On Aug. 23, 1925, a 12-year-old boy discovered a tuft of blonde hair and a severed human ear in the tule reeds along the East Bay marshes near the Southern Pacific tracks. Forensic consults concluded the parts belonged to a young woman who was likely dead. Searches of Richmond and El Cerrito wetlands uncovered more golden hair wrapped in the Oakland Tribune and the woman's lower jaw. The discovery suggested dismemberment and prompted coordinated investigations by Berkeley, Richmond, and Contra Costa County authorities. The case drew intense media attention, led officers to scour miles of marsh, raid cabins and homes, and interrogate dozens, including prominent men and law enforcement officials.
It was young Roger Thomas who discovered something unexpected in the tule reeds. The 12-year-old and his father were tromping through the marsh on the edge of San Francisco Bay on a warm Sunday afternoon, collecting bunches of exotic-looking sedge grass to decorate their El Cerrito home. Near the Southern Pacific train tracks, which traversed the East Bay wetlands on a raised berm, Thomas spotted a tuft of blonde hair and a severed human ear. The skin seemed freshly lacerated.
They discovered additional signs of an insidious crime. More clumps of golden hair surfaced, wrapped in the pages of the Oakland Tribune. Then an officer spotted something larger in the water, what turned out to be the woman's lower jaw. "Murder feared," one newspaper announced in a banner headline. It appeared that a sinister killer had dismembered a young woman and strewn her body parts along the East Bay's shoreline. Who would do such a ghoulish thing?
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