Cold Case – HSU Student Found Strangled and Raped in a Case That May Have Been the Work of a Serial Killer

In the fall of 1975, the murder of a San Diego woman enrolled at Humboldt State University, preceded three other similar deaths in Humboldt County that would occur over the next nine months. Four women’s bodies were found within those nine months, strangled and raped. Law enforcement and the public speculated whether the deaths were the result of a serial killer. To date, the homicides remain unsolved, their similarities unmistakable but not definitively proven to be the work of only one perpetrator. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, we at RHBB, will be covering these cold cases individually. We will then take an in-depth look at any similarities or differences as well as possible suspects.

Janet Lee Bowman

The partially disrobed body of Janet Lee Bowman, 19, was found in brush off the side of Highway 299, near the Korbel weigh station, east of Blue Lake on October 6th, 1975. Almost forty-seven years after her death, her murder remains unsolved.

On the morning of October 6th, around 11:30 a.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) received a letter from an anonymous witness who had discovered the body but did not want to be involved in the case. The letter, postmarked on Saturday, October 4th, gave the HCSO directions to Bowman’s body that was found partially disrobed, hidden in a bush off in the Demonstration Forest. HCSO’s Lieutenant Roy Simmons said that the anonymous tipster was not suspected in the crime.

According to the San Rafael Independent Journal, Bowman graduated from Rohnert Park Rancho Cotate High School in 1974 before enrolling at Humboldt State University (HSU) in Arcata. The 5’2″, 95-pound Bowman, lived in Arcata during her freshman year at HSU. After completing her freshman year in the spring, Bowman had spent her summer in San Diego with her mother Nancy Bowman who had moved to Southern California after Janet graduated high school.

Bowman returned to Humboldt County on September 20th, 1975, to enroll in classes for her sophomore year at HSU. Upon her return, she rented a one-bedroom apartment on Pigeon Point Road in Eureka.

The petite Bowman did not own a vehicle and was known to frequently hitchhike to get around. The middle child of John and Nancy Bowman was last seen on the morning of September 30th, at the Welfare Office in Eureka. Witnesses said that she was attempting to hitchhike back to her apartment on Pigeon Point Road.

A missing person’s report was filed for Bowman on October 3rd after her friends noticed she had not attended any of her classes that week.

Lt. Simmons said that Bowman’s friends told detectives that Bowman did not have a boyfriend and did not date. They stated that she was very shy.

After the anonymous letter led to the discovery of Bowman’s body, HCSO told the media that there were no wounds visible on the body other than bruising on Bowman’s face and throat. A subsequent autopsy revealed that she had been strangled and probably raped. Later articles classified her death as rape and strangulation even though the original news reports did not definitively confirm the rape.

Investigators asked for the public’s help in determining if anyone had witnessed Bowman getting into a vehicle, suspecting that she was murdered by whoever had picked her up hitchhiking.

Also of interest to investigators were the clothing items belonging to the victim that were not located where her body was found. Bowman was last seen wearing a homemade red skirt with a floral pattern on it over straight-leg blue jeans. She had on a blue down jacket, size 5.5 orange, suede shoes, and had been carrying a Camp Trails brand, green canvas backpack with a zipper pocket and tie strings.

No leads proved fruitful for detectives, leading them to offer a $500 reward for information about the death of Janet Bowman, according to an October 22nd article in the Times-Standard. At the time, HCSO had a Secret Witness Program to provide anonymity by allowing potential witnesses to send information to the HCSO through the mail. Witness accounts were written down including a six-digit code that the letter-writer would include in the correspondence and again at the bottom corner of the letter, which they would then tear off and keep. If the witness account led to the capture of the killer, the HCSO would publish the six-digit code from the letter in the local newspaper, allowing the tipster to collect the reward. However, the reward enticement did not result in any substantial leads.

With the murderer still at large, the Time-Standard printed an opinion piece titled, “Extreme Dangers of Hitchhiking”. The article highlighted the rape and murder of Bowman and the probability that the perpetrator was someone that had picked the student up while hitchhiking. The paper stated that over fifteen female hitchhikers had been raped or sexually assaulted from 1974 to 1975. A different article stated that the number was over twenty.

Janet Lee Bowman, the granddaughter of Reverend Illion T. Jones, baptized at the age of five, was laid to rest just seventeen days after she returned to Humboldt County. Her life was snuffed out by a killer that has never had to answer for her murder. She was just 19 years old at the time of her death.

HCSO asks that if anyone has information to share about this case, “please contact our Crime Tip Line at 707-268-2539, submit information using our Online Crime Tip Form, or email [email protected]. Please reference the case number associated with the case when reporting information.” The case number for the death of Janet Lee Bowman is 197509543.