David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen
David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen
The first confirmed victims of the The Zodiac Killer.
On December 20, 1968, David Faraday, age 17 and Betty Lou Jensen, age 16 were on their first date.
They initially planned to go to a Christmas pageant, but at the last minute made the decision to skip the event, go to a diner, and then head over to a lover's lane turn-out off of Lake Herman Road, popular with other teens in the area.
Several drive-by eyewitnesses said they noticed Faraday's Rambler parked at the turn-out around 11 pm, and then another witness said he noted another car parked next to it at approximately 11:10 pm.
Another motorist came upon the scene at 11:20 pm.
At that point David Faraday was lying by the side of his car, a bullet wound to the head, and Betty Lou was approximately 11 feet away from the car in a pool of blood.
The car windows had been shot out.
Police Investigation
The assailant drove into the turn-out and parked alongside the Rambler.
He first fired two or three shots into the Rambler's rear windows, [4]forcing the occupants out of the car.
Upon exiting the car, David was shot in the head next to the vehicle, [0]and died en route to the hospital.
Betty Lou tried to make a run for it and was shot five times in the back. She was dead at the scene. [-1]
Witnesses noted a car seen at the turn-out shortly before the crime as possibly a 1959 or 1960 white Chevy Impala.
The teens had no known enemies.
The Zodiac Connection At the time of these killings no one had heard of the Zodiac.
He did not make his identity public until August 1, 1969, when three bay area newspapers received near-identical letters and a three-part cipher bragging about the recent killing of Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau. In these letters the writer identified himself as the Zodiac and took credit for the David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen murders, and provided evidence that only the killer would know.
This event is often referred to in Zodiac lore as theLake Herman Murders.