Rosemary Norris

Wednesday, November 30, 1983, 4:30-9:30 pm 

•39-year-old Rosemary Norris was last seen at her home on Castillo Court in Citrus Heights. She was employed as an accountant with the State of California for 19 years, and co-owned an antiques business with her husband, Floyd. Their home was at the end of a cul-de-sac that backed onto Arcade Creek.

•Rosemary was off work for the day, and Floyd was away in Reno with their teenaged son on a buying trip for their antique store. Rosemary was last heard from when she spoke on the phone with friends at 4:30pm. 

• “There was no sign of a struggle, or anything missing from the home.”  It appeared that Rosemary had been kidnapped from her house with her purse and truck. 

•Rosemary’s body was found at 9:30 pm in a field on Cincinnati Ave, in the Sunset-Whitney industrial area. Rosemary had been strangled.

• She was fully clothed, and there were no signs of a sexual assault. A pair of yellow tinted prescription glasses that did not belong to Rosemary were found beneath her body.

•Rosemary was not identified until her husband returned home from a business trip the next day, and reported her missing. Rosemary’s 1967 white and blue GMC truck, license plate 50079G, with a white tool box in the rear was not found at the house or with Rosemary’s body. A statewide alert was issued on CLETS. 

•About two weeks after the abduction-homicide, on December 14,  one of Rosemary’s neighbors found her missing truck. It was parked at the Raley’s adjacent to the Antelope Interchange in Roseville. A public reward of $2,500 was offered for information leading to the arrest of the responsible party.

•PCSO Inspector Johnnie Smith advised the life insurance company that Floyd Norris was being investigated as the “only suspect” in her death.

•With no evidence of any kind, Smith insisted that Floyd had killed Rosemary. Floyd’s alibi placed him, and their son in Reno at the time of the murder. 

• Smith suggested that maybe Floyd hired a hit man, or got his son to drive back and kill Rosemary.

Excerpt from the insurance company's Interpleader:

• On August 8, 1984, the Court determined that Floyd Norris was not liable for his wife’s death and was entitled to receive the life insurance proceeds. No other suspects or leads were ever investigated, and Rosemary’s homicide remains unsolved.

•Rosemary’s house was a short walk from the home of DeAngelo’s in-laws, and it was the end of a cul-de-sac bordering a creek and wooded open space. It fits his other attack locations, and would explain kidnapping Rosemary in her own truck since he would have arrived on foot.

•Rosemary’s body was found in Roseville PD jurisdiction, off a limited access road. DeAngelo had interned with Roseville PD, giving him known familiarity with the area.

•There was no known robbery or sexual assault motive—consistent with the other unsolved Placer homicides.

•The killer kept Rosemary’s truck somewhere for an extended period of time before parking it at the Raley’s in Roseville. Mary Lloyd’s killer also kept her car, and then parked it in a high visibility location, after taking Mary from a Safeway parking lot. 

• Susan Jacobson’s car was found in the parking lot of a Raley’s in Roseville, and... “Nancy” was kidnapped from the Albertson’s parking lot just blocks from the Norris house.