Was Melissa Willick the intended victim?

This would have been the epitome of stupidity on his behalf to try and enter the home of a trained police officer...especially one who was already leery of him! Willick spent half his career battling a corrupt Sheriffs Department and a Sheriffs Sargent who killed his own wife in the city limits of Auburn. I believe JJD was gunning for Willick and had he been successful? He would have been caught as the most “likely suspect.” Sadly, JJD took his rage south and the killing began later that year.

The question begs us to ponder if JJD had prior or subsequently retaliated against those who negatively impacted his life? Still would like to know who prosecuted him in the shoplifting case? This is key because I believe many of his attacks were “proxy victims “ of people he hated.

Jen: Have you made any progress?

Melissa Willick was not the primary target.

He went to former Chief Willick's home with one purpose: to murder Willick, and anyone else who had the misfortune of being in that house at that time.  This wasn't an isolated incident--he pulled this same stunt approximately two years earlier in the spring of 1977 when Lt. Shelby's son awoke to the amber arc of a flashlight shining through his bedroom window, along with an upside down ski mask clad face--he was hanging off the rooftop.  He chose not to enter Lt. Shelby's home for a reason: it's a whole different animal when your quarry is ready, willing, and able to fight back--on top of that, per Lt. Shelby's book, apparently his wife had training in firearm usage.  It was his immature, juvenile way of letting Lt. Shelby, a police officer, know: "I know who you are; I know where you live; I know whom you hold dear--I can get you & yours at anytime."  Of course, he never did possess the fortitude to enter that specific house, and it reminds me of an absolute jewel of a quote from retired Orange Co. Investigator Larry Pool: "he never sticks his neck out completely."

Mid 79 was not a good time for him--he had already experienced quite a few failures in his final EAR attacks in the C.C. Co./Walnut Creek/Danville area, and to make matters worse, he got cute and he got caught lifting the hammer and dog repellent which subsequently led to his firing as a police officer--his dream job in that it provided him cover to engage in his criminal pursuits.  He already had an ego the size of the Republic of Texas--an ego that does not do humiliation, or failure, or self-reflection.  He went to Willick's house in a blind rage, with one thing in mind: kill Willick--picture that phrase marching to a cadence inside his head; in the same voice he used at Goleta I when he freaked out the couple while chanting, "I'll Kill 'Em!..."  There are two reasons in this second scenario for why he didn't enter the Willick residence: one, just as with Lt. Shelby, Chief Willick was a police officer himself, with training and tools necessary to drop predators like joey dead in their tracks; two--and "douggard" beat me to this punch--while he was raging outside the daughter's bedroom, he had what boozehounds call "a moment of clarity:" he realized that if anything happened to Willick that he would be among the very first suspects the police would investigate--the question of motive is answered well beyond reasonable doubt in this case given his former supervisor had to fire him for "moral turpitude." He had no choice but to let that go--self-preservation is always at the forefront with this douchebag.

"...for J.J.D. to boast about going to Willick's house to 'get him...'"--I'm not sure why this is phrased this way because he wasn't boasting to anyone about murdering Willick--the impression I garnered from the available sources was that he revealed this in confidence to a police shrink while going through the legal and administrative processes related to the shoplifting incident and his eventual termination from Auburn P.D.  He is a hothead--that's been established from information learned since his arrest.  Despite his capriciousness, his training paid off--he knew he couldn't ice Willick; it wasn't like the EAR/ONS crimes in which he was essentially a ghost to the victims.

The whole "dragging them out into the backyards routine" is ancient history at this point, and it doesn't apply to the Willick incident.  The last time he tried something of that nature was in May 77 when he accosted a couple outside their home--he dropped that bit from the script (no matter how much he craved that fantasy) because he learned that it's more trouble than it's worth: the Snelling murder and #9 immediately come to mind here.  As for the matter of him peering into the daughter's bedroom with a flashlight: window peeping/voyeurism is a huge part of his fantasy world, so he was killing two birds with one stone--so to speak--that night he was playing grabass at Willick's residence.

I think perhaps you're reading into things regarding Melissa Willick when things should be taken at face value: she didn't really play a part in this incident outside of reporting to her father that she caught a prowler peering into her room with a flashlight.  Furthermore, there were no reports of the usual EAR-style activity that would generally accompany his study and selection of a target from Willick or any of his family members, so I find it very difficult to believe Melissa Willick was the primary target.  If anything, had he successfully made silent entry and murdered Willick, then Melissa would've no doubt suffered brutalizing as well--but she'd have been simply a bonus because of being present.  Having said that, he touched and molested very young children (younger than fourteen), so as far as I'm concerned, he's also a pedophile--but that should be no shock; he was always equal opportunity when it came to victimizing people.

mf73

I share your suspicions and always thought EARONS was impulsive on occasion. 

Most people also seem to presume that JJD was a complete loner, but we don't know this for sure. 

He had a fishing buddy as an older man, and seems to have been close to his nephew as a younger man.  He also invited local boys to his house to work on model planes.

Nobody is going to come forward to confess that they were JJD's burglary partner, or that they cruised around with him looking for girls, or that they visited strip clubs or frequented prostitutes with him, or that they went peeping with him as youngsters.

I would look at the nephew, brother John, and offenders with whereabouts unknown like KC as potential partners in crime.  The fact that JJD's nephew was a classmate of Donna Richmond is compelling to me.