Judith Hakari

Recently engaged 24-year-old nurse, Judith Hakari, was last seen alive leaving her job at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento at 11:30 pm on Saturday, March 7, 1970. It was pouring rain and very windy, and her fiancee grew concerned when she didn't arrive home as expected. He couldn't see out into the parking lot from the apartment, so he hadn't noticed that she had parked her car. He later found it with the driver’s door open, the keys on the floor with a button from Judith’s coat, and bits of torn white towel on the back seat. 

•Although it was clear that Judith had been abducted by someone who either followed her from work, or was waiting in the parking lot, the Sacramento Sheriff’s investigators quickly grew frustrated at the lack of clues, and told the public that Judith had left voluntarily due to some type of personal pressures—she hadn’t.

•About 6 weeks after Judith was abducted, her body was found in a shallow grave off a remote mountain road that connects Foresthill and Weimer. The property was a local attraction due to the presence of an old abandoned gold mine. Judith was buried inside a large canvas laundry bag made exclusively for the San Juan School District in Sacramento. Torn white towels from a school gym were used as a gag and blindfold, and an unidentified sweatshirt was in the bottom of the bag. Judith had been strangled and beaten in the face, and although her underclothes were removed and found in the bag, there was no physical evidence of a sexual assault. Her purse and watch were missing and never found, but her engagement ring was still on her finger. Due to the location, the homicide investigation was assigned to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

There are several things about Judith’s kidnapping and homicide that specifically fit with DeAngelo:

•Torn towels were used as gags and/or blindfolds in almost every EAR attack;

•DeAngelo attacked two victims at their car, and the one who resisted was punched in the face so hard she had a broken nose, and briefly lost consciousness;

•DeAngelo was waiting in the driveway for the October 18, 1976 victim, and approached her with a weapon as soon as she parked—before she even exited the vehicle;

•Several of DeAngelo’s victims were, or had been students at San Juan High, the possible location of the theft of the bag, towels, and sweatshirt;

•DeAngelo lived and worked in Auburn, and was known to hunt, fish, camp, and SCUBA dive in the Foresthill/America River area; and

•Judith was a petite brunette in her early 20s—DeAngelo’s preferred victim profile.

Aspects of Judith’s case also match the other Placer homicides/attempts:

•Judith’s purse was never located like: “Nancy” (wallet only), Kovacich, Norris, Lloyd, and Wanner;

•Judith’s body was found on Ponderosa—the road that connects to Foresthill where Best/Sinclair and Wanner were found;

•Although she was partially undressed, there was no forensic evidence of sexual assault like: Best/Sinclair, Norris, Lloyd, Wanner, and Hawkley. “Nancy” said she was instructed to remove her underclothes as she was driving, possibly as a means of controlling her, or making it less likely that she would try to escape partially naked. The scenes could have been staged to make it appear that sexual assault was the motive to confuse the investigations;

•Judith was strangled like: Norris, Wanner, and Hawkley; and

•“Nancy” was approached as she returned to her car in the Albertson’s parking lot, and kidnapped under threat from a gun.