The Dr Victor Ohta Family Massacre (Soquel-Monterey Bay)

Five down at 999 North Rodeo Gulch Road, Soquel, CA. Four shooting victims submerged at the bottom of the swimming pool, a fifth female victim floating.

Dated "Halloween, 1970," it read: "today World War 3 will begin as brought to you by the people of free universe. From this day forward, anyone or company of persons who misuses the natural environment or destroys same will suffer the penalty of death by the people of the free universe. I and my comrades from this day forth will fight until death or freedom against any single anyone who does not support natural life on this planet, materialism must die or mankind will."

The note was signed by "Knight of Wands, Knight of Cups, Night [sic] of Pentacles and Knight of Swords."

The ritualistic nature of the slayings, the cultish tone of the note and the signature of tarot card characters sparked terror that another Manson family was about to begin a bloody rampage.

Detectives began probing the many hippie communes that dotted the region.

The idea that the massacre had been the work of hippies gained momentum when one of Ohta's neighbors recalled that the eye doctor had recently shooed a handful of them off his porch and out of the pool in which he was later found dead.

But detectives soon learned that the hippies around Santa Cruz were as terrified as the wealthy establishment of the phantom killer. Some expressed true remorse over the doctor's death because Ohta frequently extended charity to his earthy neighbors in the form of free medical care.

https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/232305

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1650960/ohta-daughter/