Today marks the tragic anniversary of the double murder in Benicia, California that occurred 55 years ago and officially started The Zodiac Killer's twisted reign of terror. 17 year old David Faraday and 16 year old Bettilou Jensen were parked at a turnout called "Gate 13" that was also known as a "lover's lane" area. It was Jensen's first date. At around 11:15pm, the killer approached their car and fired a warning shot from a .22 caliber weapon at the vehicle that Police suspect may have been a J.C. Higgens Model 80. Bettilou fled the vehicle first, but as David attempted to follow, was hit once in the head and went unconscious. Bettilou attempted to run to safety, but was shot five times in the back.
After a passerby discovered the crime scene, Police responded and arrived to find Bettilou already dead, but David clinging to life. There were several scattered cartridges for "Winchester Super-X" .22 Ammo, similar to the unsolved 1963 double murder of Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards in Lompoc. David died of his injury on the way to the hospital.
Witnesses would come forward the next day, stating that the night of the murders, they spotted a man standing on the opposite side of the road from the crime scene, he was described as "WMA, approx. 28 years, dressed in dark clothing; holding a gun with a long barrel by his side."
To this day, the case, along with the other Zodiac crimes, have gone cold.
