incorrectly reported as 1936 in book.
April 20, 1931.
Aged 17, san diego, killed by sex fiend. found naked and hung by the neck in a scene of a supposed tryst..
Timeline of events:
Thursday - April 16, 1931:
- Evening - argued with father, and left home without permission to attend a roadhouse dance with a youth her father could not remember the name of. "She wanted to go out, but I told her that she had been out the night before and that whatever friends she planned to go out she would have to entertain at home. She got mad and I scolded her. I told her absolutely that she could not go out. I was eating dinner and she tried to get out the back door, but I grabbed her. She was wearing overalls because she was going roller skating, but I made her put on a dress." Her father said that she spent the evening on the porch, talking to a youth he knew well. He said that at 10pm, he made he enter the house , and that she bade him good night and left the room.
Friday - April 17, 1931:
- Morning - last seen by her sister. A note left for her sister was found.
- Noon - She was talking to a woman in heart of town at noon, Louise then entered a car in which two men were riding.
- Evening: she left again to go out at night. Seen at party with Cyril Smith as her date, Lillian Dussberry and Lillian's male companion She mentioned to Lillian that her unidentified boyfriend was "the dearest man I have ever known and I am eloping with him to Chicago tomorrow night." Her father heard her enter the house at 11:45pm, but he did not see her.
Saturday - April 18, 1931:
- Noon - supposed to have a date with Edwin Spencer, but she broke it and told him she was quitting her job and leaving for Seattle. This does not add up to her coworkers saying she was headed for Chicago. Her father and fellow clerk at her store, Dorris Sena, testified thatLouise had wanted to go to Chicago to live. Teuber said he wanted Louise to wait until she was 18. Miss Sena told of paying off Louise at 5:35pm. "I have her $11.65. I asked her to stay unil the following Thursday, but she told me she was leaving for Chicago that night."
- 5:30pm - quit her job and then left work, told employees she was leaving town to elope in Chicago and they would hear from her in about 2 or 3 weeks at the latest.
- 5:35pm - She spoke to Cyril Smith and said she told him she had a date that night.
- Between 5:40pm and 5:50pm - she was seen in two downtown shops purchasing lingerie.
- 7pm - seen getting into a man's car and leaving downtown area.
- 10:30pm - at a sandwich shop located on the Encanto-Grossmont road leading to Black Mountain, a sailor bought two sandwiches and a soda pop at 10:30pm. Th sailor said one of the sandwiches was for a girl, who was inside an car parked outside.
- Between 10:30pm and Midnight - she ate an egg sandwich.
Sunday- April 19, 1931:
- 1 am - a car was seen car driving up the Mission Gorge Road with Louise in the car.
- 1:30am - the same car was seen parked on a side road less than a quarter of a mile from the crime scene.
- Louise was killed some time between 1:30 am and noon. Stripped naked, clothes piled neatly, struck on head, probably from behind with heavy instrument, while she was passed out from the blow, a rope was slung over tree limb and secured to a stump by assailant, then strangled Louise with rope to death. Was not raped or sexually assaulted.
- Noon - her body was found hanging. She was said to have been dead at least 8 hours.
- 7pm - William Teuber received letter by special delivery.
Crime Scene:
Her body was found hanging from an oak tree on Black Mountain, presented authorities with the problem of deciding which of many motives was the right one. Sheriff's investigators believed that Louise was struck on the back of the head and suspended from the oak tree about midnight Saturday. Sometime after midnight, the girl was strangled with a 30 foot long hemp rope pulled across a limb and tied to a stump and there, 12 hours later, a father, Thomaso "Tony" Martinez, happened upon the body while searching for a picnic spot for his family. He found her body dangling, clad only in a brassiere and a pair of shoes. The body was found dangling from a high limb of a live oak tree, the heels of the feet scraping the ground. Police were summoned and immediately cut the body down.
The oak tree was 60 feet from a trail leading up from Murray Dam. It was a favorite picnicking spot.
Robbery and sexual assault were immediately discarded as motives by Sheriff Ed Cooper.
Autopsy Results:
A thorough examination conducted by Coroner Chester Gunn and two autopsy surgeons sought to determine whether she had been sexually assaulted and by what means she had been slain. County autopsy surgeon, Dr. Frank E. Toomey indicated the girl had not been sexually assaulted before or after she was killed and that she was not pregnant.
It also was determined that there was a slight concussion caused by a blow at the base of the head, behind the left ear with a heavy weapon, probably with a blackjack, and the force of this blow was probably sufficient to have caused unconsciousness. Dr. Toomey, testified concerning the condition of Louise's body and said and the bruise at the hairline could have been caused by a blow from a fist with a ring on one finger. Two definite bruises were found on the head, one behind the right ear and the other just above the hairline. These puncture wounds were similar to those made by a ring, Dr. Toomey reported. He added that there was no sign of a fractured skull.
The marks of violence showed that both arms were bruised as if someone was pinning her down, she also had bruises on her neck and shoulders, and a bruise on her left hip. The neck was not broken, according to the autopsy report.
Concerning the rope marks found on the girl's neck, blood clots on her neck indicated that she may have been alive but unconscious when suspended from the tree. Dr. Toomey also said that she must have been alive before being hanged because of the adhesion of leaves and grass to her head and skin. he said she was still alive when hanged after being stretched nude on her back on the ground for some time. He added that there was no sign of a fractured skull.
She was certainly alive during the hanging or strangulation as scratches were found on her hands, ears, face and neck. A struggling victim may produce long patterned scratch marks on her own face or neck trying to pry her assailant's hands or ligature off her neck. Fingernail marks may appear as patterned abrasions on the skin. Curvilinear abrasions may be produced by the victim's own fingernails. The victim while struggling to release her assailant's stranglehold, may injure herself by scraping her fingernails into the skin of the face or throat. Louise was found to have human skin under her fingernails.
Her body also had the marks of a single strand of rope on the right side of the neck and a double strand on the left side. External injury, including the dramatic rope burns or ligature abrasion, only occurs after the body has been suspended for several hours after death. If the ligature was released at the moment of death, there would be no mark on the skin. After the body has hanged suspended by the ligature for a few hours, a very dramatic furrow and ligature abrasion will develop post-mortem.
According to the autopsy report, Miss Teuber's arms were perpendicular to the rest of the body. This fact leads authorities to believe that perhaps she was strangled to death by the rope before her body was suspended from the tree. This is further indicated by numerous small bruises on her shoulders and the dirt and leaves found on her back. There also were eight inch heel slide marks on the ground. Dr. Toomey reported that further injuries include nail marks, not scratches, on the left ear and along the sides of the neck; a small bruise on the mid-line of the neck and several abrasions on her shoulder and back. The back also showed marks as if made by pressure of twigs or rocks.
Dr. Toomey said the girl's stockings were neatly rolled about five inches below the knees and her shoes were on her feet. Dr. Toomey further stated that Louise was well developed and that she weighed approximately 120 lbs.
The autopsy report definitely stated that the girl had not been sexually attacked and that her death was homicidal.
The police surgeons said that the girl had been dead eight hours. At the inquest it was learned that authorities who reconstructed the crime believe the slayer failed in the first effort to hang the girl. The rope burns on the oak tree led to this theory. It was also decided that Louise was hanged with her feet off of the ground but that her weight caused the bough to bend after she had been suspended several hours.
Police initially believed Louise may have been poisoned or drugged. Coroner Gunn said "I am trying to determine chemically whether Louise Teuber was given an aphrodisiac drug, whether she was given knockout drops, and also what type of food she ate at her last meal." No poison or chemicals were reportedly found in her stomach contents or blood. So we know this was not part of the crime.
Analysis of an undigested egg sandwich found in the stomach contents revealed that Louise ate the egg sandwich approximately an hour and a half before she died. Ernst Munkowski, chemist at the county hospital clinic, completed an examination of the girl's vital organs and announced the food clue.
The Diary:
Coroner Dunn made public during the autopsy that investigators had found the girl's diary, a little book of brown leather with gold bindings and a small padlock was "five-year diary", containing dates leaves for that length of time. Her writings showed she was interested in her work and in such diversions as swimming, flying, movies and dancing. No wild sex parties were revealed in the pages of her diary. Mention was made of a fight with her father and her older sister Isabel. Beginning at January 1, 1031 and omitting dates where Louise wrote only the single word "worked", the diary read:
--Jan 1. "Happy new year. Went over to D & H house at 9:30, come home at 3. Went to party at North Park."
--Jan 2. "Isabel's anniversary. Had a party, fifteen guests, had a fight with the boy friend and he drove off without saying goodbye. No work."
--Jan 16. "Work to-day. The boy friend said he would come up. Hope he will take me out."
--Jan 17. "Bought shoes. Went with Mary downtown. Stayed with her all night. Took bath at 5 am."
--Feb 3. "D. came after me. It rained and we had a keen time."
--Feb 4. "Went skating with boy friend. He had a keen time. The whole gang was there."
--March 29. "Read in afternoon. Fight with dad."
--April 12 "Going flying. Slept until about 11:30 pm."
"Went to church."
"Went skating; always have a great time. The kid was wonderful. Oh, boy!"
"Went to a dance at night."
"Am going flying this afternoon."
Together with the diary and some letters from young men, more than 20 names of male acquaintances were revealed, mostly those of enlisted navy men, or youths the girl knew in high school or continuation school, which she attended twice a week. These men, some of them married or engaged, had attended parties and dances with Louise, and were questioned by police in an effort to uncover clues to the slayer. No one man was named so frequently that authorities suspected she was in love.
A Letter from The Happy Kid:
A letter written by Louise, was delivered to her father hours after she had been murdered and her body suspended from the limb of a tree near Black Mountain, it was revealed today by the sheriff's office. The letter read:
"Dear Dad, I have tried for a long time to be satisfied with the way you are running the house and I can stand it no longer. I am leaving home tonight and i am not coming back."
The letter, a special delivery, written by "The Happy Kid" was stamped at the post office at 7pm Saturday evening and had been mailed in San Diego. Sheriff Ed Cooper declared that either the girl had mailed the letter at an out of the way box, or the slayer, finding it after Louise had been killed, figuring that its delivery to her father would keep him from becoming alarmed and possibly result in the body being undiscovered for days. Sheriff Cooper said he was inclined to believe from the letter, that some man, closely associated with Louise, may have been the slayer.
William Teuber, the girl's father, a well to do barber, owning his own shop, shared his home at 4049 Vermont Street with his mother-in-law, 75 year old, Mrs. Christine Tengblade, with whom Louise had resided. Mr. Teuber said he was forced to spend a lot of time at his barbershop and that much of the authority in rearing Louise and care of his home fell to his aged mother-in-law as his wife Eleanor had died in 1916. Mr. Teuber revealed that Louise had not been home since last Thursday and that search for her among her friends prior to Sunday had failed. The grandmother grief stricken by the tragedy made it plain that she had always fought with Teuber over his parenting ideas. She believed in the old fashioned Victorian ideals of raising girls, while Teuber thought differently. "We did the best we could," he said. " I wanted Louise to be modern. I never questioned her goodness nor her judgment. I let her pick her own friends because I trusted my girl to the utmost limit. I had no idea it would lead to this. Louise's death has stunned me. I cannot for a moment imagine why anyone should harm her."
Mr. Teuber said that he told Louise on Thursday night that she could not go out with some youth, whose name the father did not remember. "She later slipped out of the back door" and left home without permission to attend a roadhouse dance. "When she came home Friday I scolded her. That was the last time I saw her." He said she left home Friday night also without permission. He revealed that his last quarrel with her was over her addiction to "too many dances." Regarding the letter, he said, "I cannot understand it, I knew of nothing serious between us. There had been minor disputes in the last few months - mainly because Louise wanted to go out nights more than I thought was right."
A second note was left by Louise, addressed to her sister Isabel and was found in the Teuber home. It mentioned her dissatisfaction with home conditions and voiced her desire to become a "modern". She was unhappy about how she was being treated, how early she had to come home at night and was angry at being told with whom she might or might nor keep company. Three times Louise had written "Dear Sis" on sheets of tablet paper before she composed the following message:
"Dear Sis: When you get this note, tell the folks not to worry, I am having a good time. Looking for a job. Awful hot, too. I couldn't stay in San Diego another day and am going as far as I can. Maybe I'm dippy, but try to forget me and good luck and good-bye. You may hear from me soon. Louise Teuber. United States whooppeeeeee."
On a margin of the note was drawn a crude skull and crossbones and a circle and on the same portion of the paper was written"To hell with you and everybody else."
On the other note paper Miss Teuber had doodled several masks of comedy and tragedy such as are used to designate the theatre, and a little picture of a man riding on a dirigible.
Although the case was in the hands of the sheriff's office, all police detectives were placed under the command of Sheriff Cooper in an effort to solve the second mysterious death of a girl within three months. Virginia Brooks, a 10 year old school girl, was kidnapped from her home early in February and her battered body was found on Camp Kearny Mesa about a month later on March 11. The girl's body was found sexually assaulted and trussed in a gunny sack by Jesus Martinez, a Mexican sheep herder working in the area. Police could find no link which might connect Louise's slaying to that of Virginia.
Was She Secretly Married?:
Relatives and friends were summoned for questioning. First to appear was Isabel Prouty, elder sister of Louise.
Louise was a clerk in a five and dime store. Girls who were her friends at the store said she gave up her job Saturday night and told them she was going away, but refused to say where. Co-worker Myetta Farris said that "Louise quit her job Saturday night at the end of business and said to me: 'I'm going away from the city, but not for very long. You'll be sure to hear from me within two or three weeks at the latest. She did not say where she was going, or with whom or why."
Twenty friends of Miss Teuber were questioned at the sheriff's office, who wanted to learn if Louise had any new or recently developed admirers. She was said to be extremely popular, some would call her a "whoopee girl", without any known enemies. In the 1920-30s, a "whoopee girl" was a joyous, socially-active, pleasure-seeking, sexually free woman, who enjoyed "making whoopee". Friends described Louise as unusually pretty - blue eyed, with dark brown bobbed hair and a slender, graceful figure.
It was told that Louise had an alleged schoolgirl romance with a married man was revealed by her work friend, Miss Myretta Farris, and her brother-in-law JA Pouty, a naval employee. Myretta revealed that "Louise discussed her future with me several times. She said she didn't know whether she would go back to school or leave town. I knew she was going with a married man so I asked my own mother if she thought it was wrong for Louise to go with this fellow. My mother said positively it was wrong and I should tell Louise not to go with him any more."
The married man was questioned at the sheriff's office. The sheriff said the man convinced him that he knew nothing about the girls murder and was released. Authorities put forth a theory that she was the victim of a "love lynching" by a jealous woman, perhaps a wife who objected to attentions paid the girl by her sailor husband. "There are plenty of indications that a number of women may have had reason to be jealous of Miss Teuber," Sheriff Cooper said.
On the night of her murder, she had made six different engagements with six different boys. She averaged two or three dates a night, her diary revealed.
Blanche Webb, a former employee in the five and ten cent store where Louise worked, told authorities that she believed that her friend was "secretly married to a sailor or a private in the Marines". Miss Webb declared that Louise frequently was heard to speak of "her marriage" and said that she was going out with a number of other young men to keep the secret from her father. "When I work a little longer and save some money, I am going to join my husband," Miss Webb quoted Louise as saying.
She had not, as was thought possible, been married. A thorough search of records in all southern California and nearby Mexican towns and cities failed to reveal a record of such a ceremony. Also, her sister Isabel declared "No, she wasn't married - she loved good times too much."
Louise was a play girl, fond of "boy friends" and "keen times", as was revealed in her diary mentioned earlier. But she apparently was secretly engaged.
"For several weeks, it seems Louise told her various friends she was leaving, but not until the last week did she definitely state the Chicago was to be her goal. We are trying to locate some friend with whom Louise confided a more detailed account of her proposed elopement," said Sheriff Coooper.
Her Movements that Day:
Sheriff Cooper tried to reconstruct the tragedy using available clues and succeeded in checking the movements of the girl up to 7pm Saturday evening.
She left work at 5:30pm, and spoke for a few minutes to Cyril Smith, 19, an instructor in an airplane welding factory. He was among the first of the men to be questioned, and was released when he established an alibi. Smith said he had talked with Louise Saturday night when she left her work at the store about 5:35pm. She told him she had a date that night. He also said that "Miss Teuber had more dates than any girl I ever knew."
Between 5:40 and 5:50 she was seen in two downtown stores purchasing the undergarments later found near her body.
At 7pm on Saturday, the photographer Jones reported that an unknown young man was seen picking up Louise from a downtown store in a car.
A mysterious older man, with whom Louise said she planned to elope to Chicago, was sought by Sheriff Cooper in connection with the murder. Cooper said he had learned Miss Teuber attended a party the night before she was slain and had said the unidentified boy was "the dearest man I have ever known and I am eloping with him to Chicago tomorrow night." Lillian Dussberry, a friend of Miss Teuber, said she had talked about the youth and had described the car he drove, but had not mentioned his name. Officer Oliver Sexson said, "This new witness told us she asked Louise to go on a party with her Saturday night but that Louise told her she was going to elope to Chicago with a new "sweetie'." Cyril Smith, aviator and boy friend of Louise, accompanied Louise, Lillian and Lillian's male companion to the party on Friday night. A woman reported that she was talking to Louise on a street corner in the heart of town that same Friday at noon, and that Louise left her to enter a small roadster in which two men were riding.
Authorities believed that this secret friend of the girl, knowing that she was restless at home and wanted to go away, induced her to go with him; that he met her Saturday evening, not long after she told her fellow employees that she was "going away"; that he took her to his home, where she spent the evening and wrote the farewell letter to her father; and that he then drove her to the remote hillside as part of a deliberate plan to get rid of her.
What we know is that Louise was taken to Black Mountain by one or two male friends or even a man and a woman, probably willingly. Police felt that she presumed she was going to live elsewhere with the person who murdered her, because of the overnight bag with her belongings was found nearby. Her body was stripped of its clothing with the exception of shiny black oxford pumps and gunmetal black silk hose rolled up to her knees. To be especially provocative, flappers during that time period rolled their stockings down to the knees, Louise probably felt it was sexy and "modern".
Witnesses said at 1 am on Sunday morning that they saw a car driving up the Mission Gorge Road with Louise in the car, and, who, half an hour later, saw a car of the same description parked on a side road less than a quarter of a mile from the oak tree where she was found hanging. Her shoes and feet indicated that she had walked some distance over a dusty road before death. Numerous heelprints from a woman's shoes were on the soft ground of the glade.
A small change purse and card case, identified as hers, were found about 300 yards south of the spot where the body was discovered. Both the purse and card case were empty and apparently had been thrown from a car. When Louise left the store where she worked, she was known to have had $11, but the money was missing when the purse was discovered.
Discovery of tire tracks off to the side of the road, about a quarter mile from the tree were clearly imprinted on the soft ground as if the car had been brought to an abrupt halt. The tracks matched the tires that were on a car of the same make as one long sought in the mystery. Louise was said to have left the downtown section of San Diego in a Ford car. A search was attempted for the car but was unsuccessful. A car such as described was seen frequently across the street from the store Louise had worked. These clues indicate Louise drove away from San Diego with some man, they drove off the road, left the car and walked to the spot where the girl's body was found. There, after she was killed, the slayer, callously taking the coin purse from her handbag, returned to his car, took from the purse whatever money it held, threw it away and drove off.
An abandoned car, stolen from outside a San Diego dance hall, was found on College Way on April 20, 1931, and containing an overnight bag, packed with feminine garments, and toilet articles that were believed to be those of the Teuber girl. Her grandmother examined the bag and its contents and declared that Louise was not the owner, however, Louise could have purchased it without her grandmother knowing. The steering wheel and other parts of the car were examined for fingerprints that might lead to the identity of the driver. I have not found any other information concerning this vehicle or if it was even part of the crime.
The Rope & its Knot:
She could not have hanged herself, because of the peculiar knot about the throat, a neatly tied double half hitch knot, a knot police felt the girl could not have tied herself. The knot, police said, apparently had been tied by someone familiar with handling nautical knots, such as a sailor. Two enlisted men of the Marine corps who were known acquaintances of the girl were questioned but not held. Police said the pair accounted for every minute between the time Miss Teuber left the store Saturday night and the time her scantily clad body was found Sunday.
While the double half-hitch is used by others except seamen, the girl numbered several sailors among her acquaintances and San Diego has many local and transient seamen. J. Horner, a former navy man who was an instructor in "knot tying" said that the knot was not a Navy knot, nor were the specific type of half-hitches used by the same as those used by the Navy. Horner said the rope showed every evidence of having been used on a block and tackle outfit and probably was from construction or rigging outfit.
The rope was identified by San Diego ship chandler TE McCaffrey as being made in San Francisco at the Tubbs Cordage company. It was sold by only two or three dealers in San Diego. The rope was confirmed by Herman Newby to have been part of a sailor's equipment, used for tying sailor's duffle bags and hammocks aboard ships. The rope was worn, oily and stretched, indicating it had been used for some heavy duty prior to the murder, it was tested for salt water and the results were negative, so it was not used in a salt water location. The half inch Manilla line rope was definitely identified as a navy man's hammock lashing which was sold to a local garage and later passed into the hands of a garage employee, who again sold it. William Eldridge, president of a local cab company, did not recognize the rope as the one used by his company in towing disabled cars.
Police believed that she was first hit in the head with the blunt instrument to knock her out, then strangled and hoisted at a rope's end to make it appear that she committed suicide. The coroner said "I believe the reason the murderer left the body in plain view of the road was because he knew the girl had left home and he wanted to make it appear a suicide. He knew she had written notes to her father and sister telling the, she was leaving town."
The scene of the tragedy when officers reached it presented further perplexing mysteries. At the base of the large oak tree from which she was suspended, was carved with a large letter "T", it was learned.. Whether on a previous visit at the Black Mountain trysting-place this was carved, or according to tree experts, could have been placed there the night she met her death, was still a question.
There was no indication of a great struggle near the tree. Sheriff Cooper said he believed the girl's struggles ceased some distance from the tree after she was struck on the head by a heavy weapon. Tiny trailing marks scraped into the earth, believed to have been caused by the heels of the girl's shoes showed that she was dragged a short distance towards the gallows and hanged.
The rope had been flung over a limb 15 feet above the ground and the other end tied to a stump of a bush about 10 feet away. Examination of the limb of the tree showed that the rope, apparently with a weight on it, had been drawn across the wood. The girls torso was raised a few inches off the ground and her body was in a semi-sitting position with heels of her shoes resting on the ground. The fact that the body had not been lifted from the ground, was significant evidence, they said.
At the inquest it was learned that authorities who reconstructed the crime believe the slayer failed in the first effort to hang the girl. The rope burns on the oak tree led to this theory. It was also decided that Louise was hanged with her feet off of the ground but that her weight caused the bough to bend after she had been suspended several hours.
If the rope had been kept as part of the evidence, and was still available today, it would be subjected to intense examination for DNA of the killer and the victim.
A Female Suspect?
Early on in the investigation, the authorities still felt the theory of a jealous wife killing Louise was a plausible one. They believed that the fact that the girl had been dragged for some distance to the oak tree, that the person who knotted the noose about her neck, was not of sufficient strength to pull the entire weight of the body clear of the ground and that the scratches made on the body evidently were made by the sharp, pointed fingernails of another woman, rather than by Louise's own hands.
Using the very rope that killed her, Sheriff Cooper and his aides conducted a series of experiments that convinced them considerable strength was necessary to hoist the girl's body across the limb of the oak. "Whoever perpetrated this crime was strong. Rope burn marks to the tree similar to those left by the murderer were made by us during our reconstruction of the crime and convince us that either a powerful man or a person so moved by anger or passion as to become abnormally endowed with strength for the moment did the deed," said Cooper.
Cooper further elaborated, "We know that the person who suspended Louise Teuber's body from the oak tree had a complete knowledge of ropes and of necessity must have been a strong man. No woman could have gotten either a live or dead person in the position which we found Miss Teuber's body. The tying of the knots, the half hitches and the splicing, also the careful balancing of weight, all indicate that the man was either an seaman or had worked as a rigger."
This ruled out a woman as the perpetrator.
The Photographer Angle:
Louise's clothing was of good quality and was piled neatly a few feet from the body, a white blouse, blue sports skirt, a green smock such is worn by clerks, new lingerie and Miss Teuber's black fur-collared coat on top. A new theory was presented and believed that she disrobed voluntarily and was posing either for photographs or for some observer shortly before she was slain, due to the fact that her clothes were neatly piled and that she had prior experience in posing for nude photos.
Sheriff Cooper said, that there may had been a series of artsy "wood nymph" photographs made by her slayer before the death struggle was enacted. This could fit in with a motive of why she was there in such a nude state and perhaps why she was not sexually assaulted as that was not part of the plan. But why was the photographer taking photos late at night in the woods with no extra lighting? Why would a photographer bring a long rope to a session, was it for a series of bondage type photos? Why did she purchase new hose and a brassiere? Was she planning on wearing this for a photographer or to wear on her upcoming honeymoon in Chicago.
Because there were no identification marks found on the clothing, officers initially expressed some difficulty of the victim. However, in a pocket of the girl's coat were found four addresses, three of them of men and the other of a girl, Mary Batey. Batey worked as a clerk in the same 5 and dime as Louise, was located and taken to the funeral home to identify the body. She identified the body as that of her co-worker Louise, but she was unable to give officers the street address of the victim.
In a parcel nearby were found a brassiere and a pair of hose, purchased, according to a downtown store ticket on Saturday and never worn. An army blanket was spread on the ground near the heap of clothing. Condition of the blanket on which the girl had been laid previous to the hanging, indicated, it was said that she was either dying or dead, when the slayer placed the noose about her neck and pulled her body to the limb of the tree. The blanket was being closely scrutinized for some mark which might lead police to its owner, unfortunately it did not bear any clues.
The girl's purse, devoid of money, found in the underbrush with the clothing, contained cards and slips of paper with her name and the names of several men. Officers withheld the names and addresses found in the purse. It may be, Sheriff Ed Cooper thought, that the murderer, knowing Louise's habit of keeping such items, searched for his own betraying card; perhaps found it and took it with him. The youths whose names were on the cards were checked. None of them could help, some of them had not seen Louise for months.
Since we know her last meal was an egg sandwich she consumed approximately an hour and a half before she died, Sheriff Copper immediately sent men with pictures of the girl to all lunch stands, amusement places and other establishments in a radius of several miles from the spot where she was found murdered. "This examination leads us to believe that Miss Teuber was enjoying herself near Black Mountain shortly before she was killed. It is our hope that we can find some one in one of the lunch counters or amusement places who saw her and can describe her companions at the time," Sheriff Copper stated.
The proprietor of the only sandwich shop located on the Encanto-Grossmont road leading to Black Mountain said that a sailor bought two sandwiches and a soda pop at 10:30pm on Saturday night. The sailor said one of the sandwiches was for a girl, who was waiting inside an car parked outside. The proprietor of the eatery said the girl did not come inside so he did not get a look at her.
The Coroner's Inquest:
At the coroner's inquest on April 27, 1931, Louise's father broke down, sobbed uncontrollably and collapsed as the county autopsy surgeon, Dr. Frank Toomey, was testifying concerning the condition of Louise's body. He later regained his composure but throughout the inquest he sat in the background with a handkerchief at his eyes. Witnesses were questioned by Frank Pomeranz, deputy District Attorney, and Chester Gunn, Coroner at La Mesa.
Mr. Tueber bared intimate family details concerning various home disputes he had with Louise including her addiction to "too many dances." He stated that "I had not seen my daughter since Thursday evening when we had an argument about her going out." Her father said "She wanted to go out, after being out late the night before. I told her to entertain her company at home."
Mrs. Isabel Prouty, sister of the slain girl, said that she had last seen Louise Friday morning and the following that Louise left a note at her home saying she was going away. "Louise never mentioned Seattle to me. I know of no one here that she may have been acquainted with. She frequently talked about going to Chicago. In fact, her father promised to send her on her eighteenth birthday and she was saving $2.50 each week out of her salary toward her trip to Chicago."
At the inquest, one of the policemen held up the clothes found near Louise's body and asked her sister to identify them. Louise was clad in a sports outfit consisting of a light blue silk skirt, white silk blouse, gunmetal silk hose, and dark oxford shoes, a black coat trimmed in dark fur.
Others who testified were: Myretta Farris, Dora Sena and Evelyn Bird, employees of the store in which Louise worked; Edwin Spencer, taxicab driver; Tony Martinez, who discovered the body; Cyril Smith and Leslie Airhart, two of Louise's asserted "boy friends", and several officers.
After listening to the testimony of seventeen witnesses, a Coroner's jury deliberated for thirty minutes then brought in a verdict that "Louise Teuber, shop girl, met deal at the hands of a person of persons unknown." JS Jones was foreman of the jury.
On April 28, 1931, Simple rites were held in a funeral parlor for Louise. The body was creamated after the services and the ashes turned over to her family. Plain clothes officers attended the service in the chance that the slayer would attend and betray himself.
Perhaps in response to any rumors flying around targeting men of color, Sheriff Cooper denied a that there was a "Negro suspected of slaying Miss Teuber."
In June 1931, a reward of $600 was raised by subscription among men connected with the Sheriff's office for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer of Louise. "We are very anxious to find the man that killed Miss Teuber. This fund has been given voluntarily by men who dislike the idea of seeing the guilty man go free," said Sheriff Cooper. An additional reward of $500 was posted by her father.
Louise's father, William Teuber, about 60 years old, was found dead of heat exposure in his car near Perry, Oklahoma in July 1933. He never did find out who killed his daughter.
Not So Closed Case:
In 1934, Sheriff Ed Cooper marked the murder case "closed" when he announced the girl had committed suicide. This statement was based on a report made by Virgil P. Gray of Lose Angeles, crime expert, who was brought here by the sheriff to investigate unsolved crimes. Why they went back to the "suicide" theory is beyond me other than to close the crime officially. Personally, I still consider this an unsolved crime, the killer has never been found, Louise has never received any justice for her undeserved death.
It is clear she did not do this to herself. She did not drive herself out there. She did not hit the back of her head on her own. She could not have mailed the letter hours after her body was found. If she committed suicide, why was there no scuffing in the dirt from her feet around her body? If she was to commit suicide, why did she tell her friends and coworkers her intentions of Chicago and eloping? Where would she have obtained the rope and the Army blanket? Why didn't she leave a suicide note with her body?
My theory is that her and the man she claimed to be eloping with had went to the store in downtown San Diego and purchased the stockings and bra. This may have explained where her missing money could have went. Did she give him money for the sandwiches and soda or did he pay for it out of his own pocket?
I think to save on motel money, they were probably going to camp out in the car overnight and then leave in the morning for the long drive to Chicago. They drove up the road to the base of the mountain, its remote location could help keep her from being located by her family who would have panicked when they found it she ran away. They parked about a quarter mile from the trysting location, perhaps the road did not go that far or the terrain was too rocky, being a mountain and all.
The decided to go up to the trysting spot to eat their sandwiches, chit chat and maybe fool around before sleeping. Walking up the road, one of them must have been carrying a flashlight to see in the intense darkness of the woods. Along the way, her shoes got dusty from the trek and was freshly evident when they found her body.
The army blanket was spread on the ground to comfortably sit down on and later lay on for some "whoopee." Louise carefully removed her nice clothes and neatly piled them near the blanket. Perhaps quite a bit of some necking and heavy petting commenced. Sweet nothings whispered to one another. Futures were being discussed. But something went wrong before they attempted sexual intercourse.
Either her beau got a case of cold feet and changed his mind at the last minute to marry her or was already married and told her that he was not leaving his wife to marry her. She was known to be dating a married man prior to her death, which could explain why she refused to tell anyone his name in an effort to keep his wife from knowing.
So many thoughts racing inside her head: she just quit her job, told her family and friends she was leaving San Diego, her plans to go to Chicago dashed, her entire future was ruined. Ultimately realizing she was duped, she would have definitely gotten angry, feeling ashamed and embarrassed, perhaps telling him she was going to tell his wife or publicly humiliate him in revenge. She could have even told him she thought she was pregnant and was going to sue him for child support.
Still angry, she got up to put her clothes back on, probably calling him some nasty names, and as she bent over to pick up her clothing, he had an instant moment of dread and hit her in the back of the head with the blunt instrument, possibly the flashlight. Flashlights during that time were very heavy, and could be made up of Bakelite or metal. He knows he cannot leave her alive, she knows who he is, she can get him in a lot of trouble.
On the other hand, this man could also be one of her former boy friends, who was being thrown over for a the man she claimed she was going to marry. If this is the case, he was likely around the same age as Louise or a few years older and in early twenties. Had a macho image, with a strong homophobic attitude. He had a well-attended to car. He was probably a heavy user of alcohol to bolster his courage. Had a history of perpetrating crimes. Probably a high school drop-out, may have served in military, but service is generally poor and terminated prematurely. He came from the same area where she lived or worked. He would have had an arrogant attitude. He may have been confronting her and making accusations, which in turn builds his anger. He could have been attempting to rape her this time, but could not get sufficiently aroused enough to make penetration possible. Semen might never have been found if he could not achieve an erection. She may have ridiculed him, laughed at him, called him names, and it set him off. When a killer feels his sexual competency threatened, that is when he loses control and kills through pummeling and manual strangulation. She may have been attempting to get dressed after sex was not possible. He used the flashlight initially as it could be used as a weapon of opportunity. He would have taken it with him and disposed of it within five miles of the body. He may have taken a small trinket as a souvenir to relive the encounter, she was still wearing her watch, but she may have had a necklace, hat or ring. The body would have been left in a bizarre stage of undress and position. He had no sense of remorse or guilt. He could however, develop a sense of sentimentality and help search for the victim or be very cooperative with the investigation, though careful to avoid detection.
Knocked unconscious by the blow, he probably started manually strangling her. Louise may have started awakening at this time, moaning, confused, struggling to breathe, she may have tried to get up or roll over from a prone position. He sees her movements and pushes her down on her back, bruising her hip, pinning her shoulders down, leaving bruises in her soft flesh, trying to keep his hands around her neck. Leaves and dirt are getting caught up in her hair and caked on her body. He may have been trying to punch her in the face to knock her back out or quiet her if she were screaming, as her forearms were bruised defensively held up trying to protect her neck and face. She further panics, squirming underneath him, her hands desperately trying to get her fingers around his squeezing hands on her neck.
When someone is being strangled, they will often try to regain control of their airway, by trying to pry the hands of the perpetrator off of them which can leave injuries on their neck and also leave the assailant with scratch marks or injuries on their face and hands. Her sharp fingernails scratched at her own neck and face, leaving terrible red claw marks against her pale skin. His hand still clamped around her neck, he feels the fight draining from her, but he continues until she is no longer moving.
Now he had to figure a way to relieve himself of suspicion. A suicide, make it look like a suicide. Quick thinking, he remembered he had a rope, he ran down the quarter mile to his car, sought the rope he probably stored in the trunk, and ran back up the road to the trysting spot. Throwing an end of the rope up over the tree limb and tying the other to the tree stump nearby. He dragged her limp body over to the tree, the heels of her shoes scraping the earth below. He loops the rope around her neck, tying the double half-hitch knots tight behind her head, but she may have made a noise or movement being just barely alive, he pulls the noose as tight as he can, leaving scarlet rope burns amongst the ugly bruising on her neck, just to make sure she is really dead this time.
He doesn't bother to grab the blanket or make any attempt to hide her handbag or clothing. He does rifle through the purse and grabbed the little coin purse. If there was any money left inside, he snatched it and tossed the coin purse outside his car. He barreled down the dirt road and disappeared forever. He probably read the newspapers fervently, keeping track of the investigation progress. Who was he? Where did he go? Was he already married? Was he in the military? Why did he kill her? What did she do that she had to pay for it with her life? Did he kill before? What we do know, is that this man got away with murder.
We do have some indications this man was in the military, why else would he have had an army type issued blanket, used nautical knots, he was described as a sailor who bought her last meal.
In the two photos below, hard to make out, but I have noted where the army blanket with the pile of clothing by it and where the purse and bag were located in relation to the body.
Suspects & Persons of Interest:
-- April 1931 - "Leslie", turned out to be 20 year old aviator Leslie Frederick Airhart. Airhart, one-time "steady" boy friend of Louise, stated he had been with Louise a short while Saturday afternoon. He said she had telephoned and asked him to meet her. She took a brief leave of absence from the store, he said and he drove her to a park where she informed him of her intention to leave home. He also said "I distinctly remember that she formerly went with a fellow by the name of Jerry, who later left here for the north." Airhart, 26, was arrested on Oct 30, 1935 as a suspect in San Diego's :ove bandit" mystery and was released the same day after several hours grilling by detectives convinced he was not the man who kidnapped and attempted to attack six women in the last month.
--April 1931 - Another "Leslie" was Leslie Saunders, a sailor, he was eliminated as a suspect as it was proved he had been aboard ship at the time of her murder.
--April 1931 - Harold (or Hubert) Duncan, a 27 year old religious zealot and church worker, was formerly employed at the same store with Miss Teuber. Duncan was found lurching along University Avenue, not far from the home of Virginia Brooks. Police once regarded him as a suspect in Louise's murder and was at the psychopathic hospital suffering from an attempted suicide by swallowing poison. He was reportedly recovering and under police observation. He was declared to be suffering from hallucinations, and was incoherently murmuring "Where is she? Have they found her?" After intensive questioning, he was eliminated by detectives.
--April 1931 - A married man, Herman R. Newby, a local amateur photographer and retired navy lieutenant, appeared at the sheriff's office with his wife to answer questions. He admitted he photographed Louise in "art" poses as a model for some painting he was to make. The photos were taken several months before and that his wife had been present when he took the snapshots. He declared that the photographs were not of the ordinary nude type, but were of an artistic nature. The photos were given to officials by a "disinterested party." The man was said to have made similar pictures of half a dozen other high school age girls. The photographer had been seen with Louise hours after her known friends last saw her Saturday afternoon. He was able to give a satisfactory explanation of his whereabouts at the time of the murder. He was arrested on a charge of making numerous "obscene photographs." His bail was fixed at $500. He was arraigned shortly after his arrest for the pictures and plead not guilty and was granted a jury trial. During the trial, Louise's father took the stand and among tears, castigated Newby by sating "Those photos are responsible for my daughter's death! I didn't give him permission to make the photos. Louise was only 16 years old at the time." Newby served 6 months time on account of violating State law which forbids the making of obscene pictures of underage girls. Newby was a registered student at the San Diego Academy of Arts.
Police questioned Mrs. Newby about their activities at the time of the murder. Mrs. Newby told them that she and her husband and another couple left about 9:30pm Saturday, for their cabin at Whispering Pines and did not return until late that night. Mrs. Newby declared Louise was so close a friend of the Newby's she often brought her boy friends to call. Newby's home displayed various paintings he had created, using young girls as models.
--April 1931, At the same time they were looking at Newby, Police were seeking out another commercial photographer, FM Jones known as the "curbstone photographer", who was said to have taken pictures of Louise while she was nude. The missing photographer was sought because after telling two persons he had seen Louise enter the mystery car with a man, he refused to describe either the car or the driver, then fled from his usual haunts. He was said to be the last person to see the girl alive on Saturday. Officers thought the photographer may have vanished to keep his name out of the murder case.
--April 1931 - Soon after the discovery of the skin under her fingernails, a suspect with a scratched face, identified as HJ Snyder, was brought to the sheriff's office for questioning. Later it was said the suspect had been in a fight Saturday night and had been arrested. Belief was expressed that he had no connection with the Teuber slaying, although he was still being held the next day.
--April 1931 - William Loren Tallman was sought in connection with the murder. Morgal Davis reported he saw Louise with a man resembling Tallman just before she disappeared. Tallman was wanted in connection with the 1929 murder of Mrs. Virginia Patty. Tallman at the time of the 1929 murder was described as 23 years old,, but might appear older, he had black hair, which could have been bleached blond to disguise himself, he was six feet tall and had two scars, about half inch long on the left side and back of neck.
--April 1931, two Mexicans, Manuel Torres, 32, and hs companion, Gloria Moreno (or Romero), 20, were held for questioning as possible suspects in the murder. after being arrested for having stolen license plates from a San Diego registration office on their car. Manuel had a scratched face which led him to be detained for questioning. He was released after authorities eliminated him from suspicion. It turned out his license plates were correct after all.
--April 1931, John Porcellano, whose suicide by hanging linked him to Louise's murder, was exonerated after no links were found between the two people.
--April 1931, a crippled newsboy, Morgal Davis, who had known Louise for several years, told authorities that on the night of her death, she told him she had a date with a "new boy friend named "Jerry" Tallman. He said that she told him that this man was not known to her other admirers. Davis said Louise had introduced the man to him as "Jerry". Davis said that he had seen "Jerry" frequently with Louise, and that Jerry had bought a paper from him on the Saturday night she disappeared. Davis also claimed that he saw Jerry the day after her body was found. "Isn't it too bad about Louise?" Davis quoted "Jerry" as saying. Davis said the man grabbed a paper, tossed him a coin and then rapidly walked away. "Jerry" was described as about 30 years old, 6'1", scars on the left side of his neck and wavy blond hair. Attempts to check on the license number of "Jerry's" car as remembered by Davis led to the discovery, however, that no such license plate has been issued. Undersheriff Oliver Sexson said that in reference to "Jerry Tallman", "The whole thing is a myth. Louise is purported to have said to a newsboy "I am having a date with a very tall man tonight" and from that grew the story of the "phantom lover."
--May 1931 - Gerald "Jerry" Parminter a 22 yr old former sailor in the US Navy, was cleared of suspicion of the murder. He said he did not know Miss Teuber and expressed amazement. "I don't know what it's all about, but I'll see the sheriff here and at San Diego both. Since I was visiting relatives in North Platte, Neb the night of April 18, I am curious to know how officers have connected me with the case." He said he was in North Platte, Nebraska on the night of the murder. All of his alibis checked out. It was understood San Diego police believed Parminter, a friend of "Jerry" Talllman, the name who was supposed to have been out with Miss Teuber the night of her slaying.
--May 1931 - Mike Mussaco, 22 year old dish washer, was brought in for questioning after being arrested on suspicion of burglary and vagrancy. He had recent scratches on his face which may have been caused by fingernails, he had been unable to give an account of how he had come by the injury. There was a confused story of his movements and the asserted admission he had lived in San Diego until he had a "little trouble two weeks ago". Detective Lieutenant Fred Wessell dsaid that Musaci came to Los Angeles from San Diego on April 12.
--May 1931, Clarence M. Richards, 37, a former Northwest Mounted policeman, and an itinerant photographer, was cleared of any suspicion of the murder. Shortly after his arrest, admitted he was in San Diego at the time, and had photographed several girls for "art photographs" which he sold. He had admitted to having advertised in numerous Pacific coast cities including San Diego and San Francisco for young girls to pose as models in the nude for "art" photographs. Richards, wearing a home-made naval uniform was taken into custody for vagrancy at a local radio station after studio officials became alarmed at his conduct, while telling elaborate stories of his wild adventures. They believed his real name to have been Clarence Gerlach, address undetermined. They may have searched his rented room at 835 Sixth Street.
--July 1931, Joe Karam (Joe Karan, Joe Behieter) of San Diego, was arrested in the killing of Maxine Armstrong, a dance hall employee. He was questioned about Louise but denied any connections to the slaying Las Vegas police heard him talking about the case and obtained an admission from him that he had lived in San Diego before going to Las Vegas. The DA said that Karan knew the dates connected to the Teuber case and gave a description of her.
--July 1931 - Classed by authorities as one of the "hottest" suspects yet to be located was James R. Cowles (James K Coules) , 28, was questioned by the DA's office. He was initially charged with three grand thefts and questioned on the murder but nothing was found to link him to the case. Reporters watching through windows in the police station as Coules tied knots in ropes and tossed them over a bar hung across the room. Belief that Coules might have been implicated in the case aparently was based upon the fact that he had made a trip from Long beach to Yuma, Arizona, during April, the local officers said. San Diego Deputy Sheriff OC McCumber said that he "didn't think the man knew anything about the Teuber case."
-Oct 1931 - 21 year old Norman Wharton, ex-sailor, (confessed to four robberies in Long Beach, CA and robbed Englewood State Bank) was questioned on Teuber case denied he had been on the coast on April 18 when Teuber was murdered. He claimed to have been in Colorado Springs at that time. Authorities were checking his alibi. He was in San Diego at the time of the murder. Norman died while incarcerated at the Colorado State Penitentiary. He was incarcerated in 1931 for burglary and again in 1938 for murder. There's a newspaper article about a robbery at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. During a botched robbery attempt and in a state of panic, Norman shot and killed a security guard at the Broadmoor Hotel.
-October 1931 - Lowell Milton Bell, 19 years old and originally from Spokane, was a deserter from the US Navy, and being held as a Hollywood burglary suspect, had confessed that he and three other persons killed Louise. Pacing in his jail cell, shaking and sobbing hysterically, a conscious-stricken Bell asked to make a confession. He told two stories different during the day and by Thursday night on the way to the San Diego sheriff's office, he repudiated them both, saying that what he told deputy sheriffs and newspapermen earlier as "The Bunk." He claimed he had read about the murder and then decided to make up both stories for "publicity to get on the front page of newspapers so when I got out of the state reformatory, I could join a big Chicago gang and become a big shot gangster some day." He repeated the story that he "wanted to be considered a big tough gangster and go to Chicago and get in a racket. I thought if I could work up a reputation, I might get in" Officers said he wanted to be considered a "tough guy." He declared that his ambition was to become a "big time racketeer" and that he "went crooked at the age of nine and never would go straight." He also bragged to about 30 burglaries in Los Angeles, before he was caught and arrested. In Spokane, he resided in the St. Helens apartments and on West Hartson Avenue and was in frequent trouble with juvenile authorities, having been sent finally to Chehalis after stealing from a grocery in Spokane, according to records. He was a thin, sallow youth, with a mop of brown hair and a pasty face, looking more like 16 rather than his admitted 19 years, was recently convicted of burglary and was awaiting transportation to Preston reformatory to serve a five year sentence for a grand theft burglary conviction. He told officers that he served eight months in the navy, but was dishonorably discharged on April 3, 1931 because he stole $30 and a watch from an officer. This fact was disputed by the San Diego Naval Patrol authorities who said Bell was a deserter from the Navy.
Bell first said that he killed Louise with the assistance of two men and a woman for revenge. This story as first told to the police certainly appeared to contain discrepancies, but since he was drunk and hysterical while telling it, they weren't sure. The police decided to keep grilling him when he sobered up. It was then that he changed his story.
Later Captain William J. Bright, head of the homicide squad said, he declared" I choked her with my coat sleeve because she wouldn't fall for me I don't remember hanging her. I was full of alcohol, raw alky. I'm just telling you this because her eyes keep following me around my cell. Nobody helped me; I was alone on the job." It was a man in naval uniform who was said to have been last seen with Louise. Another prisoner, Bernard Pfifer, in the county jail told jailers that Bell had boasted of what he knew about Louise. Bell's mail was watched and it was learned he was friendly with Lillian Pfiefer, of Long Beach. Miss Pfiefer said she had heard Bell speak of Miss Teuber. After days of questioning, Bell told officers that following his discharge from the Navy for theft, he loitered about San Diego. On the day of the murder, April 16, he stole a car. He explained that "I was driving along a downtown street in San Diego, I saw this girl and said "Hello Billie, where are you going? she said "I'll go any place, boy friend", and got in the car. We drove around that afternoon and I took her back to the store where she worked." He had made an engagement with her for the evening and drove her toward Tijuana looking for a "high time". "That night I met her at 8 o'clock, and we drove through Balboa Park." He had been drinking alcohol and on the way, he tried to attack her and she resisted. "I was all filled with alky, straight alky and I don't remember much. I tried to make love to her and she wouldn't stand for that. We argued. I took off my coat and pulled it tight around her neck. I choked her with the sleeve of my coat - And that's all I remember - I was full of alky." He said he was frightened and panicked, he drove to Black Mountain Canyon, where he hung her body from a tree. Bell said he failed to remember whether he had removed her clothing. "I don't remember anything after that. I don't remember taking off her clothing or anything about the rope found around her neck. I don't remember hanging her to the tree , or disrobing her. I wouldn't be telling this but her eyes have been following me around my cell."
For awhile this second story seemed to be accurate, so Deputy Sheriffs Oliver Sexson and Jack Tillery wanted to "refresh his memory" and took the youth to the vicinity of Black Mountain, to the exact scene where the girl's body was found, but he was unable to identify the place and denied he had ever visited it before. While standing under the oak tree, he said that "my confession was just a joke." They also pointed out that he was too frail - he weighed only 118lbs - to have hoisted at the end of a rope the body of Louise, who weight 128lbs. "I didn't know Miss Teuber. I never killed anyone." The officers had him attempt to tie the double half hitch knot found around her neck, but he failed miserably, despite having served a few months in the navy. Authorities announced that all friends and relatives of the Teuber girl would be asked to see Bell in an attempt to identify him as one of her many acquaintances. None of Louise's friends had ever seen him before until they went to the Sheriff's office. En route back to the jail, the officers stopped at Louise's father's barber shop. Teuber walked out to the curb and peered into the car to get a good look at Bell. After about a minute, Teuber shook his head and walked back to his work, saying, "I never saw the lad before." He said he first told a prisoner in the county jail that he killed her "because I wanted him to think I was tough." "Another guy and I were talking in Los Angeles county jail. He said he was tough and had robbed a bank. I knew he was just a piker, so I decided to tell a better one. I was in San Diego when the Teuber girl was killed and had read all about it. I like crime news. I told him I killed her. He told Captain William Bright and Bright questioned me. I told him the same thing, but I didn't know he would take it so seriously. I didn't kill her and never killed anybody. I was at a party in Cabin No. 24 in the Shell Auto Court at Shelltown the night Louise Teuber was killed. All I know about the murder is what I read in the newspapers." He said he attended the party with Mr and Mrs. Roy Lewis and two sailors named Dryden and Ward, who were attached to the USS Hart which was being decommissioned at Mare Island "We stayed there until about 3am."
Under close scrutiny, it was found that the confession failed to follow known facts about the case. He was discredited and sent back to the Los Angeles County jail. In 1933, he was charged with pointing a gun at a couple in Salem. He was said to be on parole from California and failed to furnish a $250 bond. Also in 1933, he was arrested for committing burglaries in two apartments in Salem, Oregon in which silver, jewelry and clothing valued at $400 was stolen from residents. Lowell and partner George Wells were traced to twelve burglaries in Long Beach and Los Angeles in 1935. Property taken had been recovered.
-1935 - Suspect - Edward Earl Lambeth, 25 yrs old, ex-marine. Suspected of attacking a 12 your old girl. Also suspected of murders. Exonerated, he proved he was not in southern Cali when Teuber was murdered. He was convicted of rape and sent to San Quentin in July 1935.
--January 1936- Elton M. Stone, 30 year old confessed "friend slayer" of Mary Louise Stammer, 14, fatally shot, was on trial for murder. He was being questioned about his whereabouts in March and April 1931 regarding Louise's murder. In July 1931, he stole a car in Fresno, for which he was arrested and sent to San Quentin for a year. He was convicted of murder in the 1st degree of Mary Stammer and got the death sentence. He had a prior record for burglary and was sent to Preston in 1924 to serve three years. He was executed at Folsom on 12 Jun 1936. His registration cards from both San Quentin & Folsom State Prison are shown below (colorized by me).
--March 1936 - Authorities were looking into any link between the murder of Louise and Jerome von Braun Selz (alias Ralph Sells, Slipton J. Fell) , a man who murdered at least two people. A San Diego merchant believed Selz formerly had been employed in his store at the time of the murder. Confessed to murdering Mrs. Ada French Rice.
Possibly Albert Dyer, crossing guard executed for abducting, raping and strangling three young girls in 1937, - Madeline Everett, 7, her sister Melba Everett, 8 and Jeanette Stephens, 8. Arranged shoes neatly near bodies. Used his hands to strangle first then used rope to make sure they were dead. Lust was motive. Groomed them before the murder, befriending them. Sent to San Quentin in 1937, 3 counts of murder in 1st degree. He was born in 1905 in New York. Albert Dyer's Registration card from San Quentin is shown below (colorized by me). He was executed by hanging in prison 16 Sep 1938.
Look into the suspects of:
- Virginia Brooks 1931 - raped, strangled, dismembered by man with dark black hair, 1929 Ford coupe
- Dolly Bibbens - strangled with towel, beaten, throat cut, diamond ring took from hand
- Hazel Bradshaw - stabbed 17 times (boyfriend charged but acquitted)
- Mrs. Westley Adams 1934 - stabbed
- Celia Cota - 1934 raped, strangled by gray haired man
- Ruth Muir 1936 - raped, battered to death
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