The Rock Star—Part 3
Valerie Percy's killer murdered sixty-nine others, and it was covered up. (19th in a series)
From a psychological standpoint, it’s logical to believe there was something more to Bobby Fuller’s murder, that it wasn’t just a random, senseless killing.
After all, Bobby was young, handsome, talented, and well liked, and in 1966 had many more years of life ahead of him. There’s no reason to believe that he wouldn’t be alive today, age seventy-nine at the time of this writing.
It’s better to think this rather than that he was tortured and forced to swallow gasoline, his life pointlessly ended by a nomadic, sadistic killer who murdered dozens of others before being shot dead himself in a rare set of circumstances.
To believe that Bobby’s death was a result of the dark business dealings with the syndicate seems to strike a better balance between criminal and crime, in part also because his music touched people and made them happy, and it continues to do so.
But the facts of Bobby’s murder, some of them unique, fit only one criminal’s grab bag of MOs. I’ve studied him and his crimes for a decade, interviewed persons who encountered and knew him and read his biography time and again. I’ve also studied reports that document his early crimes. Only one other person outside of law enforcement has had access to them.
He was William Thoresen III. He was not only violent and a serial killer but a serial mass murderer, a product of extraordinary wealth and rich disfunction.
A popular bromide claims that money is the root of all evil. William had what today would be millions of dollars and used it to finance a staggering number of murders.
But if he murdered all of these people, why are his crimes being brought to light only now? For one thing, he was a serial killer years before the phrase was coined, when such criminals were rare, and before they were studied by police.
No less important, William was killed before he was apprehended for murder. Years before he died, the FBI suspected that he was a brutal killer yet did not share this with police. But once he was dead, they presumably learned the extent to which he murdered, and covering it up was a manageable task.
There’s evidence this was done, in Bobby Fuller’s case and in numerous others. As documented in reports, the FBI believed William Thoresen murdered a US senator’s daughter. Meanwhile, it appears he bought his way out of trouble for violent assaults, bombings and weapons charges on a massive scale. These misdeeds were well publicized. Indeed, it’s like he was hiding in plain sight.
However, years before hearing of William, I learned that Bobby Fuller was murdered. It was only after studying William that I recognized his presence in Bobby’s case—and it’s unmistakable.
On at least three other occasions, William lured victims to their deaths by means of a phone call. Two were college students he offered rides to after getting their phone numbers from their schools’ ride-sharing boards. Another was the Robison family, whose members he murdered after promising to fly them from Michigan to Florida in 1968.
In Bobby’s case, the call regarded a party, one where LSD may have been available. Bobby didn’t have drugs in his system because he never went to a party and almost certainly was attacked shortly after being picked up. This short sequence of events fits with William’s MO of assaulting his victims at the earliest opportunity.
Evidence in numerous cases, including Valerie Percy’s, points to William being at crime scenes at 4 and 5 a.m., unlikely times for homicides to occur. It is believed that Bobby left his apartment at approximately 4 a.m. the day in question.
As documented in his wife’s book, Willam frequented Los Angeles nightclubs. Bobby worked in them. William stayed at a hotel on Sunset Strip that was adjacent to numerous LA music clubs including PJ’s, where the Bobby Fuller Four played. William also owned a car that was the color of one seen repeatedly passing Bobby’s apartment at the hour Bobby is believed to have departed.
That’s six reasons to believe he murdered Bobby. Given William's reputation for violence, just one would have been enough to generate a lead naming William as a suspect in Bobby’s murder.
According to witnesses, Bobby manifested a tear to one of his eyebrows, blood on his shirt, bruising and abrasions on his arms and injuries to his fingers. His autopsy report lists two reasons to believe that he swallowed gasoline. Given his battered extremities and that Bobby was in a good mood when last seen alive, it appears he didn’t swallow gasoline willingly.
Numerous reasons indicate William tortured multiple victims. This includes beatings to the head and, in one case, burning skin with a caustic substance. That brings the total to seven reasons to believe William Thoresen murdered Bobby. His violent past makes it eight.
Researchers of the Zodiac case believe that killer began murdering in Southern California in 1962. Evidence indicates he murdered three persons in San Diego and two near Santa Barbara plus a sixth victim in Riverside three months after Bobby was murdered, this during a time when random killings and serial killers were a rarity.
Evidence suggests that when active in the region, Zodiac was based in Los Angeles. As documented in his wife’s book, William began frequenting Los Angeles in 1962.
As documented in my second book, Zodiac Maniac, witness statements, documentary, physical, and circumstantial evidence point to William as having been Zodiac.
No less important, in numerous unsolved murders including Bobby Fuller’s and where evidence points to William, unusual events followed that indicate a cover-up. Such an extraordinary streak of murders would not be unexpected of Zodiac, a killer who called what he did hunting humans.
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