Dr. Newbarr determined the cause of death to be "asphyxia due to strangulation, and a skull fracture and hemorrhage and contusion of the brain." The coroner's office indicated the latest victim had been drinking and had been forcibly raped. Long Beach Police Department detectives told the press that the victim had been slain elsewhere and the body dumped in the vacant lot close to the oil rigs.
Detectives discovered she had been drinking and had left a party after a minor argument with her husband, Ingman Trelstad. She told him, "If you won't even take me out on Mother's Day, I'm going to a dance at the Crystal Ball Room [on Long Beach Pike] by myself." In tracing her movements, detectives discovered that a bartender had refused to serve her alcohol at a Long Beach bar after she got into an argument with other patrons. A sailor, who had been drinking with her earlier at this same bar, placed her on a homeward-bound bus.
The sailor was eliminated as a suspect, and police believed the victim had missed the bus stop for her home and continued on to the next stop, where she then got off the bus and began walking back.
On May 16, 1947, almost a week after the crime, Long Beach homicide detectives finally located and interviewed the bus driver, Cleve H. Dowdy, who had been vacationing with his wife in Kansas City. The driver clearly recalled the victim being on his bus during his last run on Sunday, May 10, at 11:30 p.m. He told authorities, "She had argued with me, telling me I had passed her stop at 36th Street and American Ave." He recalled that when the victim exited the bus, a stranger, whom he described as "a tall and well-dressed man," followed her off.
The Long Beach homicide was never solved.-This is one of the few crimes where the police actually released a confirmation statement that "the victim had been raped." This affirmative statement would suggest that during the autopsy they were able to obtain slides confirming the presence of sperm, which, if not disposed of, could yet prove to be valuable evidence for blood typing and possible DNA linkage. Also, should the plaster casting still exist, it could be compared to the known foot size of George Hodel.
RosendaJosephine Mondragon (July 8, 1947)
On July 8, 1947, another victim was found at 129 East Elmyra Street, near downtown city hall.
Rosenda Josephine Mondragon's nude body was found with a silk stocking wrapped around her neck. The twenty-year-old had been strangled, her right breast slashed, and her body thrown from an automobile.
Separated from her husband in April, she had purportedly been driven to his residence by an unknown male, and after a brief argument with her husband, she had served him with divorce papers at about 2:30 a.m. on the morning of her murder. "She was very drunk and mentioned something about having a date," her husband told police. He followed her outside and saw her run over to a waiting vehicle, where she was driven away by an unknown male.
Prior to the early-morning meeting with her husband, the victim had been seen by an operator of an all-night vegetable market at Mission and Main Streets. The merchant told police that she had telephoned for a taxicab from his business between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., and while she was waiting for the taxi to arrive, a male in a darkcolored coupe drove up and spoke with her. She then canceled her cab and left with the man.
The day after her nude body was found, police located her dress at the corner of 26th and Griffin. Police told reporters, "The dress had been ripped from her body and was undergoing examination at the police lab." Her body was found just one mile from the Winters crime scene, and within two miles of both my father's medical office and Fred Sexton's 1947 address. Mondragon's murder was never solved and remains "open" in LAPD case files.
Marian Davidson Newton (July 16, 1947)
Marian Newton, age thirty-six, was an attractive divorcee from Vancouver, British Columbia, who was vacationing in San Diego.
On the afternoon of Thursday, July 17, 1947, her body was discovered by a young married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ward Robbins, who were on an outing to Torrey Pines Mesa just north of San Diego. While hiking in the afternoon, they discovered her body lying at the side of an isolated dirt road near some high brush.
San Diego homicide detectives responded to the crime scene and discovered that Marian Newton had been strangled to death with a thin wire or cord.
Bruises were found on her body, and she had been forcibly raped. Tire tracks were visible nearby, and a coroner's examination estimated the time of death to be between midnight and 4:00 a.m. that day. Two men's handkerchiefs were found nearby the body. One of them had stains, the other did not.*
The victim's purse and identification were later discovered on the sidewalk at University and Albatross Streets, near the downtown area of San Diego. The suspect had apparently thrown her purse out of his vehicle after he had disposed of the body.
Upon checking the last known movements and sightings of the victim, authorities were able to establish a description on the probable suspect and piece together the last hours of her life. Incredibly, her story would mimic — in details, actions, and words — the circumstances of Ora Murray's murder in 1943. From newspaper accounts and public records, here is a summary of what was known of her murder.
On Wednesday, July 16, 1947, the victim, accompanied by Miss Edna Mitchell, whom she had met at the hotel where she was vacationing, decided to go to Sherman's nightclub. Sherman's was a popular military men's club and tourist attraction, famed for having nine different bars and the largest indoor dance floors in the world.
During the evening, the two women met and danced with a number of military men. Miss Mitchell told detectives that at one point a civilian male began dancing with the victim. She described him as "tall, over six foot, thin, possibly in his thirties, with dark hair, wearing a tan sport coat and slacks, and a bright colored tie."
The victim introduced him to Miss Mitchell, who could not recall his name for the detectives. When the suspect left momentarily, Mitchell told Marian Newton that she "didn't like the look of the guy," and warned her "not to get into any car with any man she met at the club." Edna left the nightclub at 11:45 p.m. Witnesses there later confirmed that Marian Newton was seen leaving with a man who matched the description provided by Edna Mitchell.
Working in conjunction with San Diego FBI agents, homicide detectives discovered that the description of this suspect closely matched that of someone previously known by them who had been frequenting downtown San Diego dance halls and nightclubs in the weeks and months preceding the murder of Marian Newton. The suspect was believed to be using various names and aliases, including "Michael Vincent Martin." Representing himself at different nightspots both as an FBI agent and as a naval officer, the suspect was known to have used stolen and false identification in San Diego, and had rented a vehicle using fake ID. A Wanted Special Bulletin was circulated within the law enforcement communities requesting information on the suspect.
Authors Janice Knowlton and Michael Newton (no relation to the victim) make reference to an interview, purported to have been conducted by Knowlton, of a retired sheriffs deputy, Thad Stefan, on July 12, 1993, during which Stefan referred to his original field notes dating from 1947. Stefan had documented an unusual incident that had occurred in Hollywood, at the Hub Bar and Cafe on Santa Monica Boulevard, in the sheriffs department territory. The incident was reported to him on January 26, 1947, and included a statement by a waitress, Dorothy Perfect, who reported that a man identifying himself as "George" came to the cafe and initially propositioned her, telling her, "I can fix you up with your own apartment on the Sunset Strip."