Documenting the Co-Ed Killer case
A previously unseen mugshot has recently surfaced online. Based on available information, the photograph was taken sometime between June 1, 2024, and May 30, 2026. Kemper remains incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California.
We extend our thanks to the fellow researchers who obtained this image and generously shared it with us, Marxi Bea in particular.
Allyn Kemper, Ed Kemper’s younger sister, testified at his trial about an incident that happened in February 1973 between her brother and their mother:
“She came to me in March, no, February, because they had a real bad argument one night. They used to argue a lot. They also used to like to get into these intense conversations.
“My mother, just because of the kind of people she was around and the work she did, she liked to get in to people. She liked to get to know the real person. She liked real people and she could be real harsh. When she’d get uptight or mad, she could really cut to the bone. She did that a lot to my brother. She’d just strip him down and say, “You’re just like your father.”
“Just cutting. Just cutting right to the bone. She really did talk a lot when she should have shut her mouth. I mean there’s a point where you just don’t push people. She’d always go past that point.
“She had a lot of warmth and a lot of strength and a lot of heart, but I think she misguided it. Like, she could never openly—she admitted this. Also, she couldn’t express her love to somebody openly and say, “I really love you.” I can’t ever remember her saying that. She’d kind of go around, kind of beat around the bush.
“That’s when they would start fighting, when she was drinking and when he was drinking.
“She came over one time because my brother had hit her. She said he only hit her about three times but he’s pretty big. He says he hit her once, but he strung the glasses all out and she had bruises on her arms. This was about February. She said she kept herself in the house all weekend and didn’t answer the door because she didn’t want anybody to know. But she was telling me, and she was crying. She was afraid. She was scared. I told her right then, “Get him out of the house.”
“I said, “I’ll pack his stuff right now and put it on the porch.”
“I said, “Just get him out because next time might be too late.”
“I had a fear about him just because he had committed a murder before and if he got uptight and drank you never know. To me, he had emotional problems. I went home and talked to her for a couple of hours. Sue [Susan, their older sister] tried to calm her down a bit. I really tried to encourage her to get him out. She said, “Well, where would he go?”
“I said, “He’s twenty-three, twenty-four years old. He’ll find a place to go. That’s no problem. He’s a big boy now. Just get him out.”
“She said, “Well, I’ll talk to him tonight. We’ll have a talk about it.”
“I told her that I’d call her later to see how things were.
“I called her later and she said everything was fine. He said he was going to straighten up and they had a little session and everything was all right. Then he got on the phone.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but it made me really mad. But I also wanted to see if he’d say anything to me to see where his head was at.
“I told him, “I really love you.”
“I don’t know why, I just wanted him to know that I loved him and ask him how he was doing. He said, “Why don’t you quit playing games?”
“I said, “I’m not playing games.”
“Because I really did mean it at the time.
“He said, “I know that you know I hit mom.”
“He told her not to tell me. I said, “So?”
“He said, “That’s between me and her.”
“I said, “I really love you, but I don’t think you should stay there.”
“I knew they were having problems whenever they were together.
“He wouldn’t accept the fact that I was saying I loved him. It was really hard for him to ever accept anybody loving him or really really caring about him. So, we discussed that for a little bit.”
Sources: Murder Capital of the World by Emerson Murray, 2021 / Images are from the documentary The Co-Ed Killer – Mind of a Monster (2021)
When her older brother, Ed Kemper, was imprisoned at Atascadero for murdering their paternal grand-parents in 1964, Allyn Kemper, 13 at the time, was interviewed by authorities. She had this to say about him (Guy was his nickname in the family):
“Guy seemed to be a happy boy; but you could sometimes tell he was bothered by something. He had four close friends from which I can remember in the last seven years.
“He seemed to get along well with younger and older people than he. He would often try to copy boys of his age and would feel he couldn’t be like them so he would give up. When he would be walking down the street during the day, if he saw some teenage boys older [or] his age, he would walk across the street from them or go a different way unless I talked him into walking that way ‘cause they wouldn’t hurt him. This was only sometimes. He was very self-conscious and afraid people would not like him. One thing he was worried about was his height. He thought people liked short people better than tall. He liked people to say good things about him and would take little things that people say bad about him at heart.”
Source: Book Murder Capital of the World by Emerson Murray, 2021
Original press photo of Aiko Koo from the San Francisco Examiner from September 19, 1972, which was used on the front page of the newspaper on April 26, 1973, following Ed Kemper’s arrest. Kemper had just confessed to his crimes and the police had recovered a human head in the backyard of the home where Kemper murdered his mother and her friend. It was believed (and later confirmed) to be Cynthia Schall’s head.
Aiko Koo had been missing since September 14, 1972. Police planned to question Kemper about her disappearance.
It came as no surprise to Mrs. Skaidrite Rubene-Koo when Berkeley police told her that her 15-year-old daughter may have been murdered by Edmund Emil Kemper III.
“I never believed she ran away, not even that night when she didn’t come home. I have always said she was kidnaped.”
“I had a premonition all last summer that something was going to happen to change our lives. She had started hitchhiking – you know we had no car.”
“I didn’t want her to go (to a San Francisco ballet dancing lesson) that night. I’m not psychic but I was afraid for her. She was so beautiful that night. But I told her she could go if she took the bus, if she didn’t hitch a ride. I knew she had been hitchhiking rides.”
Source: “Kemper Yard Yields Another Head,” Front page of the San Francisco Examiner, April 26, 1973
September 18, 1972. Aiko Koo, a delicately beautiful young Berkeley dancer, waited Thursday evening for the bus that was to take her [to her] ballet lessons in San Francisco. She never appeared at the class. And she has not returned home in the four tense days that have passed. Her mother and grandparents have put the case into the hands of Berkeley police and a private investigator, who is taking information at 421-9137.
Miss Koo is only 15. She looks older. A Korean dancer, she has performed widely in the Bay Area and is scheduled to leave late this month for concerts in the Midwest.
Friends discount a runaway theory, saying she is a placid girl with no family friction. She was last seen by friends as she waited at Shattuck and University Avenue Thursday evening for the “F” bus to San Francisco.
She was seen talking to another girl, also an Oriental, between 7:05 and 7:10 p.m.
The bus she was supposed to take left the corner at 7:14 p.m.
The driver on that run remembers that two Oriental girls boarded the bus together a block beyond where Miss Koo was seen waiting.
Friends said the girl often hitchhiked and may have accepted a ride to the city.
The family hopes to hear from the girl to whom their daughter spoke.
A friend aiding in the search described Miss Koo “an extremely attractive Oriental. People are likely to remember her. She is a 15-year-old high school student but looks 18 or 19.”
Miss Koo is 5-4, weighs about 105 pounds, has long black hair worn either straight down or tied in a knot. When she left for the lesson, she was wearing a distinctive black turban-type hat with a colorfully striped band, green sweatshirt, blue denim jacket, blue jeans and brown shoes.
The family is seeking any information from witnesses who saw her Thursday evening.
Source: “Young dancer missing,” Front page of the Berkeley Daily Gazette, September 18, 1972
It seems that Ed Kemper has been misbehaving again. In December 2024, he reportedly received a Rules Violation Report (RVR) at the California Medical Facility (CMF) for an incident involving battery on staff. According to the report, Kemper allegedly grabbed and slapped the buttocks of a male nurse during the administration of incontinent care.
The following is the incident description as documented in the report:
“I officer C. am entering this Rules Violation Report on behalf of LVN B. due to not having access to SOMS.
“On 12/23/2024 at 12noon, I went [to] I/P cell to do incontinent care together with LVN and CNA, while cleaning and changing, I/P Kemper (B52453) he suddenly grabbed and slapped my buttocks, I was startled and I Immediately told Kemper that grabbing/slapping a nursing staff butt is very inappropriate behavior, Kemper verbalized “It’s okay, you’re a male nursing staff” while laughing at the same time. I educated Kemper that it does not matter if it’s a male or female nursing staff, you are not supposed to inappropriately touch any nursing staff, LVN also educated Kemper, not to touch nursing staff inappropriately, and when LVN asked Kemper (B52453) why did you touch his butt? I/P verbalized “I thought it was you” while laughing at the same time. I exited the cell to report to custody about what happened.””
This latest incident occurred in Kemper’s cell, located in Facility A at the California Medical Facility (CMF).
It follows a 2022 Rules Violation Report (RVR) for a similar offense, in which Kemper reportedly grabbed the buttocks of a female nurse while she was changing his diapers.
What makes this behavior especially notable is that Kemper had maintained a reputation as a model inmate for nearly five decades. Prior to these two recent RVRs, his only other disciplinary infraction was in 2016, when he refused to provide a urine sample for a test.
Why do you think Kemper has been acting out after so many years of compliance?
Sources: Photo from The Co-Ed Killer – Mind of a Monster (Film, 2021) / RVR from a private source
New photos of Ed Kemper’s fiancé, Carla Schattenburg, were uncovered recently in the Turlock High School 1972 yearbook, where she was a junior student. She took part in the school orchestra, performing in the combined choir and treble clef. This was before she was engaged to Kemper.
The students performed during school assemblies and for local churches, ladies’ clubs, and banquets. They practiced daily during a designated music class, learning a variety of songs ranging from choir music to the new popular styles.
Fingerprint card of Edmund Kemper III – this was provided by the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department. The date stamp of March 31, 1972 is from the Department of Motor Vehicles and used to cross-reference latent crime scene(s) fingerprint evidence.
Source: Kemper on Kemper Expanded Edition, by Peter Scott Jr., 2021
This is the article announcing Ed Kemper’s wedding, featuring a photo of his young fiance, Carla Schattenburg.
Source: Turlock Journal, March 29, 1973
Santa Cruz, October 26, 1973 – Edmund Kemper’s car, in which hitchhiking coeds were picked up and either stabbed, strangled or shot to death, was “entered into evidence” today at the murder trial in Santa Cruz.
Judge Harry F. Brauer, at the request of District Attorney Peter Chang, allowed the Kemper jurors to leave the courtroom and examine the car, which was driven up and parked along the river levee walkway at the rear of the courthouse.
Kemper was taken outside in handcuffs and a waist restraining chain, under the supervision of his guard, sheriff’s deputy Bruce Colomy [seen on the right on the second picture]. Kemper, dressed in his jail-provided orange jump-suit, towered above the car in which he has admitted taking six human lives.
Source: “Kemper jury looks at death car” by Marj von B, Register-Pajaronian, October 26, 1973 / Photos: Murder Capital of the World book by Emerson Murray, 2021
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