that she moved away from the area only returning after her sister died in 2004 as One of the only surviving family members of the victim who is willing to speak to the press Melissa has become the de facto voice of the Doodler's victims. Joseph's friends and colleagues took out a full-page ad memorializing his short, but

vibrant 27 years, writing, quote, He brought a lot of love to the people around him. The world will go on turning, but it is now minus one beautiful, caring human being. Now, the doodler's next victim, Klaus Christmann, was kind of an anomaly within the victims of the doodler. He was the only one who was married with children, and was, as far as his family was aware, straight. Klaus was born on July 3rd, 1943, in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He and his wife had two daughters, and he served in the military before working in the Michelin factory. He moved to the States for work not long before his murder, while his wife and kids stayed behind, planning on following him when he was more established. It's unknown if he was gay or perhaps just

experimenting with his sexuality, but he had worked in a gay bar back in Germany before making his move to the San Francisco Bay area. Klaus was last spotted at a bar and restaurant called Bojangles in the Tenderloin neighborhood, and on the evening of July 6th, 1974, so less than two weeks after Joseph's murder, Klaus stopped in to eat and was seen leaving with an unidentified man believed to be the doodler. The next morning, July 7th, 1974, at 6.30 in the morning, a woman who was actually a Holocaust survivor was out walking her dog at Ocean Beach, which of course is where Gerald's body was found, when she came upon 30-year-old

Klaus' body. And this attack had been even more brutal than the others. His neck had been so severely damaged that he was nearly decapitated. He also suffered stab wounds to his shoulder, chest, and abdomen. When no one came forward to claim him or even report him missing, remember his family was back in Germany, the San Francisco Sentinel actually printed his posthumous autopsy picture with his wounds covered in hopes that somebody would be able to recognize and subsequently identify him.

It's always so devastating when they have to do it like that. I mean basically almost nobody knew who he was. Except at the time Klaus had been living with a friend of his from the military named Booker T. Williams and Booker's wife Nancy. So there was someone in the area that was accounting for him. And because of this Booker was the one to identify and claim his body. Now after this Klaus's remains were sent back to his wife and daughters in Germany. Never able to start their new life together. Now after this, Klaus's remains were sent back to his wife and daughters in Germany, never able to start their new life together.

And I can't even imagine this. Your husband goes to the United States to start this new life and you're supposed to meet him there with your two daughters and he comes back to Germany in a coffin. Like how horrible? Well, this is, you know, the daughters and wife aspect of his life is why police were kind of unsure if they could identify Klaus as a victim of the doodler or as another gay victim. But they were at least, they didn't know if he was gay, but they were at least fairly confident that he had fallen prey to the doodler regardless of his sexuality.

And here is what Sergeant Elliot Blackstone said regarding Klaus's sexuality, quote, not saying the man was gay, but there were certain factors in terms of physical evidence that give us reason to believe that he might have been. He may not be gay because clothing can be the same for gay or straight, but he was wearing orange bikini shorts. We're not saying he was definitely gay, but various small factors lead us to that kind of belief. Okay, first of all, I just want to say that, you know, in other places around the world, people, men especially, wear certain types of, you know, underwear or shorts or whatever. So it's not like, like I feel like that's just kind of like some rough and gruff like police guy from San Francisco being like, oh, well he had orange shorts on so he's

probably gay. It's like, what? The man's from Germany. You know, they would wear those short shorts. Yeah, exactly. But I do also get why they're trying to determine this because they're trying to establish a pattern and connect this to the other crimes. But based on the time that this happened and the situation surrounding it, the wounds, the location,

they were convinced that it was a crime by the doodler. And interestingly, unlike the doodlers other two victims at this point, Klaus was found with his jeans unzipped, though there were no signs of sexual assault. But in his pocket, they did find a tube of makeup. So I think they're just trying to piece all these things together. They know that it seems like he went to this beach

with another man at night. That's why they're speculating. Yeah, and I think those are more like identifying factors than wearing orange shorts that he might might have been gay. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, there is 1974. Yeah, yeah. But also standing out from the other two victims was his blood alcohol level.

Now, the other two victims, as we said, were not inebriated at all. Gerald had no alcohol in his system. Joseph had one drink. Exactly. But Klaus's BAC was.33, which is officially the level where blackouts occur. And just for perspective, fatalities begin to occur over.39. And he was.33. So he was extremely intoxicated. And this just left police wondering if somebody had forced the consumption of alcohol or if he had been taken advantage of

while he was too drunk to turn down his attacker as they left together. You know, there's a lot of questions here. Well, after Klaus's brutal murder, the doodler either took a break or evaded capture because his next victim wasn't identified until May of the following year, 1975, when three more bodies would be uncovered. On the evening of May 11th, 1975, 32-year-old Frederick Capen headed out to Bojangles, just as Klaus had, but he never returned.

He was found early the next morning, stabbed to death, along the same stretch of ocean beach on which Gerald and Klaus had been found. Frederick's jacket and shirt were pulled up under his head and doused in blood and his shoes were also drenched in blood as he had been stabbed a staggering 16 times. There were drag marks stretching 20 feet indicating where a struggle had taken place and leading to where he had been discovered. It was clear that Frederick had attempted to fight off his attacker because there were defensive wounds all over the front side of his body. And like Klaus, his pants were unbuttoned, but they were not unzipped. And the body was linked to Frederick's identity after the state of California was able to positively match his fingerprints to the time that he spent in the United States Navy.

Because Frederick had served as a corpsman in the Vietnam War, later settling in San Francisco where he worked as a nurse. Frederick Elmer Capen was born on February 20th, 1943 and grew up in Port Angeles, Washington. Gorgeous. Yeah, very gorgeous place. Daphne wants to go there so badly. I do. Well, sadly his parents both suffered from alcoholism, so he spent a lot of his time in and out of foster homes, and he and his sister Gretchen usually resided with their grandparents. Though he enjoyed a successful military career, even earning the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for valor after saving four Marines during an attack He was also a very sensitive soul who loved to paint and dreamed of being an artist

So San Francisco would be a really great place for him to be Well, he was known for his fun and flamboyant fashion choices and on the night of his murder He was wearing a Picasso print shirt under a blue corduroy jacket, jeans, and a leather belt with a yellow buckle. I'm looking at you right now and you're also wearing a Picasso print shirt. Oh shit, I actually am. I'm wearing a t-shirt that says Picasso on it.

Abercrombie and Fitch. That is wild. That is very weird. So the doodler's fifth victim was his last official victim until 2022 brought the connection of a sixth, which we will get into in a second. So for orders sake, this next victim is technically his final victim, technically his sixth,

because the last one I'm gonna talk about was killed before this one. Sorry if that's confusing. Harold Goldberg was born September 11th 1908 in Morarp, Sweden. At age 66 when he was murdered, Harold was the oldest victim of the doodler. That's crazy. When you said 1908, I was like, oh my god that's so much older than his other victims, but I guess he was only 66. And I know that sounds kind of dumb, like, thinking about that, but from, you know, being

in 2025 and thinking about the difference between 1908 and 1974, it just feels completely worlds apart. Yeah, he was at least a generation or two older than everybody else in this case, and he was also the only victim thus far who wasn't found almost immediately. His severely decomposed remains were found in some bushes near the 16th hole of the Lincoln Park Golf Course, which was in the vicinity of Lands End, which is a waterfront hiking area at the northernmost tip of which is a waterfront hiking area at the northernmost tip of beautiful Ocean Beach, which as we know is a popular dumping ground for the doodler.

Harold was believed to have been killed 10 days prior to his discovery, but he wasn't found until he was spotted by a passerby on June 4th, 1975, so about three weeks after the most recent doodler victim, Frederick, was found. So yeah, it's pretty weird that 10 whole days passed, but he was near the 16th hole of the golf course. I was gonna say, how did none of these golfers or even like the groundskeepers or anybody else

that was around that golf course, how did they not spot him? I don't know what that's about. But this time his underwear had been taken from the scene. Police kinda think this was an effort of bringing back a trophy for the killer, but we don't know for sure. For years, Harold had been working as a merchant sailor

on a ship after leaving his hometown at just 16 years old, having lied about his age. At the time of his murder, again, when he was 66, he had been living at a local boarding house for mariners, though his teeth were in such bad shape that detectives initially theorized that he may have been homeless. And he was the last victim of the doodler to be found.

So let's dive into the final one, the final confirmed doodler victim before diving into a bit of the investigation. Remember this happened before. So we're jumping back a little bit. Sorry for the confusion there. Because it wasn't until January of 2022 that the San Francisco Police Department

would confirm the doodler's sixth official victim, which is why he is often put at the end of the list. This was 52-year-old Warren Andrews. Warren was born on August 9, 1922 in Seneca Township, Illinois, and worked as a lawyer for the Postal Service in San Francisco. He was found on the morning of April 27th, 1975, so actually just a couple weeks before the fourth victim, Frederick, was found murdered, and he was found in some brush near a ravine at Lands End Lookout, lying in a pool of his own blood.

He was the first victim to be found alive, though he was unconscious and in critical condition. Warren was transferred to the nearby Mission Emergency Hospital, where he remained until his sister Nancy flew him to be closer to her in Seattle. And he was in a coma until his death seven weeks after this attack, and then his sister Nancy buried him there to keep him close.

And at the time, Warren wasn't even initially connected to the Doodler. Hence why, you know, this didn't happen until 2022, because his case went unsolved for decades. And here's why. Unlike the Doodler's other victims, Warren had not been stabbed. He was bludgeoned with a nearby rock and tree branch. But when Kevin Fagan with the San Francisco Chronicle and a few cold case investigators began dusting off the many unsolved murders of gay men in the 1970s, Warren's murder

was a fit for the Doodler, aside from the murder weapon, of course. Investigators believe it's possible that he may have lost or broken his knife and in a pinch used what he could find nearby, which of course would be the rock in the tree branch. Now Warren's family and friends claim that they did not know at the time, but that they now believe that he was gay. And his sister Nancy now has renewed hope that her brother's brutal murder will be solved after this connection was made, saying quote, It's been a lot of years. I kind of tucked it away and when all of this was brought up again, you caused me two sleepless nights thinking about this all over again.

I didn't think that it would ever be investigated like this. I don't want to get my hopes up, but it certainly would be nice if the doodler could be caught. In addition to all of his murder victims, there were three survivors who became key in the pursuit of the doodler. In July of 1975, the doodler crossed paths with a man simply known as the Diplomat. And this is crazy guys, because this whole part is insane. Yeah, all the pseudonyms and the survivor stories are wild. Yeah, this was a pseudonym given to him

by the San Francisco Police Department, and he has never been publicly identified, nor does he want to be, understandably so. But his title did allude to his career, and he was likely a person of political influence. What we know is that he had a Scandinavian accent and is rumored to be from Sweden, just like the doodler's final victim, Harold, in June of 1975. And this is where the idea of drawings, hence the doodler, really comes in. The diplomat met the doodler at a late-night diner called Truck Stop, and recalls being

approached by a young man with drawings of animals. He later told the diplomat that he was an art student, studying to be a cartoonist. So charmed by this, they struck up a conversation, and eventually they left together, heading to the diplomat's apartment, which was inside Fox Plaza, a high-res apartment community located at Market Street in the Civic Center neighborhood of San Francisco. Now back in the diplomat's apartment, the doodler requested cocaine. He then went into the bathroom of the diplomat apartment where he remained for 30 minutes a long time Yeah, that's a long time to do a little cocaine

Well when he emerged from the bathroom, he abruptly attacked the diplomat saying quote you people are all the same The diplomat later confirmed that by this the doodler meant gay men The diplomat also recalled him saying quote, the doodler meant gay men. The diplomat also recalled him saying, quote, I've done this before and I enjoy this. Your anguish and pain and everything else are something I enjoy. He then struck the diplomat with such veracity and frequency that the handle broke free from the knife. And when this happened, the diplomat was able to shove the doodler into the wall. And this defense move seemed to freak him out enough to cause the believed

doodler to flee the building. Well, less than two weeks after this, the doodler returned to Fox Plaza and headed back to the same floor on which the diplomat's apartment was located, which is so scary. But this time, the doodler fixated on a local public figure as identified by the police. All they said was, quote, local public figure. He managed to talk his way into the apartment of the diplomat's neighbor and tied up his victim there. But the victim screamed so loudly and made such a commotion that neighbors took notice and the doodler fled once again. This is so crazy that this guy is getting away so many times.

Yeah, well it's gonna happen again, one more time. Because then, a short time after this, a third man escaped the doodler's clutches. And this is interesting because this all happened in and after July of 1975. So this is after all the other victims were murdered. So it felt like he was kind of on a roll and was getting away with it. And then one, two, three. Yeah, he's getting very sloppy.

Yeah, it's really bizarre. But this next one is really interesting to me because this third and final known survivor was an actor from Los Angeles who was visiting San Francisco at the time, and they headed back to the apartment or hotel of the actor after a night out. And were kind of like just getting into bed

when a knife fell out of the doodler's sleeve. Can you imagine? You're going to hook up, you just had a great night, and then all of a sudden a knife falls out of this dude's sleeve? No, it's horrifying, and of course, the actor thought this as well. So he panicked and ran from the apartment or the hotel room, we're not sure which one it is, and they got away from the doodler before they could cause him any harm. So this man who was dubbed The Actor was apparently a household name at the time who didn't want his sexuality revealed to the public.

And it's pretty crazy because due to the high profile nature of his identity, it has been speculated that he was either Cary Grant or Rock Hudson, but his true identity remains unknown to the public to this day. And I believe Rock Hudson was gay, wasn't he? Yeah, he never admitted it, but it's been described as an open secret in the industry. So it does seem like he likely was. And so that's why a lot of people kind of speculate on who it could have been, but the most believed people that it could have been

would have been Rock Hudson or Cary Grant, which I think is so fascinating that this actor could have been somebody that a lot of us know and are fond of, that they went through something so horrible and they just never talked about it publicly. Yeah, so basically at this point we have the diplomat, the local public figure, and then we have the actor. Exactly, and those are the only names we have because all three of these potential victims refused to testify against the doodler out of fear, so their stories would do very little to put the perpetrator behind bars.

But, at the very least, investigators now had a detailed description of who they believe would be the doodler. But also, two of the three of these witnesses left San Francisco, I'm assuming one of those was the actor, after the attacks, and they would not cooperate with the police so as to maintain their reputation. Harvey Milk, who is a renowned politician, famous for being one of the first to hold office while being openly gay, said this before his assassination, quote, I can understand their position. I can visualize the pressure society has put on them. Investigators began to suspect that the Doodler himself was a gay man, but he was likely so ashamed

by his sexual identity that he was murdering other gay men in retaliation. That's honestly just so crazy to think about, just being that upset with who you really are, that you have to attack other men, maybe out of jealousy because they were open or at least some of them Were open and that person couldn't be exactly I mean we still very much see that happening today unfortunately for people who can't accept who they truly are

And then they take it out on other people for being who they really are Yeah I mean the other sad part about this is that it could have nothing to do with that He could have possibly not been gay and just been attacking the community because of other things, religious beliefs or whatever. Who knows? Yeah, absolutely. Well, journalist Charles Lee told

the San Francisco Chronicle, quote, the doodler is attracted and repelled by gays. This set up a guilt syndrome. The only way he can assuage his guilt is by killing. That proves to him he's not really a homosexual. So this is possible? What you're saying Heath is totally possible? Well we don't know because we don't know who this guy is.

Well in October of 1975, the San Francisco Police Department released a sketch of the offender hoping that it would encourage others to come forward. And Detectives Rotea Guilford and Earl Sanders then received a promising tip from the receptionist of a psychiatrist's office after she saw the released composite sketch. Now both she and her psychiatrist's employer actually recognized the face as one of their patients. Wild. The psychiatrist spoke with the police on October 20th, 1975, to report that he believed one of his patients may have been involved in the unsolved murders.

So he was questioned and described how his patient had actually admitted to the murders, but claimed that he had cured his past gay tendencies and was now living in the East Bay with a new girlfriend. Sounds super unhealthy. Yeah, sure buddy. However, when he spoke with the police, the man later staunchly denied involvement in the murders. Of course. Of course, why is he gonna own up to that? But when this man was brought in with seven other people for a lineup to be identified by the diplomat, the diplomat identified him as the doodler. I feel like that's a pretty strong situation.

Why would a psychiatrist and a psychiatrist's receptionist come forward and say all this when there's usually, you know, that patient confidentiality? They wouldn't just be saying this for no reason. And then the diplomat who was attacked by this person picks this very same man in a lineup, and he also had admitted it to the psychiatrist, allegedly. This feels strong to me. It does feel strong, but the really unfortunate thing here is because the diplomat refused to be officially and publicly named, thus outing him, the suspect was allowed to leave. The psychiatrist's surname was potentially Priest, though it's possible that this was

maybe misunderstood by detectives and is now lost in translation. But neither the patient nor the doctor have ever been officially or publicly identified. Months later, a man matching the doodler's description was reported outside of a bar in the Tenderloin district, offering to draw people. And when the police approached this guy, a butcher knife fell from his sleeve, which is exactly what happened with the actor. Come on. I mean, literally, what, like, people.

What is going on here? Well, he was arrested with a fight, but with no evidence against him, with the actor. Come on. I mean, literally, what, like, people. What is going on here? Well, he was arrested with a fight, but with no evidence against him, they were forced to release him. So was this the same guy? Was this a different guy? You know, because this is unsolved,

obviously there's a lot of information that is not released to the public, but there's so many questions here, and the fact that there's no evidence against him, you know, this is the 70s, before we had a lot of wonderful technological advancements. This is just so sad. I know, but what are the chances that some dude on the street is offering to draw people and a fucking butcher knife drops out of his sleeve? Look, I don't know and I'm agreeing with you. Like this is nuts. Well, the San Francisco Police Department

has only ever announced that there have been three suspects, including the psychiatric patient of the men believed to be known as Dr. Priest and the man with the butcher knife up his sleeve. So according to this, it does seem like they were different people, but again, we have no confirmation of this because their names have not been released. The only potential suspects name who has been released is a man named Lawrence Robinson,

who was arrested in Los Angeles the year after this in 1976 for murdering a man and stealing his car. This murder took place in San Francisco, actually, but Lawrence was found and arrested in Los Angeles. He was known to travel frequently between the two cities, LA and San Francisco, and he matched the police sketch of the doodler, which we're going to describe for you guys in a second. But I will say Inspector Dave Toskey, if you guys have seen Zodiac by David Fincher, the movie, this is the guy that Mark Ruffalo played. He famously worked on the Zodiac case with Rotea Guilford. He later announced that he no longer believed there was a link between the doodler and Lawrence Robinson.

So it feels like the most likely perps are possibly Dr. Priest and then the other guy with the knife up his sleeve, the artist. That we have no idea who their names are. Yeah, because the doodler has never been identified to this day or arrested. And the identities of the three men who escaped his grasp remain a mystery. As of 2022, only the diplomat remains alive. The doodler is believed to have as many as 17 victims and it has now been 50 years since the doodler claimed his first one. The doodler is believed to be a young African American man between the ages of 19 and 25, obviously back in 1974 and 1975. He was tall and lanky,

standing around six feet tall or taller. He usually wore a knit cap that looked like one of the ones issued by the Navy, and he also has been described as relatively stylish. He had a very pronounced brow ridge and a quiet, serious personality. He was intelligent and a talented artist. Frustratingly, police have announced that they have a strong suspect in mind, a man who is still alive and living in the Bay Area, but without evidence, they

are unable to arrest him, even now after all these years of suspicions. In early 2022, when they publicly linked Warren Andrews to the murders, they also announced that they were closer than ever to solving the murders. The San Francisco Police Department is still offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to an arrest. So, if you have any information about the doodler, please call the SFPD tip line at 415-575-444. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.

Yes, thank you guys so much. It's so crazy to think that now in 2025, they are closer than ever to solving these murders. Yeah, there are some like really well-known serial killer cases. You know, again, you think of the Zodiac Killer or Jack the Ripper. Like so many that have had more recent developments or where there's a really strong suspect that people know about, but there's just not enough to actually tie it. Let's hope that's not the case here

and that they can make a conclusive discovery. Absolutely and definitely. If you know anything about this case, please use that tip line because it would be very, very helpful. Yeah, and I'm so glad we finally dove into this one. This is one of those ones where we've known about it for so long but never got to fully sift through and I'm glad we finally did and that is really thanks to Todd and Ariana for recommending this. Thank you guys so much for listening. We really hope the next time we're in the studio in a few

days for the Friday episode that these fires have been contained here in Los Angeles because we are just terrified. This was a really good distraction though honestly. Yeah absolutely. Thank you guys for listening. Thanks for being here with us and, our hearts go out to everybody in the Los Angeles area. Everybody that's been affected by these terrible, terrible fires. Yeah, all the animals, all the people, the communities, and anybody who is listening to this, who has been affected or is in the area,

you know, I wish I could give you guys, I wish we could all just hug each other, really. Anybody who wants to help, Heath and I have donated. We have put a bunch of links on our socials if anybody outside of the area wants to help. We love you guys so much and we will see you on Friday. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world.

Stay safe and don't be a stranger. Music Thanks for watching!