The Corvette Predator: Speculation on the Disappearance of Robin Ann Graham
On Sunday, November 15th, 1970, 18-year-old Robin Ann Graham vanished from the U.S. Highway 101 southbound lane near the Santa Monica Boulevard off-ramp in Los Angeles, California. She left behind a locked 1969 Chevrolet Nova and a mystery that lingers over five decades later. Below are her case details, followed by a theory on what might have happened to her that night. In this theory, I test whether it makes sense that a 'helpful' stranger might have actually been stalking her.
Case Details: Robin Ann Graham's Disappearance
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Missing Person | Robin Ann Graham |
| Biological Sex | Female |
| Race / Ethnicity | White / Caucasian |
| Last Seen Time | November 15th, 1970, between 2 AM and 2:45am (Saturday-night/Sunday-morning) |
| Missing Age | 18 Years |
| Current Age | 72 Years |
| Height | 5'6" (66 Inches) |
| Weight | 125 lbs |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Last Known Location | U.S. Highway 101 southbound near the Santa Monica Boulevard off-ramp in Los Angeles, California 90029 (Google Maps) |
| Circumstances | Last seen by a CHP officer on U.S. Highway 101 southbound near the Santa Monica Boulevard off-ramp at about 2:00 a.m. on November 15th, 1970. |
| Clothing | Red blouse, blue jeans, dark blue corduroy jacket |
| Footwear | Red clog shoes |
| Accessories | Leather purse |
| Transportation | Boyfriend’s car (1969 Chevrolet Nova); she drove it alone. |
| Source | NamUs Case #MP32285 (NamUs has the November 14th date wrong. She was last seen after midnight that night, in the wee hours of November 15th, 1970). |
Recapping Previous Research on This Missing Person
I researched Robin Ann Graham's disappearance several years ago. The blog post was titled "Women With Car Troubles Go Missing." It reviewed several cases of women who went missing after experiencing car troubles. The table below includes some of the cases I covered.
| Name | Last Known Location | Last Seen | Age at Disappearance | Car Trouble Details | Case Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robin Graham | U.S. Highway 101 near Santa Monica Boulevard offramp, Los Angeles, CA | November 14, 1970, ~2:30 AM | 18 | Ran out of gas, stalled on highway | Last seen with a man (white male, 25-26, dark or blond hair) near a 1958-1960 light blue Corvette. Car found locked and abandoned. Possible abduction after gas siphoning. |
| Kathleen Johns | Highway 132 near Interstate 5, Modesto, CA | March 22, 1970 | Not specified | Tire problem flagged by a man, tire fell off after "fix" | Man offered help, drove her and her child; possible Zodiac Killer involvement. Escaped harm (implied). |
| Rose Tashman | Hollywood Freeway at Highland Avenue offramp, Los Angeles, CA | May 18, 1969 | Not specified | Flat tire | Disappeared after car breakdown; body found in Hollywood Hills, Mulholland Drive. Unsolved murder. |
| Cindy Lee Mellin | Buenaventura Shopping Center parking lot, Ventura, CA | January 20, 1970 | 19 | Flat tire being changed by an unidentified male | Last seen with man fixing tire; car found on jack with flat tire still attached. Father found car. |
There have not been any major developments with Robin's case since I published that previous article in February 2018. The timeline I've constructed below for her disappearance is based on my research for that article. As always seems to be the case, details will vary between some sources. However, the timeline for Robin's disappearance is pretty tight.
Robin Ann Graham's Approximate Timeline: The Night She Disappeared
On Saturday, November 14th, 1970, 18-year-old Robin Ann Graham’s night began with a typical young-adult blend of work and socializing. She was a Pierce College student and worked part-time at Pier 1 Imports, located at 5711 Hollywood Boulevard.
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She likely finished her shift in the late afternoon or early evening. After work, Robin spent the evening with friends in Hollywood, a popular spot for young people in 1970. The exact location of their hangout isn’t documented, to my knowledge, but it was likely a casual venue appropriate for Saturday night upper teens.
Around midnight, a friend dropped Robin off at the Pier 1 Imports parking lot, where Donald Alford’s 1969 Chevrolet Nova was parked. Donald was Robin's boyfriend, and she had borrowed his car, apparently for most of the day. In charge of the Nova, she began her drive home to Lemoyne Street in Sherman Oaks, a 10-15 mile trip via the Hollywood Freeway (aka U.S. Highway 101).
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| AI's image of a 1969 Chevrolet Nova. I don’t know what color the car was that Robin drove. |
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 15th, the Nova ran out of gas on the southbound lane of Highway 101 near the Santa Monica Boulevard off-ramp. This ramp was one that she could have used to get to her home on Lemoyne Street. However, I think she could have driven further as well and used a different exit.
For those who want to visit this location online, the area only goes back to September 2008 on Google Maps. That's nearly 38 years after Robin disappeared in November 1970. It stands to reason that it would only give a general sense of the area after all that time.
Stranded, Robin used a freeway call box to phone home. She reached her 14-year-old sister, but their parents, who had gone out that evening, were still out.
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| Not an actual picture of Robin. Depicts what a highway call box is. These devices were somewhat common. You will still see them in public, but portable devices are so common now that they have become relics. |
At about this time, a California Highway Patrol officer spotted Robin near the Nova she was driving. He advised her to wait there, and then the officer left. This is the point in the night when the most suspicious person of the evening entered the picture.
Mr. Corvette: The Suspicious Stranger
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| AI prompt for a late 1950s Corvette that's light blue with a hardtop with primer. Sometimes the suspect vehicle is described as green. |
Sometime between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m., a dark-haired man in his mid-twenties approached Robin in a light blue 1958-1960 Chevrolet Corvette hardtop (the year of the car is debatable). I will call this person Mr. Corvette (a moniker), named after the car he drove. His true identity is unknown.
It seems that Robin was reasonably safe until Mr. Corvette entered the picture. She was without gas at a dangerous time of night in a city where nowhere is perfectly safe. But family had been alerted to her problem, and a patrolman was aware of her as well. Her chances of surviving her car problems seemed quite high.
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| The face is random and not meant to depict the man's likeness. AI generated based on his clothes, hair, height, and vehicle. He has been described as blonde but most sources say dark haired. |
The time frame associated with Mr. Corvette's advance is the last time Robin Ann Graham has been seen. He has been described as a Caucasian male, dark-haired, 5’8”, aged in his mid-20s, and wearing both bell-bottoms and a white turtleneck. This description came from the patrolman on the highway.
When he, the patrolman, came near Robin again, he saw Mr. Corvette talking to Robin. She had previously told the patrolman that she had called for help, and he assumed Mr. Corvette was that help.
Importantly, Mr. Corvette’s car was parked behind Robin’s. This is something I will deem important later.
By 2:45 a.m., Marvin Graham (Robin's father) and a friend arrived. By modern maps, the drive between the Grahams' residence and the location of Robin’s car would have been just under 20 minutes. I think the drive time would have been about the same in 1970. When they arrived, they found the Chevy Nova locked and abandoned.
Robin vanished in the 45-minute window between 2 AM and 2:45 AM. For a narrower window, the time frame between 2:30 AM and 2:45 AM is close to 'ground zero.' Her disappearance, with Mr. Corvette as the last known contact, remains one of LA’s enduring missing person mysteries.
What Robin Might Have Been Thinking After Her Car Stalled
If we look at the disappearance from Robin’s point of view, what information does she have?
She can’t operate the Chevy Nova any longer. She would be looking at a two-hour walk at a dangerous time of night if she leaves on foot. Yes, she has reached home by phone, but she only contacted her 14-year-old sister, who cannot help her directly.
As the minutes pass, Robin has to wonder if her sister has fallen asleep without alerting her parents to the problem. She also has to wonder if the patrolman will be back or if he might have happened on any other event that will consume his time.
When faced with what was presumably a ride offer from Mr. Corvette, Robin likely had to balance the chance that he had criminal intentions against her alternative: sitting roadside for who knows how long. She wasn’t in a great position, but whether that was due to misjudging her gas or Mr. Corvette causing the whole situation is something I will turn to now.
Women With Car Troubles: A Pattern in 1970s California
Women with car troubles went missing or were murdered a lot in the 1970s and earlier in the USA. This is a point often made when looking back at murders and missing women during that time frame. Vehicle sabotage was a known modus operandi among men who targeted women.
A typical scene would go like this: (1) A man would tamper with a woman’s vehicle and disappear. (2) The same man would then arrive on the scene and offer to help. (3) But instead of helping, he would disappear the woman in what came to be known as the Good Samaritan’s Ruse.
With all the vehicle sabotage that happened in conjunction with missing women at that time, the point with Robin Ann Graham's disappearance is that we can ask one pointed question: "Did Mr. Corvette siphon Robin’s gas?" Brushing this question aside would be disregarding all the cases where vehicle sabotage was a known or suspected MO.
Regarding Mr. Corvette, we need to look at a related report. A man matching Mr. Corvette’s description approached another woman in Los Angeles a few weeks later. That woman did not go with him, but she said she was approached after her car ran out of gas.
After Robin Disappeared: Woman #2
Weeks after Robin disappeared, in late November or early December 1970, another woman ran out of gas on an LA freeway. A man driving a Corvette pulled up and offered to help.
The woman felt he was pushy and refused the ‘help.’ She didn’t realize her experience was relevant to another incident until she learned of Robin’s case. This report linked the same description of a man and his car to both incidents.
Not a whole lot is available about this second woman's experience. The cases could involve different people when it comes to the identity of the men involved. But two women, two freeway stalls, one distinctive Corvette, and similar descriptions of a man—it’s hard to call it chance in a fairly narrow time frame.
The theory I want to explore is that Mr. Corvette’s modus operandi was right out of the Good Samaritan’s Ruse. How plausible would it be to siphon the gas from Robin’s car, follow her route, and then arrive where she is out of gas?
It might sound easy, but when I put together this theory, I could see that this would actually be hard. At the end, I felt this was a possibility to be aware of, as opposed to something I had a ton of confidence in.
How the Gas Siphoning Ruse Could Have Worked
From what I gleaned from Robin’s case details, the Chevy Nova that belonged to her boyfriend may have been parked at her workplace for several hours. This creates a large time frame where someone could have siphoned her gas. If the tank were full, it would only take 12-13 minutes to do the job.
However, there’s a problem with gas siphoning as a modus operandi. If you leave the tank bone dry and plan to stalk the female driver, they won’t be leaving the original point because of the empty tank. This could leave the target in the company of her friends.
If you plan to leave them enough gas to drive a little ways, how do you know how much gas to remove? The gas siphoner would need some information on how full the tank was to begin with to leave just the right amount where they stall between Point A and Point B. This is a problem with the theory.
In dealing with this problem, I think a gas siphoner could do this: empty the tank bone dry and then refill half a gallon. That much gas would allow someone to drive 9-10 miles.
From my research, anti-siphoning mechanisms weren’t built into vehicles until the late 1970s models. A 1969 Chevrolet Nova’s 20-gallon tank was easy to siphon. There was no locking cap, so all it would take is a hose and suction. Draining it dry would have taken 12-13 minutes at 1.5 gallons per minute. Adding back in half a gallon means the entire job could be done in fewer than 15 minutes, and it seems the vehicle sat where it was for hours on November 14th, 1970.
If Mr. Corvette drained Robin’s tank to ensure it was empty. He could then add half a gallon back, and he would then know exactly how much gas she had. With this information, he could predict her stall point within a certain range.
He doesn’t actually have to tail her, which could draw attention to himself. However, he would need to know things about Robin, like where she lived and her likely route home. In short, he’d have to be more than a casual stalker—someone with at least a short-term interest in his target.
The act of siphoning gas wouldn’t be that risky. It looks like nothing more than petty theft. No one suspects murder from a gas can.
He could’ve hit the 1969 Chevrolet Nova at Pier 1’s lot that day, monitored the car, then, a short time after it left, he could have cruised the freeway later in pursuit along her route home. At 2:30 a.m., he finds Robin, offers help, and she accepts due to the uncertainties she feels, believing that accepting help from a stranger is a better choice than just sitting roadside at that late hour on a Saturday night. Once she enters his car, she is at his mercy.
Maybe he killed Robin and found it easy. Yet, in some ways, he almost got caught. Her father was minutes away, and the patrolman was watching. Whether he realized that at the time isn't clear.
The experience with the second woman might’ve scared him off. She saw through him, alerted cops, and maybe he then realized his ruse would crumble.
Unfortunately, Woman #2 is anonymous. That she didn’t identify the man suggests he was a stranger to her. If we mirror the two cases, that would mean he was a stranger to Robin as well.
Of course, this is all speculative theory. In cases like this, which are old and ice-cold, all you want is a theory that fits the known facts. I’ve discussed why this theory fits and how it could have played out.
For one finer point, Mr. Corvette’s car was seen parked behind Robin’s. That’s a bit different than parking after her. The former means he had made a decision to stop a little sooner. He didn’t drive past her, pull to the side after seeing her, and then make his offer to help.
That he was behind her suggests he knew he was going to stop as soon as he saw her. If you think about it, that seems to align with someone operating in a premeditated way.
Countertheory: Mr. Corvette Drives Around Looking for Vulnerable Women
A countertheory that still focuses on Mr. Corvette would hold that he simply drove around looking for vulnerable women. Fuel efficiency in 1970 was nowhere near what it is today, and 24-hour gas stations weren’t too common.
Maybe it was more plausible to drive around back then and hope to happen on a stranded female motorist. However, I don’t believe this. I don’t think there’s anything about a stranded vehicle that says "Attractive 18-year-old female college student" more than "ugly old man."
I guess I’ve shown my cards.
I do think the two sightings of the man I’ve dubbed Mr. Corvette are related. I know that women’s vehicles were often targeted in California in that era. Mr. Corvette could have had a gas-siphoning variant of this MO that could have been done if he simply knew something about his target’s schedule on the target day/night.
But it's this latter point about timing that makes the theory of gas siphoning a bit difficult. If Mr. Corvette siphoned Robin's car, he would then be camping on it for quite a while as she socializes with her friends in Hollywood.
Furthermore, there is a timing to think about it at the point of abduction. If he followed her route after she started to drive, then why did he arrive at the point where she ran out of gas at about 2:30am? She is thought to have stalled at about 2AM. That would mean he trailed her from quite a distance.
Of course, the timing in this case is not exact. If Robin stalled at about 2am, then that could easily mean 2:10am. If the highway patrolman saw her with Mr. Corvette at about 2:30am, then that could mean 2:20am. That would tighten matters but it's presumptive to assume the different times tighten the time frame instead of loosening it.
I would say this is a theory to be aware of, but it's one that I have low confidence in. I do know that readers at my blog read a lot about true crime and unsolved mysteries. If you ever come across a case involving a known gas siphoner who siphoned gas as part of an MO to disappear women, then please share that with me. I didn't find such a case myself.
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