I want to begin Betty Lou Jensen’s story with the teenager her friends knew. She had a ready smile, a lively laugh, and school days that included pep rallies and walks home. Her name later became inseparable from an unsolved crime, but those ordinary memories preserve something the crime cannot explain: who was lost.
Betty Lou was 16 when she and David Arthur Faraday were killed on 20 December 1968. Their deaths on Lake Herman Road are widely treated as the earliest canonical crimes attributed to the unidentified Zodiac. No conviction has established the killer’s identity. I keep that uncertainty separate from the clearer facts of her life and family.
A Childhood Before the Headlines
Betty Lou was born on 22 July 1952. Her birthplace is recorded in compiled family information as Hawkins, Kiowa County, Colorado, although an original birth certificate is not part of the available account.
She was the younger of two daughters of Verne Marion Jensen and Virginia Lee Blenderman Jensen. By her teenage years, the family lived in the Vallejo area of California. She attended Springstowne Junior High and then Hogan High School, where she was a junior during the 1968 to 1969 school year.
I find the school details important because they restore a local setting. Vallejo was where classmates knew her, where she walked home, and where her life had its everyday rhythm. The place of the attack, inside nearby Benicia, should not be substituted for her home community.
| Detail | Publicly established outline |
|---|---|
| Birth date | 22 July 1952 |
| Parents | Verne and Virginia Jensen |
| Sibling | Older sister Melodie |
| Junior high school | Springstowne Junior High |
| High school | Hogan High School |
| Age at death | 16 |
| Date of death | 20 December 1968 |
| Burial | Skyview Memorial Lawn in Vallejo |
Virginia Lee Blenderman Jensen
Virginia was born on 19 February 1924 and came originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art and history and worked as a substitute teacher in the Oakland and Vallejo school districts.
Her interest in painting, especially seascapes inspired by visits to the Monterey coast, offers another view of the household Betty Lou came from. I picture the contrast carefully: a teacher and painter’s life is established, while the details of what she taught her daughters at home remain private.
Virginia’s parents were Louis and Avis Blenderman. Their fuller names and dates have appeared in compiled family trees, but the simpler identification is the firmer part of the public family account.
She survived Betty Lou by more than 40 years and died on 6 November 2009 after a short illness. Her family remembrance named her husband and younger daughter among those who had died before her. It also named her surviving daughter, granddaughter, and four great-grandchildren.
Verne Marion Jensen
Betty Lou’s father, Verne Marion Jensen, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on 15 April 1919. He died in Vallejo on 27 November 1993 at age 74.
He is publicly identified with the rank lieutenant colonel. The branch of service and specific military assignments are not established in the available information, so I would not build a service history from the rank alone.
Compiled genealogy names his parents as Lars Østergaard Jensen and Anna Marie Peterson. That connection is best treated as family-tree information rather than a fully inspected vital-record chain.
Verne was buried at Skyview Memorial Lawn, where Betty Lou was also laid to rest. The shared cemetery is a concrete part of the family history. His own words about his daughter’s death are not available here, and I would not supply emotions or quotations in his place.
Melodie and the Continuing Family
Betty Lou’s older sister is most clearly identified as Melodie L. Long, wife of Joe T. Long. The spelling Melody also appears in recollections, while Mclodie appears to be a later error.
Virginia’s granddaughter Denise Shiner, with husband Gary, belongs to the continuing family described in 2009. Betty Lou had no children and was therefore an aunt rather than a parent in that branch.
I keep the account of Melodie measured. A later friend’s recollection includes personal stories about her early life, but those details are not independently established. Her place as Betty Lou’s older sister is clear without turning uncertain family memories into a complete biography.
David Faraday and the Last School Day
David Arthur Faraday was 17 and a senior at Vallejo High School. Friends remembered him as serious and college-minded. He and Betty Lou were going out together on the evening of Friday, 20 December, the last school day before Christmas vacation.
The evening is commonly described as their first date. Another recollection calls it their first parent-approved date after earlier quiet meetings. I would preserve that distinction rather than force all versions into one exact account.
Earlier that day, classmate Lorraine DeGroat walked part of the way home with Betty Lou after a pep rally. They hugged and expected to see each other after the holiday break. That farewell has a painful simplicity. Neither girl knew it would become a final memory.
David picked Betty Lou up that evening. They visited a friend before driving to a gravel turnout on Lake Herman Road. They were attacked late that night, around 11 p.m. Betty Lou died at the scene; David died afterward at a hospital.
An Unsolved Crime and a Lasting Name
The Lake Herman Road investigation began before the later letters signed Zodiac gave the case its notorious framework. There were no identified witnesses to the shooting and no conviction.
I would not attach a suspect theory to Betty Lou’s family story. The historical attribution to Zodiac is significant, but it is different from a proven identity. Anniversary coverage and documentaries have kept her photograph visible while often giving much more attention to the unknown killer.
Her classmates’ memories offer a different emphasis. They describe a positive, affectionate girl and the ordinary school world around her. Those recollections do not solve the case. They preserve a person.
She was buried at Skyview Memorial Lawn in Vallejo. Her public record contains no career, financial estate, or descendants of her own. Later archival appearances in crime programs are uses of her image, not a profession she pursued.
FAQ
How old was Betty Lou Jensen when she died?
She was 16. She was born on 22 July 1952 and died on 20 December 1968.
Who were her parents?
Her parents were Verne Marion Jensen and Virginia Lee Blenderman Jensen. Her mother was a teacher and painter; her father held the rank lieutenant colonel.
Did Betty Lou have a sister?
Yes. Her older sister was Melodie, publicly identified later as Melodie L. Long. Melody is another spelling found in recollections.
Was David Faraday related to her?
No. He was the young man accompanying her on their December 1968 date. He was killed in the same attack.
Has the killer been identified through a conviction?
No. The homicide remains unsolved in the supplied account, and no conviction establishes who killed the two teenagers.
Where is Betty Lou buried?
She is buried at Skyview Memorial Lawn in Vallejo, California, the community where she attended school.
