Mary Lloyd
• Tuesday, June 25, 1985, 9:40 am
69-yr-old Mary Lloyd was stabbed to death in her car parked directly in front of the Safeway in Auburn, CA. Mary is believed to have attended church services at St. Joseph’s. It is unknown if she was approached by her killer at St. Joseph’s, Safeway, or another unknown location.
•Several customers walking into Safeway saw Mary being stabbed in her car by a man, and thought she was a child sitting in the passenger seat. Store employees and a delivery driver ran out to help, and arrived just as the attacker was getting out of Mary’s car. When he felt confronted, he pointed a gun at the witnesses, got back into Mary’s car, and drove out of the lot towards the freeway. Mary’s story received extensive coverage in San Francisco because her brother was the former city editor of the San Francisco Examiner, and head of Western Public Radio.
At left, family photos, included in A&E’s Cold Case Files episode
•On Monday, July 1, 1985 - Mary Lloyd’s car was found on Victory Blvd, in North Hollywood. The car had been washed, and wiped of fingerprints. It was left parked on the wrong side of the street, in a red zone, with the tires slashed. A CB radio, St. Christopher medal, Mary’s purse, and the registration papers were missing from the car.
Lloyd's Mercury Cougar
Right rear tire slashed
Impound markings on windshield
Passenger side door
Passenger side seat (base)
Passenger side seat (upper)
Interior of passenger side door
Dome light
•Saturday, July 6, 1985, 8:15 am - A man walking his dog on Hidden Meadow Way, about a mile east of Applegate, CA, found Mary Lloyd’s body in the brush, down an embankment.
•An important note was published in the Roseville Press Tribune, March 19, 1986.
•The story concerned several unsolved homicides in Placer County, and covered the PG&E homicides and Mary Lloyd. As noted in the opening paragraph, Mary Lloyd and PG&E victim Bill Harrington were next door neighbors.
•While the above story (and correction) makes clear that APD Chief Nick Willick was “close friends” with Lloyd, none of the stories point out another important connection. At the time of the PG&E homicides in 1977, Chief Willick was neighbors to both Mary Lloyd and Bill Harrington, all on Sylvan Vista Drive.
• Willick continued to reside at that Sylvan Vista location until October of 1979, when he moved to South Auburn—near the Sisters Of Mercy Convent and the Kovacich residence.
• In the “Man In The Window” series, Chief Willick described the stalking and death threats as taking place immediately after he moved to his new residence, which places those events 1200 feet from the Kovacich residence.
• Additionally, Janet reported being stalked and followed by someone she thought she recognized as being an Auburn area police officer at exactly the same time DeAngelo was prowling Willick’s nearby home. Three of Willick’s neighbors were killed on weekday mornings with no apparent motive.
Top row: Composites of the man seen stabbing Mary Lloyd, and driving off with her in her car
Bottom row: Photos of DeAngelo in the mid-1980s
•There is no question that DeAngelo was familiar with the Safeway parking lot where Mary Lloyd was killed. It was on Auburn Ravine Road, one mile from DeAngelo’s house on Granite Lane, and a couple of blocks from the church where he and Sharon were married.
•DeAngelo answered numerous calls for service at that Safeway while he was a patrol officer for Auburn PD:
•DeAngelo was also very familiar with the area where Mary Lloyd’s car was left by her killer. DeAngelo's family lived about 4 miles from that location while his father was stationed at Van Nuys Air Force Base in 1958:
•Additionally, in June, 1985 DeAngelo was "looking for a job" while his wife, Sharon, was living and working in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. He regularly drove back and forth from their home in Citrus Heights--often stopping in Exeter to see his sister's family, and his parents who had moved there in May, 1983.
•Mary Lloyd had lived between Auburn PD Chief Nick Willick, and Bill Harrington (who was murdered in 1977 on the job with Carla Burkart in their PG&E vehicle at a Granite Bay home off Auburn-Folsom Road). Janet Kovacich was a close neighbor of Willick's from 1979 until she disappeared in 1982.
•Mary's case is one of 4 unsolved Placer homicides/attempts that involve a supermarket parking lot.