The Lake Herman Road Murders: Betty Lou Jensen & David Arthur Faraday, December 1968

On Friday, December 20, 1968, David, 17, drove his mother's station wagon to Betty Lou's, 16, house at 8:00pm. They left in the car at 8:30pm for the house of one of Jensen's friends. Sometime after 9:00pm they then drove to the outskirts of Vallejo, Solano County, CA and parked at a gravel parking area — a lovers' lane — along remote Lake Herman Rd. This is near/at the entrance to the city of Benicia, Solano County.

A passing motorist noticed the couple between 10:15-10:30pm, parked on the side of Lake Herman Rd, on a gravel runoff near the gate to a Benicia water pumping station. They were spotted again at 11:00pm.

David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Photo from Wikipedia.

Sometime between 11:05 and 11:10pm, an unknown assailant pulled his car up next to David's, about 10 ft away from the passenger's side of the vehicle. The unidentified man left his vehicle and approached the couple's car, firing several shots inside. The bullets hit various parts of the car, but not the couple; it has been proposed that he may have been trying to force the pair to leave the vehicle.

Both teens tried to leave the car through the passenger door. Betty Lou successfully exited the vehicle. As David was getting out of the car, the assailant shot him once in the head with a .22 caliber rifle.

The man then began to chase Betty Lou, who was running away. He fired six shots at her, hitting her on the right side of her back five times. He then left in his car. The entire attack is believed to have taken about 2-3 minutes.

At 11:10pm a passing motorist named Stella Borges noticed the pair's bodies. Borges drove down the road, flagging down a police patrol car.

Betty Lou was pronounced dead at the scene. While David was still breathing at the time of discovery, he died from his wounds soon after: he was pronounced Dead On Arrival (DOA) at Vallejo General Hospital at 12:05am on Saturday, December 21, 1968.

According to the autopsy reports, Betty Lou's bullet wounds penetrated her: liver, right kidney, the heart ("from right to left through both atrium"), and left lung. There were three exit wounds. The entry wounds were in close proximity to each other.

According to police reports, David was shot in the upper portion of the left ear by a small caliber bullet, which penetrated the ear and head. There were what appeared to be powder burns on the left ear where the bullet entered, indicating that the shot was fired at close range. Several .22 caliber casings were found at the scene.

Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday are the first confirmed victims of the serial killer known as the Zodiac.

Note: The Lake Herman Road (LHR) attack occurred the day before the winter solstice, and only five days before Christmas. See the Holiday & Events Reference Page for an explanation as to why this is being mentioned.  

Sources

Wikipedia 

Faraday FindAGrave

Jensen FindAGrave 

Lake Herman Road murders, ZK Site

All police reports on LHR murders ***

Diagram of crime scene, from police report

Comprehensive newspaper collection, Tapatalk Zodiac forum 

Faraday death certificate ***

Jensen death certificate ***

Jensen autopsy report ***

Zodiac Timeline, The San Francisco Chronicle

*** Also available in the Files section of this blog 

Note: While this write-up is, to my knowledge, completely accurate, and contains all of the most pertinent details and sources, there are many, many sources for, references to, and online discussions revolving around the Lake Herman Road Murders, which I cannot even begin to compile. So instead, I would defer to ZodiacKiller.com, which I refer to on this blog as "ZK Site" when used as a source. It is a very thorough compilation of everything Zodiac related, and I'd like to thank Tom Voigt for creating it!