The Terrifying Tale Of The Trailside Killer | Our Life

Between 1979 and 1981 serial murderer stalked the remote virus of Mount Tamil Pius in Marin County near San Francisco the Trailside killer outwitted police for two years claiming 10 victims even after his arrest there was a desperate search for evidence to convict the murderer who left no clue [Music] the cop who tracked him down the case was the most testing of his career and the biggest murder hunt ever faced in the quiet rural County across the Golden Gate Bridge [Music] [Music] ha I would have never found the place probably on my own because I wasn't familiar with it I didn't have a map of that area I hadn't been on that mountain before [Music] so rather than look foolish and stupid I said would you have the rain to meet me in the parking lot I've gotten this way and it's discomforting because I'm going to be the lead investigator working this homicide case and I'm not familiar with the terrain the turf and so I'm kind of the new kid on the Block at that point but you want to try to look professional I was dressed in a coating tie you know shoes and it seemed like we were walking forever and a pitch black and I thought my God who would be up here to be murdered let alone come up here to commit a murder wilderness you had to go off the trail uphill through the brush and then here's this lady's body so vivid because the lights are on it from the flashlights and the little portable lanterns that the officers have what do we got and all we have is a body this is a pair of socks on it it wasn't a violent looking scene with blood and gore and Chaos all around if you were more than 15 20 feet away you probably couldn't tell there was a hole or blood at the back of her head it would look like she was sleeping and yet she had been violently murdered 44 year old Etta Kane had been reported missing by a husband a Nightfall Rangers had found her body five hours later she had been killed with clinical precision the holes in the back of her head were what we call piggyback it was one whole the two bullets from a 44 caliber gun which is very powerful and it was if there was boom boom one right on top of the other they were practically the same hole mountains had witnessed its first recorded homicide had always loved the mountain on that August Sunday she was heading for East Peak Mount Tam's highest point she was dead before she got there the first victim of the Trailside killer there was nothing around her that was visible to the eyes there was not a campsite there wasn't a clothes or backpack or anything else my gut feeling was this woman was placed there I was concerned whether or not she had been sexually assaulted and that whoever was the perpetrator in this had her face down with the gun to the back of her head and shot her almost like a degradation and humiliation for the victim once Etta King's body was removed there was nothing else for us to do there that night but yet you walked away feeling helpless like I don't have anything to work with here we have a lady who's been found dead shot violent death none of her clothes are available no personal effects nothing that would lead us at that point to make a an association with the suspect it was an empty feeling that night when we left [Music] there was a chilling ritual quality to the murder scene the arrangement of the body the removal of clothes the leaf on the victim's back it was a pattern that would confront police again and again over the next two years [Music] the man who would become known as the Trailside killer lived on the other side of the Golden Gate 10 miles from the Wilderness of Mount Tamil Pius in the city of San Francisco David Carpenter was 50 years old and living at home with his elderly parents he had a chronic stutter that had plagued him since childhood [Music] he also had a troubled past and had served two long prison sentences for kidnap and rape he was still on parole yes he knew Mount Tamil Pie as well and had joined one of the many hiking clubs up there two months before the murder of Etta Kane [Music] from his office Keaton had a view of the distant Mountain [Music] seven months on he was no closer to solving the cane murder no evidence no Witnesses no leads you'd appreciate your help Carpenter was a creature of havoc and took his mother shopping every Saturday March 8 1981 was no exception he dropped her off that morning telling her he was going to Mount Tam for a hike and would be back by Nightfall Trailside killer reclaim his second victim sheriff's deputy say 23 year old Barbara Barbara we're assuming right now that she had died approximately five hours prior to us getting the call man [Music] Marin County sheriff's deputies have been up here on Mount Tamil Pius all day investigating this murder they have two excellent leads in the case though an eyewitness and now a composite sketch of the Killer they are looking for a white male with straight dark hair between 20 and 30 years old yesterday he was wearing a plaid shirt he murdered this woman 23 year old Barbara Schwartz she had lived in Mill Valley for about a year and a half and worked at a San Rafael Bakery with this second killing the sheriff's department was now Under Pressure to show results photofit was their response the Keaton had his doubts this did determine the direction of the case if you will at the time because we had nothing else to go on so we did have a witness however good or bad who said she saw somebody we don't even know that the somebody she saw was involved in the homicide whatsoever that's a Quantum Leap in itself the witness didn't see this man assaulting Barbara Schwartz so you saw a man in the area obviously a good lead for the investigators if it's viable so it's a lead in the lead only the department chose to put out the composite thinking it's the only thing we have I think evidence points to a young man who is really achieving his Thrills not particularly from a sexual assault perhaps on victims but he's dealing with the thrill level he's achieving at the murder scene the young man in the plaid shirt was never identified but his face continued to dominate the investigation for the next year there would be five more deaths before the police realized they were pursuing the wrong suspect [Music] it was Columbus Day for seven months the mountain had been at peace [Music] until now thank you thank you [Music] it was eerie very eerie to me Deja Vu I've had a cane and here we go again it was an uphill Trek off the trail yes gentlemen what struck me was the orderliness of her clothing [Music] there were no scuffle marks in the ground as if your heels dug in or a fight is there an earringer right here let me have a look yes a small round gold earring for the missing earring partner but just from being at that scene Goosebumps that we've got somebody who's on a mission and how many more before we catch him are going to be victims Ann Alderson was a 26 year old student home visiting her parents for the holiday foreign she'd been shot once in the side of the head one of her earrings was missing and she'd been raped I'll never be able to prove that but I think that what happened to that particular crime scene because there was evidence that Ann Alderson was sexually assaulted and remembering she was fully clothed is that she may have been seated on the suspect's lap and while in that position and maybe being assaulted she was then shot in the back of the head face to face that close Keaton was able to piece together the last hours of Anne's life the day of her disappearance she had made an effort to go over to the East Bay and visit with her elderly grandmother and on the way home she decided she'd stop up on Mount Tahoma Pius and just kind of relax meditate and unwind foreign ER who was working on duty that night walked into the top rim of the amphitheater off the hiking trail he noticed this young lady sitting all by herself and he said she was so much inside her own mind meditating he didn't want to bother her he didn't want to interrupt her that was the last time that Andrew Alderson that we know of was ever seen Alive by anyone meanwhile the Alderson family spent a quiet day at their home in Terra Linda there are no funeral services planned there's nothing left to say and no words to express their grief just the remaining nagging question why in Terra Linda I'm Hampton Pearson NewsCenter 4. the first step with pursuing your investigation is who is our victim so before she's even had a service we're in her bedroom looking at her personal effects putting everything under a microscope but also thinking could there be someone close to her that was a suspect because she didn't fight he got a little upset and a little emotional thinking what a waste and why does this have to happen as you looked around your room you could see all the things that she had done either in school or the pictures that she had of her family and her friends and the things that were important to her her brother but it surely makes you as an investigator become in touch with the victim they can't speak now and you have to speak for them and Alderson probably started us on the brink of everybody becoming emotionally involved because now we'd had a third and we were trying frantically to resolve this issue and there was no immediate suspect on the horizon it was very frustrating they gathered by the fire station at Mount Tamalpais early this morning each member of the Posse was given a map of the trails a two-way radio and a sketch and description of the murder suspect their instructions were simple talk to the hikers and joggers to remind them to stick together if possible Sheriff Al hohenstein joined the first Patrol well we hope to accomplish today is to have people feeling a sense of security on the mountain when they're up here and to bring return to the mountain a little bit of Solace at least six members of the Posse at a time will fan out across the mountain on patrol they're all volunteers some of them are lawyers and Pilots others are ranchers they say they're more than happy to help out whoever was doing this knew the park extremely well in and out fire off these gunshots in a park filled with people on a holiday weekend and not be seen so he was planning walking scouting it out like a vertebrae the police took hundreds of witness statements from residents hikers and Rangers but Yale thing and search teams out in the park failed to find any evidence but while the police remained focused on Mount Tam Carpenter switched to another state park Point Raise 20 miles away on the Pacific coast it was to be the most gruesome chapter yet in the Trailside story November 29th hikers discover the first two of four victims all found in a remote area of Point Reyes search parties hunting for two missing young women accidentally discover the bodies of a young couple buried in a shallow grave I carried out my assignment and proceeded for Jesus not more than 15 minutes along a uh not too heavily uh covered Ridge and Came Upon a little shoe sticking up out of some Ferns and walked a little closer and found two bodies a girl had been reported missing from off a hiking trail and they feared the worst and while we were driving out we were notified that two bodies had been found [Music] the upshot of the whole situation was but by the time we arrived at the park we not only had two we had four bodies three women and one man all found murder was in this park unheard of I'm born and raised in this County been in the sheriff's office for 20 or more years unheard of and this was on federal Park land that we now had four murdered people two young women had been murdered that day both had been shot one had been raped and a leaf placed on her back the bodies of the young couple were found just 200 yards away they'd been killed six weeks earlier and were badly decomposed increase the perimeter about 10 feet yeah let's get some more tape up here we didn't know whether they were connected we didn't know if it was a homicide suicide with one couple and the other couple a sexual assault try to say what do we have we don't know what the hell we have and it's dark and it's wet we needed to be able to transport these bodies and get them down to a location where we could examine them and find out do we have a common denominator [Music] back was a common denominator pointing to a single killer in the last five murders bullets that were recovered from the heads of the victims all had been fired by the same gun meaning Point Raise four bodies and Alderson Mount Tamalpais and that the same gun was probably used by the same perpetrator and now we had two different crime locations where the bodies were found we had the traveling of distance plus we had the distance in time of six weeks of the two kids that had been missing for six weeks so now we had this whole investigation opening up in a much wider broader area but it was also focusing down to one gun probably one perpetrator [Music] after Point Reyes occurred the escalation of the investigation was phenomenal we went from about maybe a dozen people that were actively working this to in excess of 36 people [Music] and all paper systems were done manually there were no computers in those states there was no Central repository other than file cabinets after handwritten reports made by officers in the street so the chaos and confusion at the Marion County Sheriff's Office was incredible [Music] Eden's team received hundreds of calls but no one phoned in with David Carpenter's name of all the witness statements none resembled him he was on Parole for sex offenses but because he'd been in a federal jail his name didn't come up in police checks of California records and his license plate wasn't spotted in the area either because after November 29th he bought a new car and moved his activities to another County foreign but in March 1981 Keaton and his partner Chuck prandy got their first big breakthrough killer had attacked again a hundred miles away in Santa Cruz March 29th Henry Cowell State Park Santa Cruz the victim's 20-year-old Ellen Marie Hansen shot to death on a hiking trail her boyfriend survives the attack with a gunshot wound in his neck I'm Lucy ablin for live on four the link to the Trailside case was ballistics the same gun had been used again but this time there was a viver evidently he's young and seems to be a pretty good Witness where was he hidden uh bullet entered the neck and lodged behind the sternum so he blacked out for a while I thought he was dead too and left him there so we may be in luck with this guy surviving down here we finally got somebody who's got to look at this guy okay Stephen I want you to tell me again you and Ellen were walking up the trail tell me what you saw and and what you thought of this guy when you first encountered him he was about 25 feet in front of us coming down the path and he was grunting uh kind of talking to himself hi hi and we kind of made eye contact with them and smiled and kept walking okay Stephen tell me about the second time that you and Alan encountered this guy on the path tell me what happened we were down by the Redwoods and we started coming back and we saw him again and and he was he was standing writing in front of the path and he said to us we meet again we meet again but he pulled up his jacket and inside of his jacket I could see a handle of a gun and he had this you know a little kind of a Sinister look on his face and and I was thinking that he was going to rob us and and that he wanted our money don't want to hurt you just want to rape her I just want to rape her is what he said and he told us to get into the bushes okay what else happened after that we started backing off into the bushes with our hands up and he told us to get them down that he didn't want to to attract a lot of attention and and as we started backing up Ellen started to started to say he's not going to shoot us he's not going to shoot us get into the woods and then I heard three shots go off and then I went and she and she fell to the ground and I ran up to her and then I heard two more shots go off and I remember laying there and when I came to Evelyn was laying right next to me and I I could see that she had been shot in the back of the head oh look and and there was blood all over the place and I can see the two and she was dead [Music] Park in Santa Cruz was smaller and busier than Mount Tam and Carpenter was spotted by witnesses as he drove away tell me exactly what he looked at any details you can remember yeah he was tall around maybe six feet tall and Stephen hartle was probably the most incredible witness I've ever seen in my entire career for recall he describes this man in such detail it was if he had a movie running through his brain that he saw that he recorded indelibly forever he was maybe around 50 years old he had on eyeglasses and and a blue jacket a windbreaker kind of jacket and Stephen hartle's precise description of a balding man in his 50s was a far cry from the young man in the plaid shirt [Music] suing the wrong suspect for over a year at first I was so angry I could spit nails I was just livid to think that we were spending so much time in a false composite drawing [Music] but you didn't have time to sit and dwell on that to either gloat or be angry or to throw rocks you had to now go forward and say who is this guy positively and how do we get him into custody before somebody else dies [Music] but could not act fast enough [Music] it was May 2nd 1981. a month after the murder of Ellen Hansen Carpenter's co-worker and friend Heather Skaggs wanted a used car [Music] he had offered to take her to see a deal a friend of his down near Santa Cruz [Music] for the first time he had targeted someone he knew pretty good how are you excited about the new car a brand new used car huh I'm saving up for a long time for this good thank you again I really appreciate you pulling us all together oh glad to help and we can go uh check out some ferns later oh really oh that would be great you know I collect the ferns and your muscles yep another place down by um Santa Cruz oh that's wonderful I've never been down to Santa Cruz it's it's okay [Music] Heather's body would be found three weeks later naked shot with one earring missing on the day she died Carpenter was back in San Francisco and time to go to the ballet and just renewed a season ticket foreign [Music] was reported missing by her boyfriend who told the local police in San Jose that she gone off with her co-worker David Carpenter to buy a used car on the day she disappeared detectives Walt Robinson and Ken Womack got the case when this was assigned to us as a missing person the case had been kicked around the bureau because it was low profile it's not significant to have an adult missing for 24 hours it was kind of a precarious position to be in we had nobody we had no evidence of a crime all we had was this missing young lady that we desperately needed to find and what ultimately became of that as Ken and I found ourselves in in this Tempest of a serial killer running the the ramp and in Marin County and Santa Cruz two cops had made a routine visit to Carpenter's workplace and had spotted his red car parked out back Ken Womack made a crucial connection to the Red foreign car spotted after the Santa Cruz killing now they wanted to meet Carpenter there you go Ken had contacted Richard Wood Carpenter's parole agent in San Francisco I'm Walt Robinson this is my partner Ken Womack David Carpenter we set an appointment up for Friday afternoon at one o'clock thanks for taking the time to meet us we're appreciate it here investigating a missing persons case um do you know Heather Skaggs yes we wanted to approach David but we didn't want to do it at work because he knew he was a parolee he knew that the police visiting him at his workplace would probably be a bad thing when was the last time you saw Heather Friday afternoon uh when I went with home from work it became common knowledge that carpentry had an appointment to meet with Heather now we wanted to hear what Carpenter had to say is it true that you were going to help her find a car yes uh Saturday morning but I overslept so we I didn't see her on Saturday when we asked Carpenter about the cars that he drove Carpenter said I only have one car no no no I have a black station Oldsmobile that that that's he did not acknowledge owning a red foreign car that was significant because his boss had pointed it out that that was his car I thought there was no way this guy could be the killer in any of the Marin or Santa Cruz County cases basically because our living witness in Santa Cruz had stated that the killer of Ellen Hansen stepped out onto the trail and spoke in a slow low deliberate Voice without any kind of speech impediment Saturday night ballet and he went on to talk about how his mom was the cause of his problems in his life and he stated that she made me take the ballet and I really resented that you like ballet I took ballet for a year when I was nine years old I took ballet for a year when I was nine did your mother force you to take lessons she made me take ballet for a year yeah you didn't know this right I regretted bringing that out in front of my partner because I never heard the end of it but Mr Carpenter got up in in his excitement he began to dance around do these ballet moves that just completely floored me I had opened a door and I had no clue that David Carpenter would walk completely through it but when it came time to do Romeo and Juliet for uh parents tonight the startling part about this whole event was Carpenter had stopped stuttering from that moment we started on the ballet it gave me a sense that this man has the same control when he's got a gun in his hand as he has right now when he's talking about the ballet or something that he's in complete control of you guys think I'm the number one suspect in the murder investigation right we're investigating a missing person's case not a homicide I know I'm the number one suspect if I'm not I should be David do you know who the Trailside killer is are you telling us that you're the Trailside killer a normal person isn't going to throw that kind of information in in the officer's face and say come and get me I dare you that's the feeling or the sense that I got out of this character and uh the more we talked with him the deeper in my gut the sickness was feeling that this man's going to walk out of here today and walk into the Redwood forest in Santa Cruz and Marin County and take another innocent life thank you I hope Heather hasn't been a murderer raped we hope not as Carpenter left that meeting there was a sense of urgency beyond belief Ken and I felt uh panicked that we just watched a serial killer walk out of this room yeah okay no doubt about it that Womack and Robinson did the right thing well any good investigator in their shoes is not going to prematurely jump off and arrest somebody without all of the fact without all of the information and I'm sure that they didn't want to jeopardize either Santa Cruz County or Marin County's homicides investigation they did the right thing [Music] Carpenter left Robinson and Womack at 3 P.M that Friday knowing the police were on to him Keem got a call from Robinson at the same time and was moving to set up surveillance and warrants but those few hours gave carbon a time to start disposing of evidence still one step ahead [Music] by 9 pm that night Keaton and pratty had carved in his house under their own surveillance it's gonna be a long night it would be 24 hours before the full surveillance team would be ready [Music] so this is uh his mom and dad lives with his mom and dad but we sit out there until the wee hours of the morning knowing that we had to get back to work at a regular assignment the following sign up what uh what was his uh sexual priorities yeah let me take a look at this we've got his filing about 10 years ago did some time aggravated assault hard time for the first time they read Carpenter's record he had previous convictions for kidnap rape and attempted murder and it's been nearly 20 years in jail yeah he's got some sort of assault here using a Hammer of all things nice nice guy sounds like our guy though under surveillance Carpenter managed to slip away to dispose of the crucial piece of evidence by making use of an old friend from jail Shane Williams hello Shane hey David how you doing good how are you good long time yeah it's been a while yeah I understand you uh have something for me yeah something you want put a little job you have in mind oh yeah perfect ammunition in the bottom there nice good luck oh yeah thank you I really appreciate it no problem take care thanks Carpenter obliged his friend who had no idea that he was in possession of a gun that had killed seven people we were under a Time Gap we didn't want this to go into a weekend or into a holiday and lose him we knew that in our mind Carpenter was our suspect he was the responsible for all these murders we had the warrants in our hand the district attorneys from both counties Santa Cruz and Marin said it's time to contact Mr Carpenter well they say 7 15 o'clock or the guy's methodical Stony Brook from Santa Cruz and myself would approach Mr Carpenter at his residence in view of other officers for safety reasons we didn't know at this point in time where the gun was who are you sure my name's Tony Brooks Santa Cruz Police Department I'd like to ask excuse a few questions the Stoney started to talk with Mr Carpenter watching his body language you could just see this man tense up almost like a cat recoiling when the dog comes by long time talk about this I have to get to work sir got the Heather Skaggs disappearance do you know anything about that murder well at that point Stony Brook reaches under his coat pulls out a murderer warrant for his arrest feedback spread them it's the carpenter you're under arrest you have the right to remain silent anything you say can I put him up against the adjacent building in order to search him board an attorney the state will provide you one please don't hurt me I've always been a model inmate and that just repulsed me here's this guy who now has a murder warrant laid on him he is now under arrest for murder and when he can't walk away begs and pleads about it he's always been a model in me and the only thing to flash through my mind with the scenes of those girls and boys who were killed here's this guy saying don't hurt me and look what he's done to them [Music] finally Carpenter was in custody but as yet the police had no hard evidence against him [Music] the investigators were hanging their hopes on the search of the house but whatever evidence had been there was gone this is the area they found nothing to justify charging Carpenter with murder after the arrest in San Francisco Carpenter was brought to the Santa Cruz County Jail they will probably keep him here after booking instead of transferring him to the old jail for security reasons what we're trying to do is analyze the evidence and just see where it leads we we haven't charged anyone at this point and we haven't done so because we haven't completed the investigation the investigation was going on simultaneous now with Santa Cruz putting Mr Carpenter in our lineup and doing that as quickly as they possibly could and having Steve hartle identify him number four turns to his left number four turn to the left [Music] that entire day that Carpenter was being transported to Santa Cruz to be put in the lineup everyone was on pins and needles there was like an expectant father waiting for the baby to be born and everybody was by the phone I mean from secretaries to receptionists to janitors to everyone how about number five with his glasses on if hartle had been put your glasses on uncertain or in any way not been positive that would have been the most horrendous thing for us in the world number three with his glasses on [Music] all right number three put your glasses on [Music] that's him that's the one right there number three yeah Keaton thanks positive ID yes yes we may have felt very relieved and very positive about Mr hurdle's identification but a defense attorney only has to taint the mind of one juror just one out of 12. and if there's a doubt you may not get a conviction so our priority at this point was to find the gun where is the gun but what police found next was not the gun it was the decomposed remains of Heather Skaggs authorities now believe that Heather Skaggs was killed at this wooded location near a big Basin Redwood State Park where she was found murdered like other Trailside victims two hikers found her nude body her clothing missing from the scene like three other victims she was dead of a gunshot wound to the Head investigators for the State Department of Justice will now make ballistics tests on the bullet to see if it matches evidence and other Trailside murders the weapon that was used was a 38 caliber revolver and so far hasn't been recovered [Music] and Trailside investigators were about to get their luckiest break yet hey that's our guy got him my name is not Shane man [Music] Shane Williams was wanted on charges of bank robbery and parole violations a hapless robber he'd left his girlfriend's student ID in their hotel bill on the bank counter after the hold up so you're not saying how come it's a shame okay all right just come with us after Carpenter's arrest Williams realized that the gun Carpenter had given him was probably connected to the killings maybe even the murder weapon so he hid it keeping it back a back bargaining chip if he should ever need it oh I got something you guys might want if you're interested let me know I'm back here ready to talk he told the cops where it was in return for lenient treatment on the charges against him Shane Williams told the lieutenant that he had gotten the gun from Carpenter that he had folded it up in newspapers and hit it under some asphalt at the lot under the asphalt wrapped in newspaper was the gun [Music] Lieutenant brought the gun back to the Sheriff's Office and we all were amazed it was a little bit of luck finally a little bit of luck [Music] the biggest sigh of relief was when the laboratory called her office and said we've got the gun it matches on all the homicides if you recall when he shot and killed Miss Hanson and then shot Stephen hartle my three shots go off and then I went and she and she fell to the ground and I ran up to her and then I heard two more shots go off that's five bullets and he had a revolver but it was a five shot revolver if he had one more bullet we wouldn't have Stephen hartle as a witness and we may still be looking for the Trailside killer Carpenter was tried twice first for the Santa Cruz killings then for the marina fences throughout both the trials he pleaded his innocence but both juries reached unanimous verdicts finding him guilty on three counts of rape one attempted murder and seven murders in the first degree on July 19 1988 he was sentenced to death [Music] but the case remains under repeal and David Carpenter is still alive he is now the oldest man on death row in San Quentin jail just a few miles from Mount Tamil Pius to this day he continues to claim that he is innocent the denial only he can answer the evidence is overwhelming and you would think if he had any sort of decency at all maybe he could speak with us Enlighten us and tell us what happened if not that these victims may be others that day will never happen [Music] coming back up here 22 years after those investigations all started it's very hard to explain to the families why why so long 22 years after their loved ones have been murdered and gone he's still alive [Music]

Channel: True Lives

Views: 784,598

Keywords: our life, documentary, world documentary, documentary channel, award winning, life stories, best documentaries, daily life, real world, point of view, story, full documentary, documentaries, real life, Trailside Killer, Trailside, David Carpenter, Carpenter, True Crime, Death Sentence, Trail, Hiking

Id: G6ziP0AJpnU

Length: 48min 40sec (2920 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 16 2023