| Fernando Cota | |
| Birth Name: | Fernando Velazco Cota |
| Birth Date: | 20 June 1946 |
| Birth Place: | United States |
| Death Place: | Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Redwood City, California, U.S. |
| Cause: | Self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head |
| Conviction: | Rape |
| Sentence: | 8 years imprisonment (rape) None for murder |
| Victims: | 6 (not confirmed, died before trial) |
| Beginyear: | September |
| Endyear: | October 1984 |
| Country: | United States |
| States: | California |
| Apprehended: | N/A |
Fernando Velazco Cota (June 20, 1946 – October 14, 1984) was an American rapist, kidnapper and suspected serial killer who was the prime suspect in the murders of six women in San Jose, California from September to October 1984. He committed suicide on October 14, 1984, after he was arrested for a botched kidnapping.[1]
Little is known of Cota's background. He was born on June 20, 1946, and in the mid-1960s, he was drafted into the Army. After completing his training, he was sent to fight in the Vietnam War, where he saw active combat and was promoted to sergeant. After demobilization, Cota returned to the US, where he soon married a woman with whom he had several children. In the early 1970s, he began to exhibit an increased sex drive and began to sexually harass girls and women. While he lived in El Paso, Texas with his family, Cota attacked a nurse in 1975, binding, bathing and then raping her. A few days later, he sent the victim a note that said: "Sorry for the argument we had. Still loving you." While he was suspected of several other rapes in the area, he would later be convicted of this crime and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, as a result of which his wife divorced him.[2] During his imprisonment, Cota went through several rehabilitation programs and earned a reputation as an exemplary inmate, thanks to which he was paroled on September 29, 1983. Shortly after, he left Texas and moved to La Paz, Mexico, where he met someone who informed him that there were many job opportunities in the Silicon Valley. Using this information, Cota moved to San Jose, California, found housing near the San Jose State University and a job as a computer programmer for Aydin Microwave Inc. While working there, he was described as acting in a strange and eccentric manner towards his female colleagues. He never registered as a sex offender, despite being legally required to do so.[3]
On the evening of October 14, 1984, Cota's white Chevrolet van was spotted by traffic police about fifteen miles north of San Jose, looping erratically on Highway 101 near San Carlos. After it stopped, the police officers, questioning the driver's sanity, demanded that Fernando show his papers and allow them to inspect the interior of the van. Cota ignored their demands, took out a .22 caliber revolver and started shouting "Kill me! Kill me! I'm very sick. If you don't kill me, I'll kill myself!", before shooting himself in the palate. He was driven to the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Redwood City, where he succumbed to his injuries. While inspecting the inside of his van, the officers found a wooden box which contained the corpse of a young woman, whose hands were tied with a chain and rope. The deceased was identified as 21-year-old Kim Marie Dunham, an employee at the Orchard Supply Hardware store in Milpitas who had gone missing the day before. Left with only her underwear and stockings, she had been beaten and raped before Cota evidently strangled her. In addition to her body, officers also found a plastic trash bag containing blood-splattered clothes, a purse, boots and a cloth belt.
Subsequently, due to the nature of the crime and these discoveries, the local police department started re-examining a slew of recent murder cases, in an effort to establish whether Cota was responsible for them.[4]
Following Cota's death, the police received a search warrant for his rented flat. In there, investigators found a small closet, 60 by 100 cms wide, where Cota had attached metal braces to the walls through which ropes and manacles were pulled. Supposedly, he kept his handcuffed victims in this closet and watched them suffer through a peephole drilled in the door. On the walls, inside the closet, detectives found many fingerprints, which were later sent for examination in order to identify other potential victims. Aside from this, the investigators found fake ID cards, a false police badge, numerous women's blouses, six pairs of women's shoes and advertisements for tenants, which Cota posted on the campus of the San Jose State University, inviting local students to rent a room in his apartment. During the investigation, six girls were included in the list of victims, all killed between September and October. They were all strangled, stabbed or beaten to death. Indirect evidence of Cota's involvement in these murders was a knife and a piece of a steel pipe found in his van, which could have been used as a murder weapon.[5]
The list of potential victims included the following:
Despite their best efforts, the investigators were unable to conclusively link Cota to these murders, but he has never been eliminated as a suspect in any of them.[8]