Doodler

The Doodler is an unidentified serial killer believed responsible for between 6 and 16 murders and three assaults of men in San Francisco, California, United States, between January 1974 and September 1975. The nickname was given due to the perpetrator's habit of sketching his victims prior to stabbing them to death. The perpetrator met his victims at gay nightclubs, bars and restaurants.

The suspect was described as a black man between 19 and 25 years of age. He was about six feet tall with a slender build. All of the victims were white males.

At 1:57 a.m. on January 27, 1974, a corpse was found at the water's edge on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Gerald Earl Cavanagh, 49, a Canadian-American immigrant, had been stabbed multiple times. He was determined to have been conscious at the time he was killed and had attempted to resist his killer because he had self-defense wounds. He initially remained unidentified, being temporarily known as "John Doe #7" by the medical examiner. Stevens had died shortly before his body was found; he had been seen at a club the previous day. He was employed as a "female impersonator" and comedian. Officers suspected that Stevens was alive at the time he had been at Spreckels Lake, possibly transporting himself to the area with the killer. He was found similarly to Gerald Cavanaugh, at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. His death had been somewhat more violent than the previous murders because he had considerably more stab wounds than Stevens and had been slashed in the throat several times. Andrews was found unconscious but never regained consciousness, dying seven weeks later. Andrews had been severely beaten with a rock and a tree branch. Lands End is located just north of Ocean Beach, where four of the other victims' bodies were found. Frederick Elmer Capin, 32, was discovered on May 12, 1975, in San Francisco. He had been stabbed like the other victims, dying from strikes to his aorta. It is believed his body had been moved approximately twenty feet as disturbances in the nearby sand indicated. Capin was identified through fingerprints when these were matched to those taken "by the state" due to his occupation as a nurse. He also had served in the United States Navy, earning medals while serving in the Vietnam War. He remains slightly inconsistent with the other homicides because he was far older than the others, his underwear had been taken by his killer and his pants were unzipped. However, Gullberg is believed to have been the final confirmed victim of the Doodler. Among the stabbing survivors were a "well-known entertainer" and a diplomat. The suspect cooperated with police during his interview but he never admitted guilt for the murders and attacks. Recent successes using DNA technology developed in the decades since the crimes have led police to re-examine evidence in the case. In February 2019, police offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer and released a revised sketch showing what he could look like four decades later. They later announced they would consider forensic genetic genealogy, which identified a suspect in the Golden State Killer murders.

Aftermath At the time, activist Harvey Milk publicly expressed empathy for the victims who refused to speak with police, stating, "I understand their position. I respect the pressure society has put on them." Milk elaborated that the three men likely feared damaging relationships with family and in the workforce, citing that he believed "20% to 25%" of the 85,000 gay men in San Francisco were closeted about their sexualities.