Some key sources are this Bakersfield Magazine article which has previously been shared in the group (p.61-63 of https://issuu.com/bakersfield/docs/bakersfield_mag_25-3) and the appeal decision in the case of Dawn's purported murderer Prentice Foreman (https://casetext.com/case/people-v-foreman-84).

A number of questions and observations on my part:

  • Given Dawn's "promiscuous" lifestyle back in New York, her attendance at Long Island parties with prominent people (including royalty), her relationship since age 15 with a "bigwig from South Africa", Berkowitz recalling her presence at Untermeyer Park, and the SoS cult's involvement in child sex trafficking to powerful clients, I can't help but wonder if Dawn was a victim of this cult in a similar manner to Brother John.
  • The reason Dawn left Yonkers for Bakersfield was to follow her then-boyfriend, identified as Steve Scherle (https://www.bakersfield.com/news/dawn-koons-did-a-lot-of-living-in-18-years-still-her-family-and-friends/article_d925c088-a4d2-11e9-99ba-5f341d12a65f.html). He exhibited a lot of highly suspicious conduct — that I'll get into below — which was largely excluded from Prentice Foreman's trial, and Dawn's brother believed for a while he was guilty. With that in mind, if the above theory about Dawn's involvement in the cult is true, Scherle also needs to be looked at as a possible cult member, perhaps even her handler/pimp. He was about 3 years older than Dawn (https://www.searchpeoplefree.com/find/steve-joseph-scherle/2585qedqWZEP).
  • Prentice Foreman was claimed by the prosecution to be a stalker who'd been creeping Dawn out, but this picture seems to be based on just two witnesses: Dawn's friend Diane and her ex-boyfriend Steve Scherle. Diane testified at trial that Foreman (who is black) was the "Black man who had been following Dawn" and denied she would have accused Dawn's ex-boyfriend of being the stalker; under cross examination, she conceded that she'd never mentioned the man's race to police, and another statement of hers to police indicated that she thought it could have been Dawn's ex-boyfriend. I think it's very likely this testimony was deflection from Scherle actually doing what Foreman was accused of. Especially since...
  • The appeal decision is full of reports painting Scherle as abusive towards Dawn, which the defense was barred from using despite Scherle's role as a key prosecution witness and obvious alternate suspect. Dawn's mother saw Scherle, back when they lived in New York, strike her. A woman named Sonja saw Scherle do the same to her after their breakup in the weeks before her murder. The aforementioned Diane stated that Dawn told her shortly before her murder that she was afraid of Scherle. A man named John recalled being told by Dawn that she broke up with Scherle for his possessive, stalker behavior, and that he threatened her not to get involved with another man. One of Scherle's own friends, Nanette, believed Scherle committed the murder and recalled him expressing homicidal ideation towards her.
  • Dawn's mother recalled being told by the former detective that Scherle made untrue statements to police. A likely example of that: This same detective, speaking to Bakersfield Magazine, recounted how Dawn's "boyfriend" (presumably Scherle) claimed to have had sex with her on the day before she was killed. Yet Scherle testified at trial that the last time he saw Dawn was two weeks before her murder, and that they had "an unhappy incident involving a pillow". Was Scherle trying to preemptively explain them finding forensic evidence on Dawn that would match him? Indeed...
  • Not mentioned in the appeal decision for some reason, but mentioned in news coverage of the trial (https://www.bakersfield.com/news/prentice-foreman-jury-goes-into-deliberations-in-40-year-old-murder-case/article_b34cf5fc-8637-11e9-9ea3-b7a1f73b1660.html), is that Dawn's rape kit showed traces of sperm from a second man that was not Foreman. And on the topic of unexplained forensic evidence, "a fingerprint matching a now-dead sex offender was found at the crime scene" (https://www.bakersfield.com/news/temporary-gag-order-issued-in-40-year-old-murder-case/article_bdd8909e-f493-11e7-ad05-d3b5caca437d.html).
  • The prosecution introduced what were obviously meant to be alibi witnesses for Scherle, while claiming that they weren't actually alibi witnesses (but rather "to provide context for the police investigation", whatever that means) to stop the defense from impeaching him as a suspect. In any event, there is no real alibi at all. Dawn was last seen by her friend Diane around 10-10:30 PM on January 12, and then failed to meet Diane as planned the next morning, indicating that she was killed on the night of the 12th or the early morning of the 13th, which the coroner also concluded. Scherle was with his friends on the night of the 12th but got back to his home "around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.".
  • Why was the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles, which had no jurisdiction over Bakersfield, familiar with Dawn and prompting the lead detective to send them information on the murder investigation? What would make federal prosecutors so interested in what was supposedly just a random sex crime, and one outside their territory no less? Note that Maury Terry claims in TUE that the Los Angeles area was the overall headquarters of this nationwide cult.
Edit
Pub: 29 Jul 2022 23:49 UTC
Views: 239