Post by Joanna on Apr 11, 2014 2:04:06 GMT -5
DA Aims to Crack Unsolved Murder of Palo Alto Teen
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is launching two website sections as part of 2014’s National Crime Victims’ Rights Week – one to protect the public from financial scams and crimes, and the other to enlist help solving violent crimes that have gone cold with time. The first cold case featured is the unsolved 1982 slaying of Karen Stitt, a 15-year-old Palo Alto teenager, stabbed close to 60 times and dumped near a bus stop in Sunnyvale. “We haven’t forgotten Karen," said DA Jeffrey Rosen. "And we want your help to find her killer.”
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Karen Stitt was the new girl in town, a spunky transplant from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who quickly eased into the social life of Palo Alto High School and negotiated the El Camino Real bus routes to and from her boyfriend’s house in Sunnyvale like a native. September 4, 1982, was a Thursday and Karen and her boyfriend were hanging out late on a school night, playing some video games at a 7-Eleven convenience store. Toward midnight they wandered over toward Golfland, a popular putt-putt course. Around 12:30 a.m., the young man dropped her off near a bus stop at the corner of El Camino Real and South Wolfe Road so she could take the No. 22 back to her father’s house in Palo Alto. There, snatched from the stretch of roadway choked with cruising cars, cluttered with restaurants and bars – the teenager, wearing a leather jacket, a striped shirt, pants and her boyfriend’s baseball hat with a Rush rock band insignia, disappeared. A delivery man found her the next day. Thrown over a four-foot wall near the now-gone Honey Bee Restaurant, Karen’s naked body was bound with her own clothing. Her hat lay nearby. She had been stabbed more than 60 times. The possible importance of a number of clues has lingered over the years.
A machinist working late that night noticed an unusual and out-of-place truck. It was a white, old-fashioned panel truck with a stripe along its side. There was a rectangular sticker on its bumper. It was parked near where Karen’s body was later found. Its parking lights were on.
Cold Case Unit Leader Ted Kajani and the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety are asking anyone who recalls that truck, or anything that may shed light on Karen's horrific murder, to contact them. Even a seemingly insignificant piece of information, not collected at the time, may be vital. If you have any information at all, please call District Attorney Investigator Michael Brown at (408) 808-3760.
Source: Susan C. Schena , Los Altos Patch, April 09, 2014.
