In the summer of , a California triple murder stunned the nation. Three young girls went missing from Centinela Park in Inglewoodβa park where they played together oftenβand were found two days later, strangled to death in a ravine. After becoming captivated by the caseβwhich included one of the first-ever criminal profiles in the U. Read an interview with Everett. In this exclusive excerpt, reprinted with permission by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Olive and her little sisters were at the park on Friday morning, the day before the girls disappeared, when a man who said he was Eddie the Sailor asked Olive to go to a local store and buy a piece of rope so he could do rope tricks for the girls.
He could fold his hands back flat on his arms and everyone would stare, so amazed. After the rope and wrist tricks that Friday, he asked the girls to go rabbit hunting with him in the Baldwin Hills.
He said he had a car. He said he was married and had a daughter. He promised that each girl could bring home her own bunny. Little Marie looked at Olive and begged, Can we please go, please please can we go? He asked again, even telling the girls to meet him early the next morning, but Olive said it was time to leave and the girls hurried home. They told their mother about Eddie the Sailor and she quickly warned them again about such dangers. She reminded them, as so many parents did, that if they were ever afraid or needed help, they should find a policeman or a fireman, someone who could be trusted.
Just think, she might never come back! At the Everett home on Sunday, while the frenzied search continued, Chief Campbell took his time with Olive. He questioned her slowly, gently. She said Eddie the Sailor had a small black moustache, and on Friday he had been wearing a khaki work shirt and blue bibless overalls. She picked out a man from a photo lineup of several mugshots. His name was Othel Leroy Strong. Three adults, including the park superintendent George Frantz, and several children corroborated her identification.
