Review of "Why FBI FAILED To Catch The Trailside Killer Sooner" at The Infographics Show

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: March 3rd, 2025

YouTube Channel: The Infographics Show
Publication date: March 3rd, 2025
Episode: Why FBI FAILED To Catch The Trailside Killer Sooner

I just finished watching a pretty good documentary on The Trailside Killer at The Infographics Show.

The Trailside Killer is an individual known as David Carpenter who stalked trail hikers, primarily women, in the San Francisco area several decades ago. At the time of writing, he was still alive and remains in prison at the age of 94.

He has not made much recent news but, presumably, there will be headlines sometime soon. I am saying that because the end must be near just due to his age and the fact that he is in prison.

However, there were some 2019 headlines with him, including at People magazine's website (Robyn Merrett/April 17th, 2019). One of his attack victims was a woman, who survived the attack. She ended up giving birth to a child that would grow up to become a celebrity for television acting. This was a fact that The Infographics Show covered as well.

Admittedly, I had never heard of The Trailside Killer before. I was surprised to find a documentary covering a serial killer that I was not familiar with. Also, it was one of the better episodes on The Infographics Show that I had seen in the last year.

Comparisons to Other Serial Killers

When it comes to murder and serial killers in the San Francisco area in the 1960s and 1970s, I think a lot of people will think of The Zodiac Killer. However, the documentary made references to Edmund Kemper, Ted Bundy, and John Wayne Gacy.

These are infamous serial killers in America's history. But I felt the comparisons to other serial killers would be more along the lines of The Zodiac Killer and The Original Night Stalker.

The former was known to stalk victims in parks in the San Francisco area (ie. the Lake Berryessa attack) and he used both a knife and a gun. These modus operandi match The Trailside Killer. Meanwhile, David Carpenter's crimes had sexual motivations, just like the now-apprehended Original Night Stalker's crimes did (Joseph James De'Angelo).

Title: Why FBI FAILED To Catch The Trailside Killer Sooner

As for the question embedded in the title, the answer is worth talking about.

David Carpenter stalked people on trails. He was often operating in secluded areas.

But he had been seen in the act of one of his murders. A woman, who was out of plain sight, witnessed an early murder in a park. She gave a description to the police and here is where the story of The Trailside Killer becomes an example of the dangers of eyewitness statements.

The woman's description was quite far off from what David Carpenter looked like. The witness described a handsome young man while Carpenter was actually almost 50 and not someone who would typically be called good looking. This erroneous description had the police looking for someone who did not match the actual killer's description.

As for the issue of the extent to which eyewitness statements should be relied on, my thinking is that in the absence of any other clues, it obviously must be considered. But it is always disappointing to find out that an eyewitness's description is way off. This is a point that has been made in several other cases in the past.

"Trail Hiking": Associated With a Lot of Clandestine Topics

Trail hiking is a pretty common phrase here at Missing Persons Commentary. I think that if I did a word cloud, then the phrase would show up as a frequent term.

While none of the people associated with David Carpenter are missing people, to my knowledge, the way he operated is interesting. It shows how a stalker can pluck a lone hiker off of a trail and lead them to seclusion.

I did a trail hiking series a few years back on missing people and felt that a lot of them disappeared because of their adventurous natures onto dangerous trails. But abduction or bumping into a serial killer is another explanation for some of the unsolved missing person cases involving trail hikers, like Trenny Gibson.