27 January 1974 was a Sunday. In the early hours, just before 01:30 A.M., a call came through the San Francisco Police Department Emergency Dispatch.

“I believe there might be a dead person ... on the beach ... across from Ulloa Street, if you follow the street right down to the water,” the caller told a San Francisco police dispatcher. Presumably male, the call didn’t give his name, and just hung up.

Believing that it could be a drunk civilian passed out or at worst an accidental drowning, Officers rushed down to Ocean Beach to assist. Nothing could’ve prepared them for what they found at the scene.

On the water’s edge, half in and half out of the water, a man’s lifeless body. The Officers pulled the man back onto dry sand and took a close look. He seemed to be approximately 50 years old, balding, and heavy-set. But wh ...