Deborah and Kathy

Karl F. Warner
On August 3, 1969, schoolmates Deborah Furlong, 14, and Kathy Snoozy, 15, rode their bikes to a wooded knoll overlooking their homes in the rugged Alameda Valley section of South San Jose, California. They brought a picnic lunch and meant to spend a quiet afternoon alone, unconscious of the fact that they had trespassed on a killer's private hunting ground.

When neither girl came home for supper, Debby Furlong's father started scouring the woods. He found a crowd of gawkers and police around the mutilated bodies of his daughter and her friend, laid out within a grove of trees from which their homes were visible. The medical examiner stopped counting at 300 stab wounds, all above the waist; in statements to the press, he would declare that "The Nazi sex mutilations during World War II were nothing compared to what was done to these young girls."

Infuriated parents launched patrols in San Jose, without result, while homicide investigators searched for clues. One theory linked the murders with an offshoot of the Manson "family"; another speculated on connections with the "Zodiac," an unidentified serial slayer whose latest mocking letter, on November 8, claimed seven victims rather than the five accounted for by solid evidence. It all came down to nothing in the end; the killer would remain at large for nearly two more years. before a new attack produced the necessary leads.

On April 11, 1971, 18-year-old Kathy Bilek chose the San Jose murder site as a prime spot for birdwatching. The killer found her there, using his favorite knife to stab her seventeen times in the back, thirty-two times in the chest and stomach, carefully avoiding contact with her breasts. Discovered early next morning, Bilek's wounds connected her murder with the previous killings, and police redoubled their efforts.

Two weeks later, armed with fresh descriptions of a suspicious man seen prowling the area, detectives focused their attention on Karl Warner, a former classmate of victims Furlong and Snoozy at Oak Grove High School. Warner lived with his parents, three blocks from the homes of the earliest victims, and he was also suspected in the stabbing of a woman who survived her wounds.

Police secured a warrant and surprised their suspect in the midst of-preparation for a college physics test. Their search turned up the murder knife, and Warner pled guilty on all counts in September 1971, receiving a sentence of life imprisonment. A background check eliminated him as a potential "Zodiac," since he had moved to California from Marlborough, Massachusetts, in early 1969, two and a half years after the first Zodiac murder.
from skcentral.com

Why were these murders linked to Manson, because of the multiple stab wounds in the corpses? Manson left Aselan insititute on Aug. 3, and went north, but he roamed mainly arounf Big Sur. San Jose was where Susan Atkins was raised, did he roamed there in August 1969 (before returning to Spahn)?

The murders were grisly and unsolved for some time and had slashing/stabbing.
Anything like that was examined as a matter of course by police in nearby jurisdictions.
They found their way to the killer on their own.

During 68 - 69 there had been estimates that the Family contained as many as 100 members, friends or associates, however, they weren't all in one group.
There were many scattered in various places and to keep track of who was in San Jose over a particular 2 day period is almost impossible.
It seems that almost any murder at the time with multiple stab wounds would almost automatically be blamed on the Family.

Just two weeks a go the bodies of two studetns were found in a burnt apartment in London, and the two suffered over 250 stab wounds. Maybe someone tried to copycat the Family modus operandis, espcecially after the interest in Susan Atkins' parole hearing.
However, the case of Deborah and Kathy is not the ame, because it was don BEFORE the Tate-LaBianca murders and only a week after the Gary Hinman murder.
Does anyone knows if they both came to Spahn Ranch in any time or were connected to Family members?

They were 14 & 15 at the time and not known to have met or befriended any mansonites.

Although they were in the "perfect age" for Manson, I too do think it is unlikely they were acquaintanced with the Mansonite, because they weren't drop-outs and didn't have the profile of the girls who got hooked by Manson.

It would be very hard not to look for a link from every murder scene to Manson.  The girls were threatening people from the courthouse, most of the family was still free, and willing to follow charlie's orders, and they even bragged a few times about 30+ victims.

I still believe they got away with a few other murders.  Maybe we can get a nice deathbed confession out of Sadie. 

It is very natural for police, when it comes to unsolved murders, to look at someone with the same MO.
Care to speculate on which you think Tex did before Cielo, Cats?

Just wondering if you had some new info.  ;D

[quote author=ecnivb link=topic=268.msg25809#msg25809 date=1216651864]
It is very natural for police, when it comes to unsolved murders, to look at someone with the same MO.
Care to speculate on which you think Tex did before Cielo, Cats?
[/quote]
Marina Habe, Mark Walts, Darwin Scott  all could be

[quote author=Coroner In Law link=topic=268.msg25819#msg25819 date=1216652935]
[quote author=ecnivb link=topic=268.msg25809#msg25809 date=1216651864]
It is very natural for police, when it comes to unsolved murders, to look at someone with the same MO.
Care to speculate on which you think Tex did before Cielo, Cats?
[/quote]
Marina Habe, Mark Walts, Darwin Scott all could be
[/quote]

The Darwin Scott one is a little far fetched isn't it?
I think it odd that someone went from LA to Kentucky just to knock him off.

Yes, we know that anything that came out of Danny's mouth is gospel. ;D ;D ;D  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Did the card ever get to him?