Sixty years later, a retired detective pushes for answers in a 1966 college stabbing

The yearbook entry is signed by a girl who would die two years later.

On the back page of the 1964 Ramona High yearbook, Cheri Jo Bates wrote to her friend Ken Welty, calling them "buds" and teasing about an American History class in the gym. Welty, now 78, keeps the book as a reminder of the 18-year-old Riverside City College student who was stabbed to death on Halloween in 1966.

Her body was discovered at 6:32 a.m. on October 31, 1966, in an alley between Terracina Drive and Fairfax Avenue. A janitor found her near what is now the Math and Sciences Building. Police recovered a man's wristwatch nearby, an item detectives say was torn from the suspect's arm during a struggle.

Welty, a retired Los Angeles Police Department homicide lieutenant, is leading a renewed push to solve the case. He helped establish a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. He has contacted media outlets and continues to collect newspaper clippings, police reports, and letters from amateur investigators. Although he has not formally investigated the crime, he says he has "bugged detectives" for updates over the last three decades.

Michael Bates, Cheri's 79-year-old brother, has worked with Welty for 30 years. The two men only met in person this month, despite decades of correspondence. Bates, a former electrician living in La Jolla, says he had limited hopes for a solution after sixty years. He noted that his sister had just moved to California from Nebraska in 1958 and dreamed of becoming an airline stewardess.

Detectives believe Bates knew her attacker. Her boyfriend was cleared because he was out of town. The Riverside Police Department's cold case webpage identifies a primary suspect who remains the focus of the investigation. Police Chief Larry Gonzalez told KABC/7 that investigators are using new technology to examine DNA and fingerprint evidence. The department declined to discuss the case further this month.

Public theories have long pointed to the Zodiac Killer, who operated in the Bay Area from 1968 to 1969. A 1967 letter to police suggested a link, but the author recanted that claim in 2016. Detectives now believe the Zodiac connection was a red herring. Welty noted that a witness saw two people in the alley after midnight, one holding a flashlight, possibly searching for the watch.

Welty remains active in the case, receiving packets of evidence and theories from across the country. He recently reviewed a photo sent by a man named Carlos that purported to show Bates in San Francisco, but Michael Bates confirmed his sister's mother was not present at the time. Another correspondent from Louisiana claimed her son committed the crime before dying, a theory Michael Bates dismissed with a shake of his head.

Welty says he is satisfied that he has kept the memory of the victim alive. He points to a photograph of Bates and tells her she will not be forgotten. The $100,000 reward stands, and detectives continue to review the physical evidence recovered from the 1966 scene.