The Doodler | 2. Murder, Mistrust, and the SFPD

Summary

Episode Summary: "Murder, Mistrust, and the SFPD" - The Doodler

Podcast: The Binge Crimes: The Doodler
Host/Author: Sony Music Entertainment
Release Date: July 8, 2025

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Introduction to Spreckels Lake and the Second Victim

The episode opens at Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, where Detective Dan Cunningham and host Mike Taylor unfold the grim discovery of the second murder victim attributed to the elusive serial killer known as "The Doodler." On the morning of June 25, 1974, a man in his mid to late 20s was found brutally stabbed beneath a large tree, mirroring the methods used in the earlier murder of Gerald Kavanaugh.

Detective Dan Cunningham (02:16):
"See that opening there? That would probably be up here. That's a little trail, so it's probably one of these."

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Introducing Joseph "Jay" Stevens: The Rising Star

The narrative shifts focus to Joseph Stevens, affectionately known as Jay, a prominent drag queen in San Francisco's vibrant gay community of the 1970s. Jay was a beloved figure, admired for his talent and charisma, performing regularly at venues like the PS Lounge and Finocchio's. His rise in the drag scene was cut tragically short by his untimely death, positioning him as a significant victim of The Doodler.

Charles Pierce (06:18):
"Jay Stevens was this bright, young, I would guess, in his early 20s, Pretty Boy who would lip sync Julie Andrews songs... The real clever ones, the ones that can do stand up comedy as well, are the ones that survive. And that's what Jay was, a really good stand up comic in a dress."

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The Social Climate: Queer Community and Police Relations

The episode delves into the oppressive environment faced by the LGBTQ+ community in San Francisco during the 1970s. Police harassment was rampant, with laws criminalizing homosexual behavior and extreme distrust between the community and law enforcement. This hostile atmosphere created a backdrop where crimes against queer individuals, such as those committed by The Doodler, were often overlooked or inadequately investigated.

Jim Van Buskirk (14:48):
"The pervasive element, I think, would be fear. Just fear that you might say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time and and really be in a lot of trouble."

---

Jay Stevens' Life and Tragic Death

Jay's personal journey is explored through conversations with his sister, Melissa Stevens. Jay had embraced his gender identity from a young age, finding solace and expression in San Francisco's drag scene after being ostracized by his family. His performances were a blend of talent and authenticity, making him a beloved figure until his murder in 1974.

Melissa Stevens (25:51):
"He was as beautiful as any woman could be, except for that he was 6 foot 2. I mean, he would do a Julie Andrews that was just remarkable."

On the night of his murder, Jay was performing at Finocchio's, a renowned drag venue. The following morning, his body was discovered, brutally beaten and stabbed. The police investigation was swift but superficial, offering few leads and little closure for Jay's family and community.

Melissa Stevens (29:37):
"But other than that, police hardly ever called us back."

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Investigative Efforts and Unsolved Mysteries

Despite initial investigations, the case quickly went cold due to limited evidence and the prevailing societal biases against the victims. It wasn't until decades later that renewed interest in The Doodler emerged, prompting investigative journalists like Kevin Fagan and Mike Taylor to revisit the case in hopes of uncovering new leads.

Mike Taylor (34:23):
"For 43 years, Melissa didn't even know that Jay was murdered by a serial killer. The police never told her about him. She didn't see it in the papers."

Through persistent research and outreach, the team attempts to connect with Jay's remaining family members and friends, seeking to piece together the circumstances surrounding his death and the broader pattern of The Doodler's crimes.

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The Legacy and Ongoing Hunt for The Doodler

The episode concludes by reflecting on the impact of Jay Stevens' murder on the queer community and the challenges of solving crimes within marginalized populations. The lingering fear and mistrust towards the police contributed to The Doodler remaining at large for decades, highlighting the need for more inclusive and thorough investigative practices.

Mike Taylor (36:50):
"The Doodler is created by the San Francisco Chronicle and Ugly Duckling Films and produced in association with Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment."

As the hunt for The Doodler continues, the episode sets the stage for future installments that promise to reveal new information and possibly bring justice to one of San Francisco's forgotten serial killers.

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Notable Quotes

• Detective Dan Cunningham (02:16):
  "See that opening there? That would probably be up here. That's a little trail, so it's probably one of these."

• Charles Pierce (06:18):
  "Jay Stevens was this bright, young, I would guess, in his early 20s, Pretty Boy who would lip sync Julie Andrews songs... The real clever ones, the ones that can do stand up comedy as well, are the ones that survive. And that's what Jay was, a really good stand up comic in a dress."

• Jim Van Buskirk (14:48):
  "The pervasive element, I think, would be fear. Just fear that you might say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time and and really be in a lot of trouble."

• Melissa Stevens (25:51):
  "He was as beautiful as any woman could be, except for that he was 6 foot 2. I mean, he would do a Julie Andrews that was just remarkable."

• Melissa Stevens (29:37):
  "But other than that, police hardly ever called us back."

---

Conclusion

"Murder, Mistrust, and the SFPD" offers a poignant exploration of Joseph "Jay" Stevens' life and tragic death within the broader context of San Francisco's 1970s gay community. By intertwining personal testimonies with historical analysis, the episode sheds light on the systemic challenges faced by marginalized groups and the lasting impacts of unsolved crimes. As the search for The Doodler persists, the episode underscores the importance of revisiting cold cases with fresh perspectives and a commitment to justice.

Transcript

[Kevin Fagan]

Making true crime podcasts is a busy life. Between chasing down interviews, editing late into the night, and then coming home to wrangle two kids under seven, I don't have time for high maintenance clothes. I need things that just work. That's why I'm obsessed with Quince's summer gear, especially their European linen chore jacket. It's lightweight, but it feels structured. I can go straight from preschool, drop off to a pitch meeting and not look like I just crawled out of a studio. Made from 100% European flax linen, it breathes like a dream, which is key when you're juggling summer heat and a toddler meltdown. And it layers perfectly over a tee or button down when I need to look semi professional or like I didn't sleep in the booth last night. And the price? Somehow half of what I used to pay for clothes that didn't hold up half as well. That's Quince's thing. They cut out the middleman, work directly with top makers, and deliver premium quality without the markup. Give your summer closet an upgrade with Quint's. Go to quince.com Crimes for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com Crimes to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Crimes.

[Mike Taylor]

The bench.

[Kevin Fagan]

You'Re listening to the Doodler, a re release series from the Binge archives. If you're a subscriber to the Binge, you can listen to all episodes ad free right now. Visit the Binge Channel on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to browse all the great shows on the channel. The Binge feed your true crime obsession.

[Mike Taylor]

This series contains depictions of violent assault and murder. Listener discretion is advised.

[Detective Dan Cunningham]

We're at 34th and Fulton right now, and sure enough, that's the lake right there.

[Mike Taylor]

Oh, it is, isn't it? Golden Gate park is over 1,000 acres, sprawling from the middle of the peninsula all the way to Ocean Beach. Detective Dan Cunningham and I are at Spreckels Lake on the park's northern edge. It was a rare sunny day.

[Detective Dan Cunningham]

See that opening there? That would probably be up here. That's a little trail, so it's probably one of these.

[Mike Taylor]

Next to the lake, there's a little path between the trees.

[Detective Dan Cunningham]

This might be the spot right around here.

[Mike Taylor]

Holy cow. Right under a big tree. On the morning of June 25, 1974, five months after the body of Gerald Kavanaugh was found a second Body was found right here. The victim was male, mid to late 20s. His pockets were empty. There was blood in his mouth and his nose. He had several stab wounds in his torso. 5. According to reports in the San Francisco examiner, this was San Francisco's 70th murder victim of the year. Was this a pickup spot, too, back then?

[Detective Dan Cunningham]

I don't know about this specific spot. I don't know if people had favorite spots they went to. But like I said, I know of the fact that people would meet at the bathrooms, they'd meet down by the beach, they'd meet out at Goldgate Park. Different areas. But I think a lot of times if men were out here late at night and they weren't walking a dog, there's usually a reason why they were out here.

[Mike Taylor]

Cunningham is alluding to the cruising scene. Police in the 70s suspected the victim came here with someone to have sex.

[Detective Dan Cunningham]

Maybe he came up here, or maybe he had been here before. He knew the spot and the spot he liked. And, you know, this guy turned out to be a killer.

[Mike Taylor]

The police eventually identified the young man as Joseph Stevens. But he was better known throughout the city as Jay. That's J, A E. And by all accounts, he was a beautiful drag queen and a rising star. Jay was from the Bay Area. He had family here. At least he did in the 70s. They've all apparently moved away since then, but I want to find them. If they can tell me more about Jay and who he hung out with, maybe I can figure out how he and his murderer were connected.

[Kirk Frederick]

Hello? Hey there.

[Mike Taylor]

It's Kevin. So I call my old pal from the Chronicle.

[Kirk Frederick]

Okay, so we're on the machine now?

[Mike Taylor]

Oh, yeah. Mike Taylor was a reporter at the Chronicle back in the early 70s before I got there. I met him when we were both covering a fatal train crash in Central California. A red brown liquid had splattered all over the scattered train cars and everyone assumed it was blood. Mike and I weren't sure. We were the only two journalists to taste was Hershey's chocolate. Since then, he and I have covered huge stories together. The Unabomber, the Columbine High massacre. And an endless string of disasters and murders all around the U.S. mike retired about a decade ago, and now he's a licensed private investigator.

[Kirk Frederick]

I think I told you this stuff.

[Mike Taylor]

About the Williamses looking for Jay's dad. Yeah, I thought Mike could take the lead on finding Jay's family. He was having early luck finding people who might be related to Jay. But a lot of the records are in Texas. Apparently, his Father and brother lived there.

[Kirk Frederick]

These genealogical databases go back a long, long ways, you know, and you can build a fairly cogent tree, which is what we're doing on these people.

[Mike Taylor]

All right, well, let's start scraping away again and see what we can find. While he looked for family, I was on the hunt for Jay's friends. And I would start in San Francisco's gay scene in the 70s. That's where news of Jay Stevens death spread like a shockwave. Where bars were shelters from gay bashings and dirty cops, and where drag queens were the center of attention. I doubt it got a deep enough look from investigators back in 1974, and I think I can snuffle up some new leads there. I'm Kevin Fagan from the San Francisco Chronicle, Ugly duckling films and neon Hum Media. This is the untold story of the doodler. Hello, boys, hello, girls. Hello, girls. Hello, boys.

[Charles Pierce]

Hello, boy.

[Mike Taylor]

Girls, hello, girl. Boys. I guess that covers everyone here. This is not Jay Stevens. It's another drag queen, Charles Pierce. Jay and Charles were friends. They often shared the same stage. I am a little older than most of you people out in the audience, but I always bridged the generation gap. I tried smoking pot, but the handle got caught in my throat, so I.

[Charles Pierce]

Got high on a wearing blender.

[Mike Taylor]

For six years, Charles Pierce was the headliner at a bar called the Gilded Cage in the Tenderloins. He's since passed away, but I talked to his longtime assistant, Kirk Frederick, and.

[Charles Pierce]

Charles was well known in gay circles and starting to sort of cross over. And then straight audiences and celebrities and all kinds of people would start coming to see this extraordinarily gifted man.

[Mike Taylor]

Kirk remembers a lot from this time in San Francisco. Sometime around 1969, we had met Charles.

[Charles Pierce]

At a little club off an alley on Mason street, downtown San Francisco, called the Fantasy. He was performing with this young, beautiful boy named Jay Stevens. With makeup and hair and costumes and, you know, the fake corsets and all that. He was an strikingly beautiful woman.

[Mike Taylor]

In a review of Jay's show, columnist Don McLean wrote for the Bay Area Reporter that Jay Stevens had a face that launched a thousand sailors. He had high cheekbones, long, wavy hair the color of straw, and eyes like a doe. It's a testament to jay's talents that 50 years later, Kirk Frederick still remembers seeing him that night.

[Charles Pierce]

Jay Stevens was this bright, young, I would guess, in his early 20s, Pretty Boy who would lip sync Julie Andrews songs from My Fair lady and Thoroughly Modern Millie and that sort of thing, which is what most drag queens do. Really well. The real clever ones, the ones that can do stand up comedy as well, are the ones that survive. And that's what Jay was, a really good stand up comic in a dress. We met him backstage afterwards and I remember liking him instantly. Very likable guy. He was very quiet, very demure, very modest. You would give him a compliment and he would almost turn away in embarrassment.

[Mike Taylor]

Jay had his own show at the PS Lounge on Polk street, right there on the edge of the gritty Tenderloin in central San Francisco. He performed there for several years, did very well.

[Charles Pierce]

Basically had their own showroom. A couple other acts would play there, but primarily it was the J. Stevens Show.

[Mike Taylor]

The neighborhood was taking off too.

[Colette Legrand]

This whole Tenderloin area was just buzzing.

[Mike Taylor]

That's Colette Legrand Before COVID 19 shut most things down. I met Colette when I went to see her rollicking drag show at a bar called Aunt Charlie's back in the early 1970s. She was working as a hooker. I was a hooker back in those days. I don't deny it.

[Charles Pierce]

Why would I?

[Mike Taylor]

And then did you turn your tricks outside or to go inside?

[Colette Legrand]

Either way, Yeah, I was famous for alleys.

[Mike Taylor]

Ah, yes, the Tenderloin was known for its illicit activities. It was also a low income neighborhood with affordable housing. So it was one of very few options for queer folks with just a few bucks. Eventually, it became the gay neighborhood. All along Polk street, gay bars and bath houses began popping up too.

[Colette Legrand]

14, 15 bars here, 14, 15 bars in Polk Street.

[Mike Taylor]

There was the Cockpit, the Frolic Room, Bojangles Club, which was the rare gay club of those days that catered to African Americans. And the PS Lounge, with its top drawer drag ax, the Gilded Cage and so many more. The Tenderloin and Polk street were the.

[Colette Legrand]

Place to be when I moved to San Francisco. Polk street is where I hung.

[Mike Taylor]

That's Anne Cronenberg, the gay rights activist. You heard her last episode.

[Colette Legrand]

Polk street was the heart of the gay community in the late 60s, early 70s. And there, there were many different bars where, you know, gay men who dressed in drag would perform and sing. And it was a raucous time in San Francisco.

[Mike Taylor]

The bars were places where a queer person could be surrounded by other queer people, some for the first time in their lives.

[Colette Legrand]

Gay life was very much integrated with the bar scenes at that point because that was one of the only places that you could feel comfortable and safe.

[Mike Taylor]

Jay Stevens became a part of that scene, performing nightly in several bars. But according to Kurt Frederick, Jay liked to keep his wits.

[Charles Pierce]

Jay didn't drink. I don't remember Jay ever drinking.

[Mike Taylor]

There was danger outside the bars. Gangs of men, sometimes even teenagers would drive through the Tenderloin shouting slurs and attacking anyone who was walking alone. Being drunk or high made you even more vulnerable. Yeah, there were a lot of, a lot of attacks.

[Colette Legrand]

You just had to be on your toes, you know what I mean? You had to watch where you were going, who you were surrounding yourself with, you know?

[Mike Taylor]

Jay Stevens was 6 foot 2. He was big and strong. He didn't have a lot of fear about gay bashings, even though he was as much at risk as anyone and police were well aware of all the crime going on. The Tenderloin was probably the most policed neighborhood in all of San Francisco. But protect and serve wasn't applied equally to everyone.

[Kevin Fagan]

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[Mike Taylor]

There's a long history in San Francisco of queer people being harassed by police. It's evolved to a much better place today with LGBTQ diversity in the officer ranks. But between the 1940s and the 1980s in particular, it was a constant tension.

[Jim Van Buskirk]

The police were to be avoided at all cost. I mean, if you knew of a policeman that might be sympathetic or friendly, that I think in that period would have been an anomal.

[Mike Taylor]

Jim Van Buskirk is the co author of Gay by the Bay. It's a history of queer culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. He says that since the 1940s, when gay people first began populating San Francisco, police were one of their greatest threats.

[Jim Van Buskirk]

The pervasive element, I think, would be fear. Just fear that you might say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time and and really be in a lot of trouble.

[Mike Taylor]

Homosexuality was illegal in all ways but by name. If you were caught in a gay bar, you could be charged with any of a number of crimes.

[Jim Van Buskirk]

Lewd and lascivious behavior. There's anti sodomies. There were laws on the books where people had to wear at least three articles of gender appropriate clothing. You couldn't be cross dressed and try to pass as the opposite gender.

[Mike Taylor]

A gay couple could be charged with lewd and lascivious behavior for holding hands. A woman could be charged with cross dressing for sporting a crew cut and wearing jeans and a leather jacket. The police could raid the home of a known homosexual and arrest them for sodomy. The risks involved in being arrested were devastating.

[Jim Van Buskirk]

Publication of one's name, address, workplace. You could lose your job, you could lose your relationship with your family, you could lose your living space. So it was pretty serious.

[Mike Taylor]

It was a pervasive, hateful campaign against queerness under the guise of law and order.

[Colette Legrand]

Here's Ann Cronenberg you could not trust that the police were going to stand up for you if you were having an issue in the street and you were a gay person back then.

[Mike Taylor]

If a gay man went to the cops to report an assault, the police may well have arrested the victim instead of the attacker. It happened a lot in places like the Tenderloin.

[Colette Legrand]

Gay men are getting busted after they've been at a bar for the night and pulled into jail because what they did was illegal. In quotes.

[Mike Taylor]

Street cops seemed more concerned with enforcing the laws on cross dressing and lewd behavior than chasing cars full of marauding teenagers. But individual harassment was just the tip of the iceberg. Up until the early 70s, any business that was known to cater to queer people was targeted by police almost as if they were a criminal enterprise. It was about intimidation and sometimes even extortion.

[Jim Van Buskirk]

The San Francisco Police Department and the Alcohol Beverage Control officers were caught taking bribes from gay bar owners in exchange for not raiding their bar.

[Mike Taylor]

It was a well known practice called gayola. This went on all through the 50s and 60s until the Tavern Guild finally shamed the SFPD out of the practice. But even into the 1970s, the memories were still fresh. Simply parking a patrol car in front of a bar was enough to deter people from entering. In 1974, Jay Stevens was murdered at a time when police didn't trust queer people and gay folks didn't trust the cops either. Queer identities had been criminalized for decades. An entire community of people felt like they had to fend for themselves. It was a perfect storm of circumstances that allowed the doodler to kill people undetected. Hearing all this from Ann and Jim and Colette, I couldn't help but feel like the mainstream news, including my newspaper, harbored some responsibility for the way gay people were treated in the past. We as journalists are supposed to really reflect the communities we cover, and we didn't back then. Certainly the Chronicle has evolved to being much more diversified and reflective today, but maybe if we'd all done better all those years ago, we'd have more to go on now.

[Kevin Fagan]

Making true crime podcasts is a busy life. Between chasing down interviews, editing late into the night, and then coming home to wrangle two kids under seven, I don't have time for high maintenance clothes. I need things that just work. That's why I'm obsessed with Quince's summer gear, especially their European linen chore jacket. It's lightweight, but it feels structured. I can go straight from preschool, drop off to a pitch meeting and not look like I just crawled out of a studio made from 100% European flax linen. It breathes like a dream, which is key when you're juggling summer heat and a toddler meltdown. And it layers perfectly over a tee or button down when I need to look semi professional or like I didn't sleep in the booth last night. And the price? Somehow half of what I used to pay for clothes that didn't hold up half as well. That's Quince's thing. They cut out the middleman, work directly with top makers and deliver premium quality without the markup. Give your summer closet an upgrade with quince. Go to quince.com crimes for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I N C E. To get free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com crimes does anyone really know what Hormones do?

[Melissa Stevens]

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[Mike Taylor]

Sometime in early 1974, Jay began performing at a club called Finocchio's.

[Charles Pierce]

Jay by then had become such a sort of icon in the certainly in the gay circles and then crossed over to please the street audiences as well.

[Mike Taylor]

Pinocchio's was an internationally known tourist destination in San Francisco. It was so famous for its female impersonators that the likes of Marilyn Monroe would actually go there to see herself impersonated. Jay Stevens knew it was A big opportunity. And Jay had dreams of becoming more than just a drag performer. He wanted to be a star. Like the women he impersonated. Finocchio's was in North Beach, a hopping neighborhood famous for beet culture at the tip of San Francisco's Bayside. Compared to the Tenderloin, it was more straight laced, a step in the direction Jay wanted to go. But the Finocchio's gig wound up being his last. Talking to Jay's friends, I get the sense that most of them knew him from his performances. It seems there are few people alive today who truly knew Jay. But Mike Taylor was making good progress on Jay's family. People think investigative reporting is so glamorous, but it's really a lot of drudge, isn't it?

[Kirk Frederick]

It's not glamorous. It's not glamorous.

[Mike Taylor]

Mike and I often rant about the struggles of investigative reporting, especially in cold cases. It's a weird thing, journalism.

[Kirk Frederick]

It's a lot of just paper chasing.

[Mike Taylor]

Yeah. And then when you find the real people, you're, you know, there's always. You're kind of invading their lives.

[Kirk Frederick]

Very few people say it, but once in a while you get. Somebody says, so how did you get my name? Or how did you get this number?

[Mike Taylor]

You feel a little embarrassed. Yeah.

[Kirk Frederick]

A lot of this is a paper chase because people were chasing your dead.

[Mike Taylor]

Mike spent weeks dredging social media accounts and genealogy websites, calling anyone with the last name Stevens. It took that kind of shot in the dark reporting to find one relative, a distant niece of Jay's. She was interested in this story, but she didn't know much about Jay or his murder. So she reached out to the rest of the family for us. And that's when Mike gets an email.

[Kirk Frederick]

A very short, frank email, saying, my brother was brutally murdered in San Francisco. The cops haven't done anything to find his killer. I'd be willing to answer any questions you have.

[Mike Taylor]

The name on the email is Melissa Stevens, Honrath J. Stevens younger sister.

[Kirk Frederick]

So we email her saying, oh, please call us. Here's my number. Here's Kevin's number. Call us anytime.

[Mike Taylor]

But after two days, we hadn't heard back, but she works at a hospital just an hour north of where we live, so I can drive up and knock on her door. And then as Mike and I are.

[Kirk Frederick]

Talking, I just got an email that I saw in the lower right corner of my screen from Melissa saying, hi, would love to talk to you. Great.

[Mike Taylor]

Tell her, yes, I'll go visit her Thursday. Tell her I can come in person. I drove about an hour north to meet Melissa in Sebastopol. It's a small town with only about 8,000 residents. I was trying to get my microphone ready when she came out of the house to greet me.

[Melissa Stevens]

Welcome.

[Mike Taylor]

Oh, well, thank you. It's a. What a lovely house. Oh, thank you. So say a little word.

[Melissa Stevens]

A little word.

[Mike Taylor]

Yeah. One more time.

[Melissa Stevens]

One more time.

[Mike Taylor]

There we go. Okay, Good, Good. She set us up on her back patio, surrounded by succulents and palm plants. Melissa looks a lot like Jay. They have the same high cheekbones. She's got a twinkle in her eye and an incandescent smile. I passed her a mic so we could keep our distance.

[Melissa Stevens]

He was as beautiful as any woman could be, except for that he was 6 foot 2. I mean, he would do a Julie Andrews that was just remarkable.

[Mike Taylor]

She told me how Jay, or Joe, as she called him, was always a performer.

[Melissa Stevens]

That was what we did. We put on shows all the time. You know, they let us have the run of the garage, and we had an old piano out there, and we put up stage curtains, and we had neighborhood shows and charged admission.

[Mike Taylor]

Even at a young age, Jay was dressing up as a girl. He would call himself Carolyn when he played with Melissa.

[Melissa Stevens]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. We'd fix each other's hair, and, you know, just we'd play like two girls would.

[Mike Taylor]

And that's when I was beginning to realize something about Jay that I never heard from anyone else. You think it was really transgender?

[Melissa Stevens]

Oh, absolutely. I know. I do know that cross dressers like to cross dress. But Joe really wanted to be a woman. He was more fun when we were putting on our shows in the garage. That's when Joe would be alive. Otherwise, he felt pretty suppressed.

[Mike Taylor]

Melissa says Jay knew he was a girl from as young as six years old. He didn't exactly hide it from his family. But being transgender wasn't understood by most people back in the 60s. And by the way, I continue to say he rather than she, because that's what Jay used when he was alive. Melissa uses he. And it's difficult to know what Jay would have wanted for sure. That being said, Melissa and Jay came from a big family.

[Melissa Stevens]

There were five of us at home, but she had six children. Jim, Joe, me, William, John, and then the baby, Theresa.

[Mike Taylor]

When a Vietnam draft letter came in the mail in the mid-60s, Jay came out to the recruiter. He didn't want to go to war.

[Melissa Stevens]

Joe was denied, you know, because he was gay, and my father kicked him out of the house.

[Mike Taylor]

Jay didn't have a home in Concord anymore.

[Melissa Stevens]

And so of course, he went to San Francisco.

[Mike Taylor]

In a way, Jay was able to spread his wings and fly. He began his drag career almost immediately after he moved in 1966. And even Jay's mother came out to see him perform. She was amazed at how beautiful Jay and all the drag queens were.

[Melissa Stevens]

They were more feminine than we were, you know, really, that was envious. Their movements were so grace. I mean, they just had it down.

[Mike Taylor]

Jay was a talent, Melissa told me. He could dance, he could sing, he could act on stage. He was a force to be reckoned with. By 1973, he was accepting an award for his drag work. The ceremony was held at the Kabuki Theater, not very far from the Tenderloin. And Polk.

[Melissa Stevens]

And Joe went in. You know, he cross dressed, he went as a woman, and my father bought him a corsage and pinned it on him.

[Mike Taylor]

Jay's father finally gave him some acceptance, though he never came to any drag shows. Melissa, on the other hand, was hooked. When she was old enough, she followed her brother to San Francisco. She got work at a high end restaurant called Petar's. On June 25, 1974, Melissa was waiting tables at her new job.

[Melissa Stevens]

I'm working, and Petar himself calls me over the phone, and he goes, this is the San Francisco Police Department on the phone. They want to talk to you.

[Mike Taylor]

Melissa had no idea what this could be about, but she got on the line with the SFPD and they told.

[Melissa Stevens]

Me that there had been a murder and that it could possibly be Joe Stevens and could I please come and identify this body.

[Mike Taylor]

Melissa drove home to pick up her brother William. She didn't want to go alone. They drove down to the police station, all the way there, hoping this was some kind of misunderstanding.

[Melissa Stevens]

I'm going, it's not Joe. It's not Joe. It's not Joe. And we went to the police station. Somewhere there in the police station, you know, a lot of the details I've definitely blocked out, except for, like, seeing him. There was no doubt about it. It was definitely Joe.

[Mike Taylor]

And how much of him did they show you?

[Melissa Stevens]

Everything but his groin.

[Mike Taylor]

I'm sorry.

[Melissa Stevens]

And he wasn't just stabbed. He was brutally beaten.

[Mike Taylor]

The attack on Jay Stephens was what police would call a rage killing. Like I noted earlier, it was the same pattern of stabbing used on Gerald Kavanaugh, though this was the first I ever heard that Jay was beaten.

[Melissa Stevens]

When William and I drove up to the house to go say, yes, indeed, that really is Joe. You know, we could hear our sister wailing and I knew something was cracking. Then.

[Mike Taylor]

The owners of Pinocchios held a memorial for Joe Jay and the place was packed with people. Jay's friends and family and performers from all over the city came to mourn his loss. If Jay hadn't been murdered, his name might have been written in lights on a marquee somewhere in New York or la. He was never able to fully realize his own gender identity. We don't know if Joseph Stevens would have preferred to be Jay Stevens or Carolyn Stevens or with his true talent, maybe one of those one name stars like Cher. Joseph J. Stevens is frozen in time at 27 years old. Kirk, Frederick and Charles Pierce went to the memorial.

[Charles Pierce]

I mean, everyone loved Jay. How dare he's murdered. We hated it. We were saddened by it. We had benefits for him. We did everything we could to memorialize him and honor him.

[Mike Taylor]

He was taken too early. So many queer people were taken too early and there was a killer still on the loose. Those that lived had to find a way to make it through the tragedy.

[Charles Pierce]

Charles Pierce. I remember we opened the next night at Gold street, an engagement. And we were backstage and Charles was saying, I can't go on. And you know, we all said, but you have to. The show must go on. And that was ultimately the attitude. You know, as sad as it was and as difficult as it was to get through, we had to go on. We had to persevere.

[Mike Taylor]

The police investigation around Jay's death was short. I presume they didn't have many good leads. Some people saw Jay leaving the cabaret club earlier that night, but we're not sure with whom. According to Cunningham, Jay's car had been parked near Golden Gate Park. Frustratingly, Cunningham still won't let me see case files, but he told me one of the theories back then was that Jay drove there himself and that maybe the killer rode with him. The morning after Jay's death, his car was stolen. It was involved in a high speed chase which ended with a blond haired thief escaping. Police records show they later caught him and determined he had nothing to do with the murder.

[Melissa Stevens]

They called a couple times and they investigated. And I won't even remember his name now, but Joe's boyfriend at the time, you know, they investigated him.

[Mike Taylor]

I haven't been able to identify who Jay's boyfriend was. The people who met him only remember his blond hair.

[Melissa Stevens]

But other than that, police hardly ever called us back.

[Mike Taylor]

Melissa was still young and her parents were so shocked by Jay's death that they didn't know what to do.

[Melissa Stevens]

We didn't demand knowing more. We didn't demand that they investigate. We didn't do anything. Gay lives matter. You know, we just kind of went, okay, I guess it's just going to be an unsolved murder like that was okay.

[Mike Taylor]

Melissa Stevens doesn't remember any police officers following up on the investigation with her parents.

[Melissa Stevens]

I think it was just. Just pushed aside, you know, another gay, unworthy person murdered. You know, just maybe because there were so many other things going on or maybe just because it had to do with the gay population.

[Mike Taylor]

For 43 years, Melissa didn't even know that Jay was murdered by a serial killer. The police never told her about him. She didn't see it in the papers. It wasn't until an old friend sent her an article about the Doodler in 2017 that she saw her brother's name next to all the other victims. That was the first time she read about the Doodler's alleged talent for drawing his victims.

[Melissa Stevens]

Can I see Joe being smitten about someone wanting to sketch him? Yes, I can see that because he did think of himself as being beautiful. Can I see him leaving someplace with, I don't know, you know, I don't know?

[Mike Taylor]

And then Melissa asked me a question I wish I had more answers to.

[Melissa Stevens]

And what's with this guy? Is he around? Is he alive, this doodler guy?

[Mike Taylor]

That's what we're trying to find out. Next time on the Untold story of the Doodler. In our search for people connected to this killer's victims, Mike Taylor finds a guy who's been doing his own doodler research.

[Kirk Frederick]

So I went to his Facebook page and I found some other entries that link him to an aerial photograph of the beach area where the bodies were found. What? And a public records act request to the San Francisco Police Department from the spring of 2018.

[Mike Taylor]

And that trail leads to someone with new information about another doodler victim in Germany. That's next time on the Untold Story of the Doodler.

[Melissa Stevens]

This episode is brought to you by Greenlight. Get this. Adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight, you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free trial at greenlight.com Spotify greenlight.com Spotify.

[Mike Taylor]

The Doodler is created by the San Francisco Chronicle and Ugly Duckling Films and produced in association with Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment. It is reported by me the hosts, Kevin Fagan and Mike Taylor produced and written by Tanner Robbins. Natalie Wren is our co producer and Odelia Rubin our supervising producer. Associate producers are Bennett Purser, Chloe Chobel and Ryan J. Brown. Our sound designer and composer is Hansdale Su. Our editor is Nick White and our executive editor is Kathryn St. Louis. Editorial support from King Kaufman and Tim O' Rourke for the San Francisco Chronicle. Executive producers are Sophia Gibber and Lena Bowsegier for Ugly Deckling Films and Jonathan Hirsch for Neon Hum Media.