The Trailside Killer: Unraveling the Mystery of California's Infamous Murderer

The First Victim: A Nightmare Begins

The terror began on August 18, 1979, when 44-year-old Etta Kane was reported missing by her husband after she failed to return from a hike on Mount Tamalpais. Rangers discovered her lifeless body five hours later, face down in a secluded area off the trail. She had been shot twice in the back of the head with a .44 caliber gun, the execution-style shots eerily precise. There were no signs of struggle, and the victim's clothing had been removed. A chilling detail—a single leaf placed on her back—would later become a signature of the killer. Investigators were left with few leads. Detective Dave Keaton, who worked the case, later recalled, “We walked away feeling helpless. We had a lady who had been violently murdered, and we had nothing to work with.”

The Pattern Emerges

Etta Kane was just the first of many victims. Over the next two years, the Trailside Killer continued to strike, targeting hikers and outdoor enthusiasts in the remote forests of Marin County and nearby regions. His method remained disturbingly consistent: victims, mostly young women, were shot in the head and left in isolated areas, often with their clothes removed and a leaf placed on their backs. The killer appeared to know the terrain intimately, slipping unnoticed through the dense forests and rugged trails of Mount Tamalpais and Point Reyes National Seashore.

The second victim, 23-year-old Barbara Schwartz, was discovered on March 8, 1980. Like Kane, she had been shot in the head, and her body left in a remote location. This time, however, there was a witness—a hiker who had seen a man in a plaid shirt near the scene. Based on this description, police released a composite sketch of the suspect, which set the investigation down a frustrating and ultimately fruitless path.

The Wrong Suspect

The composite sketch of the young man in the plaid shirt became the central focus of the investigation, but it was a red herring. While police chased this phantom suspect, the real killer, David Carpenter, continued his spree. Carpenter, a 50-year-old parolee with a violent past, lived with his elderly parents in San Francisco. He had served nearly two decades in prison for previous crimes, including kidnapping and rape. Despite his criminal history, Carpenter managed to fly under the radar, blending into the community and even joining a local hiking club.

Carpenter’s knowledge of the trails and his ability to move undetected made him an elusive adversary. He later revealed that he had scouted the trails extensively, carefully planning each attack. His victims were often chosen at random—young women hiking alone or with a companion. Carpenter would approach them on the trail, sometimes engaging them in conversation before pulling out a gun and forcing them into the woods. Once he had control of the victim, he would shoot them, often committing acts of sexual violence before leaving their bodies in remote areas.

The Investigation Intensifies

By the fall of 1980, the Trailside Killer had claimed five more victims, including a young couple whose bodies were found in a shallow grave in Point Reyes. The discovery of four bodies in one day shocked the community, and law enforcement was under immense pressure to solve the case. With more than 36 officers assigned to the investigation, the police ramped up efforts, but despite their best efforts, the killer remained elusive.

The breakthrough came in March 1981, when the Trailside Killer struck again in Santa Cruz. The victim, 20-year-old Ellen Marie Hansen, was shot dead on a hiking trail, but her boyfriend, Stephen Haertle, survived the attack. Haertle provided police with a detailed description of the killer: a balding man in his 50s wearing glasses—far different from the young man in the plaid shirt depicted in the earlier sketch. This revelation shifted the focus of the investigation and set the stage for the capture of the real killer.

The Capture of David Carpenter

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when detectives Walt Robinson and Ken Womack interviewed David Carpenter about the disappearance of Heather Scaggs, a coworker who had gone missing after meeting him to look at a used car. During the interview, Carpenter’s behavior raised suspicions. He spoke in a slow, deliberate voice, free of his usual stutter, and made cryptic comments that suggested he knew more than he was letting on. At one point, he even joked, "If I’m not the number one suspect, I should be."

Although detectives suspected Carpenter, they lacked solid evidence to make an arrest. However, their interview provided enough probable cause to place him under surveillance. On May 2, 1981, Carpenter was arrested at his San Francisco home. During the arrest, Carpenter pleaded, “Please don’t hurt me. I’ve always been a model inmate,” a chilling statement given the brutality of his crimes.

The Trial and Conviction

The search for evidence to convict Carpenter was a race against time. Without the murder weapon, the case was weak. However, in a stroke of luck, police learned that Carpenter had given the gun to an old friend from prison, Shane Williams, who had hidden it under a pile of asphalt in a parking lot. The gun was recovered, and ballistic tests confirmed it was the same weapon used in the murders, providing the crucial evidence needed to secure a conviction.

David Carpenter was tried twice—once for the Santa Cruz murders and once for the killings in Marin County. In both trials, he pleaded innocence, but the evidence against him was overwhelming. He was found guilty on multiple counts of murder, rape, and attempted murder and sentenced to death. Today, Carpenter remains on death row in San Quentin, where he is the oldest inmate awaiting execution in California.