Rose Tashman was a 19-year-old San Fernando Valley State College student whose life was cut short in May 1969. Born in Israel, she moved to Los Angeles with her family at the age of twelve and later graduated from Fairfax High School in 1967, the same high school Marina Habe had attended.
On May 18, 1969, Rose left her Hollywood home to study with a friend in the San Fernando Valley. While returning home in the early morning hours, her car suffered a flat tire on the Hollywood Freeway. Investigators believed she may have accepted help from someone posing as a Good Samaritan or encountered her attacker while searching for assistance.
Her body was discovered the following evening in a ravine off Mulholland Drive, near Beverly Drive. The location was approximately half a mile from where 17-year-old Marina Habe had been found four months earlier, leading investigators at the time to examine whether the two cases could be connected.
The similarities extended beyond the location of the two crime scenes. Rose and Marina were both young college students living in the Hollywood area, both had attended the same high school, and both disappeared during the early morning hours of a Monday. Investigators also noted similarities in the nature of the attacks, as both young women had been beaten and strangled.
Rose’s murder occurred during a period when several young women were found dead in the hills around Los Angeles. Among them was Reet Jurvetson, another 1969 homicide victim whose case, like Marina Habe’s, has often been discussed in connection with the Manson Family, although no connection has ever been proven.
Rose Tashman’s murder remains unsolved. Below is a collection of contemporary newspaper articles related to the Rose Tashman case.
Police Identify Body of Young Woman
May 21, 1969
Hollywood — Police Tuesday identified the body of an attractive young woman found in a ravine near Mulholland Drive as that of Rose Tashman, 19, Hollywood. The girl, whose body was found half a mile from where the body of Marina E. Habe, 17, was discovered last Jan. 1, had been beaten and raped before being strangled with a piece of wire, according to detectives.
Miss Tashman’s body was identified by a member of her family. Her parents told police the Valley State College coed left home Sunday night to study with a friend. Her body was found Monday.
Police said Miss Tashman’s car was found with a flat tire on a freeway off-ramp and they speculated her murderer stopped and offered her a ride to a nearby gas station.
The stabbing death of Miss Habe, daughter of author-screenwriter Hans Habe, has not been solved.
Coed Murder Clues Sought
May 23, 1969
North Hollywood — was it someone posing as a Good Samaritan who raped and strangled pretty Rose Tashman and left her nude body in a ravine? That was the question police were attempting to answer today as they issued a plea for help in finding clues to the murderer.
The 19-year-old Valley State College coed was found Monday evening in the ravine off Mulholland Drive and near Beverly Drive. Her body was discovered about 16 hours after she had a flat tire on the Hollywood Freeway and apparently went in search of help.
Miss Tashman’s car was carefully parked at the side of the inbound freeway, near Highland Avenue in Hollywood. A string of seven flares had been placed beside the auto to warn approaching drivers of the hazard.
Detective lt. Paul Lauermann, spearheading the murder investigation for the North Hollywood Division, asked anyone who thinks they saw Miss Tashman on the freeway, to call police.
She had been in Panorama City visiting a friend and it was estimated she had the blowout about 2:10 a.m. Monday.
Miss Tashman was born in Israel and moved to Los Angeles with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tashman, seven years ago. The family lives at 448 N. Formosa Ave., Hollywood, Miss Tashman’s intended destination Monday.
Lt. Lauermann said the young woman, a 1967 graduate of Fairfax High School, did not have a key to her car’s trunk, and therefore was denied access to the spare tire. Investigation showed someone else probably laid the flares, because a box in Miss Tashman’s car apparently had no flares missing from it.
Detectives theorized someone either picked up the young woman on the freeway, or she was abducted while walking through the dark streets to find a service station or telephone.
Also under investigation was the possibility Miss Tashman’s death might be connected with the murder of Marina Habe, daughter of author Hans Habe. The attractive 17-year-old girl was found stabbed last January. Her body was discovered only about a half-mile from where Miss Tashman was found.
It was never determined if Miss habe, who had been missing from her home for two days, had been raped. Both dead girls were pretty and both had dark hair.
Flat Tire May Have Led to Girl’s Murder
May 21, 1969
Hollywood — A flat tire may have led to the rape and murder of an attractive San Fernando Valley State College student, police said Tuesday. The young woman, whose body was found Monday in a ravine off Mulholland Drive, near Beverly Drive, was identified Tuesday as Rose Tashman, 19, a native of Israel who moved to Los Angeles with her parents seven years ago.
Her identity was established through a missing persons report filed Monday by her parents, Mr and Mrs. Charles Tashman of 448 N. Formosa Ave.
The Tashmans said their daughter left their home in her own car Sunday night to study for a college examination with a friend in Van Nuys. The car was found Tuesday, its left front tire deflated, on the shoulder of Highland Ave. off-ramp of the inbound Hollywood Freeway.
Sgt. N. L. Allen of the North Hollywood detective division said the victim evidently had accepted a ride to obtain aid from someone who drove her to the spot where her body was found. There she had been raped, strangled, and her body dumped in the ravine.