Hitchhiking to Oblivion: The Unsolved Case of Two Girls Found Dumped Over the Side of the Road in Mendocino County
Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble [Photos provided by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department]
Using information he found online, his own files, and a book called Lost Coast Highway, he wrote the following description of what he believes to have happened.
It was one of those extraordinary teenage friendships formed in elementary school. Two buds joined at the hip. Best friends always and forever. Neighbors who played, slept, and ate at one another’s houses. Sisters by choice instead of blood. They even had their own private path through the woods between their homes in Forestville.
You can picture them in a school hallway, the zippy little squirt teamed with her larger younger buddy. Girls not quite old enough yet for boys, a bit too old for dolls, still childishly innocent and naive, yet young lives eager for life’s experiences. Just kids.
In 1978, Kerry Graham was a petite 15, and her best friend Francine Trimble was 14. Kerry had just moved up to high school; Francine anxiously awaited her next school promotion so she could rejoin her friend during school hours.
The last day of school before Christmas vacation was December 15th. While the girls came to the Forestville schoolyard that morning to socialize, they didn’t report for class. On this final day of school, they told Kerry’s sister Kelly they had been invited to a party. There is also a report they were going Christmas shopping at Coddington Mall—the mall being a teen magnet and meeting spot. In either case, there was no mention of Snoopy’s Home Ice, across from the mall, although it would be a likely spot to hook up for a teen party.
Instead, they seem to have gone to one or both of their homes. Kerry had recently had her appendix out; she was still on antibiotics, and may have gone home to dose herself. Her medicine was later found in her bedroom.
At Francine’s home, the girls dabbled with some makeup in Francine’s room leaving the kit out on her bedroom dresser. Francine’s mother Chrissie recalled the girls still giggling in Francine’s bedroom as Chrissie left to run an errand. The girls were gone when she returned. At this late date, it’s hard to tell if this occurred on Friday afternoon, or the next day. However, Chrissie found the makeup kit still out, with a makeup mirror light left on. Although there were no signs of a disturbance, this would lead the girls’ parents to wonder whether there had been an abduction from the home that interrupted the makeup session.
At any rate, excited to be free of school, the youngsters were seen at the corner filling station, which was on the direct route to Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa. One eyewitness recalls Francine was wearing Kerry’s fitted full-length denim coat that day. Again, which day? Unspecified.
In the 1970s, many people hitchhiked freely, so once they were at this traditional pickup spot for hitchhikers, the two girls stuck out their thumbs. They were already experienced hitchhikers, having previously thumb-tripped to San Francisco. As far as is known, they caught a ride. And they vanished.
***
On the 8th of July, 1979, a pair of tourists stopped at the first Route 20 turnout west of Willits. The female tourist was unhappily car sick from the swooping curves of Highway 20. While she sat in the car, the male driver decided to walk about. Upon strolling off the pullout into the woods, he looked down the slope and spotted what he first thought to be a huge mushroom. He scrambled down for a closer look. Then he realized it was a human skull. Looking about wildly, he spotted two rib cages. Scrambling up the slope, he placed a soft drink can as a marker. Then the tourists rushed to report their find to the authorities.Investigators gathering evidence worked on a slope so steep they had to hang on with one hand and pick up clues with the other. One deputy broke his wrist in a fall. Despite this, over 90 percent of two skeletons were found, along with bits of associated evidence.With little but bones to go on, forensic analysis became the major investigative tool. Even that was of limited value. It did not disclose the cause of death in either case. However, it did conclude that one skeleton was female, the other male. They were estimated to be 14 or 15 years old.Investigators searching where the skeletal remains of Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble were located on Hwy 20. [Photo provided by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office]
A bird-shaped handcrafted shell earring was found with the skeleton identified as a Caucasian female. They were also believed to be related.Investigators checked nationwide for brother-sister duos who had run off together. No results. On a hunch, they broadened their search to runaway romantically involved teen couples. Again, no results.By 1985, with the case dormant, it was turned over to the FBI in hopes that the Feds’ greater resources might crack the case. The Feds had no better luck that Mendocino’s Sheriff did. They turned the case back to the locals.Earring found with Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble. [Photo provided by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office]
A tenth anniversary TV broadcast on the case showed the earring. Kerry’s older sister Kelly recognized it; she had given it to Kerry. And the skeletal ages reported on TV were right; that had to be her sister and Francine. Kelly called the Mendocino Sheriff’s office, and told them about her sister, Francine, and the earring. She was told, sorry, we know it’s a case of a boy and a girl, and they’re related. Bye.
By this time, public attitudes toward runaways had become a lot less casual. Also, the internet was booming into popularity. Cold case websites began to spring up. This would seem to be a natural publicity springboard. Instead, it proved useless for several reasons. First, the myth of their being related was being publicized. So was the claim they were a boy and a girl. Also, it had somehow become assumed they came from the midwest. Next, just to further confuse matters, Kerry’s and Francine’s folks had reported them missing on different dates. Fourth, and worst, the year of their disappearance somehow became 1979 instead of 1978; it made it appear the girls had vanished after the skeletons had been found. A classic case of, garbage in, garbage out. The widespread internet postings thus actually excluded the girls from consideration.
In 2000, a false confession caused the skeletons to be exhumed. Doctor (and present day Assemblyman) Jim Wood examined their jaws and teeth. Surprise! He concluded that they were probably both female, and weren’t related. This sparked a followup DNA testing, which confirmed his findings. The false listings on the internet continued.
In 2011, the British Broadcasting Corporation grew interested in cold case disappearances and settled on this case for a documentary. Their interest sparked another exhumation of the bodies; DNA samples were again gathered and submitted. The skulls were used for a reconstruction of the girls’ faces; again, law enforcement was hoping for an identification through publicity featuring the reconstructions.
In 2012, Kelly Graham saw the documentary, and immediately recognized a reconstruction of Kerry’s head. The teeth were distinctive. Because of her prior poor experience with law enforcement, she called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A case manager there recommended that Kelly make an official missing persons report. So Kelly went to the Guerneville post of the very law enforcement agency that had originally refused to take a missing person report on her sister. When she requested the needed forms, the desk sergeant chewed her out for failing to report the disappearance—which happened when Kelly was 16 years old. A furious Kelly filled out the forms, and Sonoma County finally accepted a missing persons report. After 33 years, Kerry Graham was officially missing.
After some torturous maneuvering through law enforcement bureaucracy, DNA samples from the Graham and Trimble families were analyzed. In November, 2015, Francine and Kerry were definitively identified. Now the girls were officially homicide victims, although the medical examiner couldn’t determine the exact means of death.
In February, 2016, Sheriff Tom Allman held a news conference announcing their identity, and stating his predecessors’ errors. Ironically, Kelly Graham was in the hospital, and missed out on both attendance and credit for solving the disappearance.Once it was known the children were murdered, mad speculation began as to the perpetrator. As usual, “celebrity” serial murderers were randomly suggested for blame. Rodney Alcala…Robert Durst…the Zodiac….the Gallegos couple… But when the details of the case are compared to a known killer’s methods, habits, and predilections, another possibility emerges.
In 1984, six years after the girls disappeared, Jackie Ray Hovarter was an independent trucker hauling pulp from the Louisiana Pacific mill at Samoa to San Pablo. He routinely drove from San Pablo to Samoa at night, arriving for his 7 a.m. loading at the mill about 4:30 a.m. He was convicted of having kidnapped 16-year-old Danna Walsh from Willits in the middle of the night in August of 1984. He is believed to have raped and murdered her before chucking her off the Rio Dell bridge on his way north. He also was convicted of raping and attempting to murder a Fortuna girl in December of 1984.
Clipping from the Ukiah Daily Journal December 1984 page 1.
Clipping from the Ukiah Daily Journal December 1984 page 2.
Long story short, he is now residing on death row in San Quentin for that murder. He reportedly also confessed to two other murders for which he wasn’t prosecuted.
Now consider this: a left turn in Willits in the late 1970’s headed toward the Fort Bragg mill instead of Samoa. So far as I have been able to discover, no one has checked to see if Hovarter hauled from the Fort Bragg mill. It is possible that Hovarter picked up the girls on his way north on 101, just as he did with Danna Walsh. If so, the pulloff on Route 20 where they were found is the first spot where he could discard their bodies on his way to Fort Bragg. He would have been there in the middle of the night, with little traffic to disrupt him.
The natural question is, How did he subdue two girls at once? The simple answer is, no teenage girl is a physical match for a grown man. Kerry was tiny but fiery. Francine was larger, but passive by nature. However, Hovarter carried a pistol and a knife in his truck, which could have been used for intimidation—and murder…The three cases are similar.
If law enforcement wants to grill Hovarter, they have him. The law also has both his and the Samoa Mill’s logbooks, according to Hovarter’s legal appeal. An astute investigator might just come up with the Fort Bragg mill logs, or they might even be in the files.
There’s also the chance retired millworkers could still identify Hovarter. With any luck, a detective might come up with the mill’s gatekeeper.
And even if it’s discovered Hovarter didn’t commit these murders, this case could still be solved. Back in the day, Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble disappeared from their student bodies, with almost no notice taken by the faculty and little by their fellow students.
Usually, when a case is this old, the possible witnesses have died or gotten lost in the turmoil of American society. This case is unusual because the youth of the victims means many of the victims’ contemporaries are still alive; some are still living in Sonoma County. There may be unexplored leads in their memories. Certainly, they have apparently never been interviewed.
This case may just need one last clue, another lead, a final bit of information, for solution. If you have aany information concerning this case, please call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 463-4411. Kerry and Francine deserve justice.
Other Important Links:
- Click here for the BBC‘s piece that helped identify the two girls.
- Click here for the Mendocino Sheriff’s page on cold cases which still identifies the bodies found as that of a male and a female and says they are unidentified.
- Click here for an extensive Wiki article on the girls.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
🕯🌳⚖👁
When my sister and my daughter were in their teens, they both had their aha moment about how vulnerable they can really be, due in part to incidents like the one in this article.
Parents can warn all they can, but experiencing the loss of a classmate or having a near encounter with an extremely dangerous sexual predator usually drives it home.
After a couple years of wevsleuthing this case I believe it to be highly likely these girls were killed by Gerald Armond Gallego (July 17, 1946 – July 18, 2002) and Charlene Adell (Williams) Gallego (born October 10, 1956). This couple from Sacramento was routinely “shopping around” for young female victims in malls in the late 1970’s. Ecerything in this case points to this serial murderer couple, from the age, to the fact they were going to a mall as well as hitchhiking. A deeper look into this cases similarities will point detectives in the right direction. One of the two murderers are still alive, she may be willing to talk. Who knows, but the similarities are striking, it seems a van would have been necessary since there was 2 girls. Sacramento is not far from Santa Rosa if one goes through Napa. I suggest investigators and detectives look in this direction, there are very striking similarities…
Here’s a link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_and_Charlene_Gallego.
The family seems to think they were kidnapped from the house;
Trimble’s aunt said her sister told her the girls simply vanished from her home while she was away. Makeup was set up on a dresser as though they were in the middle of applying the cosmetics, Madelon Johnson of Petaluma said after the presentation.
“They just disappeared into thin air,” she said. She said her sister, Mary Trimble, would have immediately reported her daughter missing.
Mary Trimble thought someone might have abducted the girls from the house, Johnson said. There were no signs of struggle, so, if that was the case, the girls either would have known their abductor or been taken at gunpoint, Johnson theorized.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5161463-181/remains-found-in-mendocino-county
In another article weeks later, the PD had this information to write;
Graham, 77, doesn’t think that was the case because her daughter was recovering from having her appendix removed and was still taking antibiotics. Trimble’s aunt earlier this month recalled in an interview her sister telling her at the time that Graham’s antibiotics were left on a dresser at her home, something she considered suspicious.
……….
But then someone recalls a secondhand report of seeing them at the old Chevron, a hitchhiking waypoint;
They had joined her and some other students that morning to smoke cigarettes in the parking lot near the tennis courts. Graham was a student at the high school while Trimble was in eighth grade at Forestville School. Neither attended school that day, Goetz said.
“They came to school. They didn’t go to class,” she said. “That was the last time we saw them.”
Goetz said cutting school wasn’t unusual for her and her classmates, nor was hitchhiking. She said someone later told her they’d last seen the girls at the local Chevron gas station, where a packaging store now stands. It was a location from which teens often hitchhiked,
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5197689-181/schoolmates-neighbors-never-told-forestville
The Gallegos paired up in Autumn 1978, so if they grabbed Francine and Kerry, it must have been the couple’s first joint homicide. And of course, they would have to rove away from the Sacramento Valley to grab the kids. Still, maybe? But where’s the proof?
LDD, you should’ve done more research. The author of Lost Coast Highway discovered that Gallegos was in Houston in December 1978.
The Coddingtown mall is just a minute off the 101. It would easily be a quick stop off for a traveler between San Pablo and Willits.
The mall was likely the biggest attraction between the two areas back then.
It opened in 1962 as an open air mall.
It was retrofitted and enclosed in 1979.
Were construction workers present during ’78? I’m not sure.
I do know one of the lead contractors for the original Coddingtown mall project, and another builder who was present during original construction…I doubt theres much they know, but if someone has a question for them they want asked – reply to me with it and I’ll ask.
Though, re-reading this and the Wiki page, it’s not clear the girls ever made it to Coddingtown.
Forestville is quite a ways away from Coddingtown, especially for a 14 year old.
If they were abducted from the house in Forestville, that would seem to discount a lot of the probability of Hovarter, a trucker, being involved.
Horrible.
Berrys mill and Lumber was out in Cazadero, though.
From 1941 to 1979, Berry’s Mill and Lumberyard was located on 3 acres in downtown Cazadero, across the street from the General Store and the Post Office. When the mill outgrew this site, the machinery was dismantled and moved six miles down the road to its present location on 33 acres.
http://www.berrysmill.com/about.html
This is not far from Forestville, but I would assume most truckers would have taken River Road to Berrys, not the 116 which goes through Forestville. Though, both roads intersect not far from Forestville….so hitchhikers or wayward truckers could meet up.
7.4 miles between downtown Forestville and River Rd. & 116 Junction.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/River+Rd+%26+California+116,+Guerneville,+CA/Forestville,+CA+95436/@38.4961565,-122.9427675,7z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x80841f566f781d19:0x3437e83cc8cd65e5!1m2!1m1!1s0x80843d29656136f9:0x4e5588c8504a24da!3e0
Berrys sawmill would have been 10 miles up River Rd from this intersection.
I emailed Berrys Sawmill this morning:
1978 records.
Hi, I’m emailing you to find out if there are any records from 1978 that may show a particular truck drivers name – or company he worked with.
A cold case of 2 girls murdered in 1978 out of Forestville is being looked at.
In particular a driver with his own truck is of interest. He is in San Quentin for the murder and rape of two other girls around the same years.
Jackie Ray Hovarter is the name in question.
In 1984 he worked with a company called Louisiana Pacific in Samoa, Ca. He routinely worked out of San Pablo too.
He drove lumber and pulp and who knows what else with his own truck.
More on the story is here:
https://kymkemp.com/2019/10/06/hitchhiking-to-oblivion-the-unsolved-case-of-two-girls-found-dumped-over-the-side-of-the-road-in-mendocino-county/#comments
The Press Democrat ran articles about their murder in 2016.
Thank you for considering any way to help rule in or out the possibility that Jackie Ray Hovarter may have been driving to your mill in the Dec. 1978 timeframe.
Of course I expect nothing, but would rather try to help than not try. I’ll post any reply I recieve here.
Someone asked them to go pick up another load of Christmas Trees. Who was the Christmas Tree Vendor?
He’s on death row, you could probably just ask him and he might give it up willingly. But you don’t know if you don’t ask. Seems like the police dont like bringing up cases that are a embarrassment for them. You would think they would be eager to try.
You are correct. Law enforcement hates to admit mistakes even if it will save a life or solve a case.
How do you know they haven’t?
Death row with out the death penalty is like staying at the Marriott. No violence, Outside activities, spacious cells, Good food, Tolerant staff and yes, TV and popcorn. No joke. Just watched a documentary on it. Far from the hellish interiors of state prison.
Thanks for not deleting this morbid comment.
Wait a minute!
According to people today, these counties were safe back then, where nothing bad ever happened! SMH
Anyways, I hope republishing the story stirs up new tips. Good luck to the family.
Nocal was has always been way more dangerous than most everywhere in the united states. In the early 80s is was full of dopers.
Perhaps the girls were stopped then picked up by a cop or CHP Officer who pretended like he was going to drive them home? He could have taken them to Guernville first. Cops cover for each other.
The reason I’m suggesting Guernville as a place they may have gone before being taken to Mendocino is because a man handed me a stack of poems in 1998 at The Altamont Hotel in Guernville telling me the restaurant across the street was exploiting young children “their picking up young children off the streets then driving them to a place in Guernville. These men hanging out at the restaurant across the street on Monday nights being driven to Guernville via the white limo parked out front “ the family who owns the restaurant has people in law enforcement in Sonoma County. Cops cover for each other. Not to mention the Bohemian Grove scandals. He said they were suspects in the disappearance of his girlfriend “C” who was a sex worker for that family and had mentioned it to him.
The Bohemian Grove encampment happens in July.
There are no events @ Bohemian Grove in Dec. when these girls disappeared.
Let’s hope the soda can was picked up, that’s murder of the environment!
Also young girls wearing makeup is so bad. Evil. My church calls makeup the devils paintbrush.
Super shame on Guerneville officers who refused to take the original report and the officer who tried to shame the sister years later. Hopefully law enforcement has learned, in the intervening years, to take this kind of thing more seriously.
When did they die? How do you know they weren’t used as sex slaves for months by someone? Anyways, they could have been dumped after they were sacrificed. It smells of a cover up.
Actually, the Christmas Tree vendor at Coddington was from Mendocino right off highway 20. Charles Bello and his wife sold Christmas Trees at Coddington for years after they moved to Mendocino from Sonoma County.
Bassler was running around down near Skunk Train Ermilco Road. Afterwards I went to Charles place where he has his freezer chuck full of Bear he shot. He likes to eat bear. Got the creepiest feeling there. Something was not right. He mentioned some people who used to camp there. He has a campground and cabins. He also showed me a huge tree he hallowed out that someone could stand inside just off the ground and not be found by anyone.
Yesterday, I saw 3 women in their 20’s on 4th Street in Eureka, all 3 of them had their thumbs out to garner a ride, with me sailing on past without so much as my tapping the brakes on my car.
Written 3 years ago. Like so often happens in decades old cases the police are trying to re-write the truth.
The girls were called runaway teens, not missing people. Nothing much was done to find them and there were no public reports of their disappearance till the late fall of 2013.
BTW: some news reports where using Carl koppelman’s reconstruction’s of the two Willits, Mendocino County, California Jane Doe’s, but were saying they were done by NCMEC.
In fact, at the time the most recent NCMEC drawings continued to misidentify Francine as a boy. It was not till DNA tests proved otherwise that the corrections were made.
Last comment, why has no one made a possible connection to the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders?
this happened to my cousin, still haven’t found her killer… https://www.denverpost.com/2019/08/15/jonelle-matthews-family-seeks-killer/
Actually, there is a theory that the Santa Rosa Hitchhike Murders might be linked to Francine and Kerry’s case. There are a number of similarities. However, there are also a number of differences. For instance, one of the Santa Rosa drop sites is pretty obscure, being located on Franz Valley Road. Nevertheless, who knows? We need more info to figure this out.
There are essentially no differences. All the SRHM crime scenes were obscure. They are all similar to the Hwy 20 crime scene in that respect.
By the way, thanks for rightfully giving credit to Kelly for finally getting the case solved. Unbelievably, there’s an arrogant woman on websleuths who was trying take credit for solving it. Probably others, too.
(roselvr, are you reading this?)
Check out CHP Officer Stationed in San Francisco who grew up in Willits. Perhaps it’s the local Good Old Boys Network covering up their long history of corruption, exploitation and greed. Swingers Anonymous Hugh Hefner wannabes
“Welcome to Willits, Thank You for not throwing up!”
Those are some pretty ambiguous comments, Vomitville. How about some details?
Don’t know sounds like Richard Allen Davis, A girl disappearing from her room. He would have young, was caught once but animals like that don’t just do things like that once.
Chris, that’s a name that never before surfaced in this case. I’m going to try to check that out. And you are correct in thinking that these types can become addicted to their violence.
Richard Allen Davis was in prison from June ’78 to February ’82, so he wasn’t the scumbag who murdered these kids. We need a different scumbag for these murders. Good suggestion, though.
I was a classmate of Kerry’s. We were never informed that she was missing.
Hitchhiking- we all hitchhiked if we didn’t have a car. I was a straight A student and I certainly hitchhiked to and from parties and to the mall. I even hitchhiked to the mall with my younger sister.
Safety- It was not safe. I was kidnapped by knife and raped in an orchard. I was walking in rye middle of the day to a friend’s house.
Running cross country with other girls, men would pull over and masterbate in front of us.
Sonoma county was not a safe place for young girls in the late 1979’s, early 80’s.
Parties- generally, there were not parties during the day. I don’t think that they were abducted from a home. It is much more likely that they got a ride from someone, either to the mall or to the party…and that person kidnapped and killed them.
I, too, wish that students had been informed that they were missing. We could have helped. There wasn’t a search. These poor girls.
Today, my friends and I have survivors guilt. We were simply luckier.
Oh. And there wasn’t any public transportation. If you were a teen lived in Forestville and wanted to go to the small mall in Santa Rosa, you had to get a ride, walk the 12-15 miles, or hitchhike.