# 1 – Lake Herman Road : December 20, 1968

ZKF-LHR-Case

On the night of December 20, 1968, seventeen-year-old David Faraday arrived at the home of his new girlfriend, Betty Lou Jensen, in the small Northern California city of Benicia. The teenagers had met two weeks earlier while attending a church function and had become so attached to one another that David was soon cutting classes to visit with Betty Lou. As the young couple departed for what was to be their first official date, David promised Mr. and Mrs. Jensen that he would return with their daughter by 11:00 pm. The proud parents watched as Betty Lou and her new suitor climbed into David’s Rambler station wagon and drove away.

David and Betty Lou did not keep their promise, and, shortly after 11:00 pm, a driver traveling along a darkened stretch of Lake Herman Road found the young couple lying on the ground in a spot known as a “lover’s lane.” The two teenagers had been shot to death while Mr. and Mrs. Jensen were waiting at home, resisting the urge to glance at the clock. Left with no clues or viable suspects, Benicia police believed that the two teenagers were the victims of a random act of senseless violence. Hopes of catching the killer faded by summer, and it seemed that the case would remain unsolved.

ZKF-LHR-page

LAKE HERMAN ROAD: Photographs, Videos, Newspaper Articles and Official Documents

THE VICTIMS

David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

The Scene of the Crime: 1968

THE CRIME SCENE

The Crime Scene: December 20, 1968

The Crime Scene: Police Sketches

THE EVIDENCE

Shell Casings and Jensen Dress

The Rambler

THE INVESTIGATORS and OTHERS

The Investigators and Others

THE ARTICLES

Newspaper Articles and Other Material

THE DOCUMENTS

Death Certificates and Morgue Photographs

Benicia Police Dept: Report by Capt. Daniel Pitta (2 pages)

Solano County Sheriff’s Office Report (76 pages)

CA Dept. of Justice / CII Report – Ballistics (3 pages)

THE VIDEOS

The Funeral of David Faraday