SSR failed, everything else worked

[Jim Eshelman]

In the July 1975 issue of American Astrology, Arthur Musselwhite wrote an article, "Murder... in San Francisco" about a woman who was killed (stabbed to death) one day after her birthday. Of course I was eager to see her SSR!

Quite strangely (it seems to me), that was the ONE chart that totally missed the event! But the rest is interesting.

She was born October 8, 1938, 11:18 AM LMT, 22N34, 88E20. She was killed October 9, 1974, 2:30 PM PDT, San Francisco, CA.

From the information he gave, the attack seems random. "There was no known reason for the attack as the killer, at this writing, remains unidentified," Musselwhite wrote. "The coroner said that she was not sexually assaulted, and the police said that she kept almost no money and few material possessions in her apartment. She had no enemies and was getting along well with those who were her friends. Indeed, the night before the grisly event, she had told friends at her birthday celebration that she had never had such a lovely party." She was described as a "divorcee, the mother of two fine boys... generous, fierce in her loyalties, courageous, and loved by everyone who knew her. Her personal habits were sterling. She did not smoke, drink, or use drugs."

[Jim Eshelman]

Her natal chart does have some severe factors. Two most obvious are a close Mars-Neptune conjunction and Sun-Saturn opposition, the latter slightly foreground. (Mercury and Moon are also foreground, but nothing close.) As a Virgo-Pisces double Spoke there is at least a mild tendency to victimization. There is something dramatic and intense about Moon's near-partile trine to Pluto.

The natal, in other words, is not nearly as nice as the woman is described, though she, herself, was probably well-behaved: Virgo is generally kindly or disinterested, Pisces plays a role well. Her birthplace equates to approximately Calcutta, but it was a more tolerance time - I would not expect an ethnic-based hate crime in that time and place where none was inferred by the police.

The murder occurred as Saturn set, partile square Mars (which thus also exactly squared Asc); and Mercury crossed Midheaven. Therefore, it was an especially violent moment and place.

Her SOLAR RETURN occurred a day and a half before and is quite benign. Here natal Venus is close to IC and her Jupiter on WP (see reports above on how the party went). Widely foreground is a transiting Jupiter-Neptune square (hardly deadly!). The SSR fails us.

TRANSITS were straightforward and exacting: Transiting Pluto was 0°22' from her Midheaven. That's all, but it was enough to show a rocking, freaky, unlikely event.

NOTE 4/8/23: A transit I had missed was Neptune crossing her local WPa. Transiting Neptune was 13°10' Scorpio, crossing MC, IC, EP, or WP at 13°25' Scorpio. Her local EPa was 12°53' Taurus.

PROGRESSIONS were equally exact - even better than equally exact! Progressed Moon conjoined natal and progressed Pluto. (The trine from Venus raises questions.)

7°07' Cancer p Moon
7°29' Cancer r Pluto
7°36' Cancer p Pluto
7°25' Scorpio p Venus

This, obviously, was the showpiece chart! But wait, there's more! Her SNQ MC was 19°32' Pisces, nearly aligned with progressed Mars and Saturn! (This was closer the night before.) Transiting Uranus (for surprise!) was on SNQ Nadir.

18°04' Virgo p Mars
18°13' Pisces p Saturn
18°42' Virgo r Mercury
19°32' Pisces SNQ MC

3°00' Libra t Uranus
3°26' Cancer SNQ Asc

NOTE: I previously accidentally calculated the SNQ for birthplace. It put the p Moon-Pluto precisely on Descendant and p Uranus on IC. I mention this because it's really good and, while I don't think quotidians work for birthplace, I needed to mention it.

I suspect there are clues to the event in this chart. The amount of Pluto (including Moon-Pluto) is consistent with many charts where someone is completely out of the blue victimized for no evident reason. Perhaps that's what happened here.

Her LUNAR RETURN from September 30 was also perfectly expressive. (You should set up this chart!) In addition to transiting Pluto 0°13' from natal MC, here are mundoscope positions in the SLR:

26°56' 9H t Mars
28°53' 9H r Mercury
29°13' 9H t Pluto
--------------------------
0°20' 10H r Sun
2°09' 4H r Saturn

Pluto exactly angular and (among other things) conjunct Mars mundanely. One of the two most severe aspects in her natal were also angular, her natal Sun-Saturn - very exactly. Natal Neptune is also angular (just over 2° from Zenith) but not her Mars. Still, her second natal severe aspect is brought into the picture. The strongest aspect other than the natal Sun-Saturn is a transiting Sun-Pluto conjunction - 0°34' - right on the angles! (And there is a LOT more.)

[Jim Eshelman]

Since it was only a day after her SSR, there was no time for enough change in the SQ or PSSR angles to affect anything. (The SSR was also the Ennead.)

Even though I have no reason to think the SSR would be valid for birthplace, I tried it - and got nowhere. I even ran her Converse SSR and, again, got nothing of note - her Jupiter opposed by Mars widely foreground is the best we could get.

Normally, I would be delighted to have an event described by an exact transit, and exact Moon progressed that came exactly to the angles and was triggered in three-tier activity by transits, and a sterling SLR. (And the astrological indicators were perfect.) However, the fact that this was one day after her birthday seems... strange at best.

[SteveS]

Striking example Jim! Note her main Natal Signature is her partile Sun-Saturn 180. And then note this Natal Signature is partile on the SLR MC/IC axis as Jim noted. Bi-wheel of her SLR (Inside Wheel) and Natal (Outside Wheel):
https://imgur.com/a/inrrxgk
An excellent example of her last Mundo SLR showing Pluto partile cnj SLR MC, as Jim noted. Shows the vast importance of the Mundoscope showing the true distance of Planets to angles. In her eclipto SLR Pluto is shown as 8 degrees from SLR MC, but in mundoscope partile cnj SLR MC—very striking. Thanks Jim for this par-excellent symbolic example for a murder.
Mundoscope of her last SLR:
https://imgur.com/a/SJ8Y2zd

[Arena]

How can her sidereal solar return be before her birthday? It is usually after our birthdays.

Have you had a look at the tropical SR? I've noticed they sometimes are more descriptive and accurate when the SSR fails.

[Jim Eshelman]

It was a day before, not after.

[Suzzette]

My mother in-law would have been the woman Arthur Musselwhite wrote about. It was his daughter.
Please reply, I am very interested to know more about this. I would love to read the article Arthur wrote, " Murder in San Francisco."
Thank you, Suzzette

[Jim Eshelman]

My mother in-law would have been the woman Arthur Musselwhite wrote about. It was his daughter.
Please reply, I am very interested to know more about this. I would love to read the article Arthur wrote, " Murder in San Francisco."

Suzette, welcome to Solunars and thanks for writing. We don't often get an opportunity like this (to close the loop and fill in gaps on a story). I had great respect for Arthur, btw - a really excellent mind, skilled writer, and skilled astrologer. Now I want to reread the article with the new information you've provided - I'll dig out that issue of American Astrology and copy the article here. Please give me a little time.

Your husband must be one of the "two fine boys" listed above as her children.

I always thought Arthur was a Tropical astrologer, and perhaps he was mostly, or during periods; but then I found he also wrote quite a few articles for the Sidereal journal Spica. We have most of the Spica issues here for download: https://www.solunars.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4033 My index says he wrote "Lunar Returns & An American Celebrity" in Vol. IX, No. 3, "Most Powerful Man in the World" in VIII:4, "Mystery Planet" in VI:1, "National Chart of the Soviet Union" in VII:2, "Rhodesia's Year of Destiny" in XI:2, and "Time Bomb in Europe" in V:4, plus correspondence reproduced in Vol. II, No. 2. The PDFs are searchable.

I have his birth as February 6, 1901, 3:10 AM, in London. (Pluto is 0°00' from Descendant!) I wonder if you can confirm something for me: I have a note that he died January 11, 1977 and that maybe this was in Innsbruck, Austria - but the note seems unsure about that. Can you confirm or correct that location information?

Based on the new information you have given, his daughter's birth should have had a strong connection to his chart. There aren't a lot of strong (very close) connections, but a few. The strongest is that she had Uranus exactly square his Sun and she was born when Saturn squared his Saturn - usually a maturity point in someone's life. (He was 37.) Also, their Midheavens were nearly identical, though (because they were born at different latitudes) their Ascendants were quite different.

Her birth coordinates of 22N34 88E20 seems to be Kolkata (Calcutta). I know Arthur lived in India for a time. Can you confirm this is the birthplace?

I'll try to get that article found and copied this weekend. No promises (other work to do), but there's a good chance I can get it done.

[Suzzette]

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, Arthur died in Innsbruck Austria. I'm not certain of the year, I'm still waiting for a reply from Arthur's grandson. Yes, my husband was Diana's first born.
Yes, Diana was born Oct. 8, 1938 in Calcutta India.
I am not an expert nor even an amateur in astrology, but find what you said about Diana's death very interesting. I've been working on her unsolved death and have some suspicions. I rather not post it on this page.
Yes, if you could find and send or post the article Arthur wrote, the family and myself would be very interested to read it.
Thank you so much.
Suzzette

[Jim Eshelman]

So the murder is still unsolved? That's perplexing after all this time.

The Moon-Pluto she had in progressions and elsewhere matches other examples I have where someone - sweet, with no expectation of trouble - is suddenly, swiftly, brutally, almost in an instant jerked out of the world in an unfathomable event. In less extreme cases, I have seen that people who are willing to be disrupted - to suddenly up and move somewhere on no notice, or break out of boundaries and take extreme, unprecedented events - pass through these times fine, but the more settled, simple, non-extreme someone's life, the more the universe seems to need to disrupt it - occasionally in an unbelievably extreme way.

I'm left wondering if it was indeed random (the charts and history suggest that) or if there was some connection that drew the murderer to her.

Anyway.... I'll try to find the article and get it typed today or tomorrow.

[Jim Eshelman]

Murder... in San Francisco
by Arthur Musselwhite, American Astrology July 1975
[Reproduced at the request of a member of the author's family. Charts are in Tropical-Placidus as in the original article, but have been recalculated and therefore may disagree by a few minutes of arc here and there.]

A young lady was stabbed to death in her apartment in San Francisco on October 9th, 1974 - one day after her birthday. There was no known reason for the attack and the killer, at this writing, remains unidentified. The coroner said that she was not sexually assaulted, and the police said that she kept almost no money and few material possessions in her apartment. She had no enemies and was getting along well with those who were her friends. Indeed, the night before the grisly event, she had told friends at her birthday celebration that she had never had such a lovely party.

What was this lady like to those who knew her? A divorcee, the mother of two fine boys, she was generous, fierce in her loyalties, courageous, and loved by everybody who knew her. Her personal habits were sterling. She did not smoke, drink, or use drugs.

Can astrology offer any clues to the solving of the crime, or give some hints of how it could have been prevented? This is always a difficult thing to say, but since we do have an accurate time for the murder and an accurate birth chart for the victim, we can at least learn something from taking a look at the charts which applied to that awful situation.

Murder Victim.png

The lady who fell victim to such a shocking tragedy was born October 8, 1938, 11:18 AM LMT, 22N34, 88E20. In examining her chart we will try to see what aspects and indications might have applied to the things which happened to her. One of the first things to notice is Mars with Neptune in the 9th house, and along with this, one of the dominating factors in her chart is the Sun in the 10th opposition to Saturn in the 4th. This configuration dogged her efforts in all she did, but at the same time it seemed to give her the will and the strength to pull through when the going seemed rough. She had experienced failures and misfortunes in both marriage and business, but this did not prevent her from working to develop a new life on the ruins of the old.

Two other major configurations in her chart are the Mercury-Saturn opposition and the Venus-Jupiter square. The first aspect made her feel the need to work at studying the world in order to fit everything in its proper place. She had her own view of the way things were, and took great pains to express that view to other people. The Venus-Jupiter square gave her an abundance of good feelings and emotions. She always let those she loved know how much she loved them.

Before we look into the astrological scene on the day she was murdered, a look at her progressions for her thirty-sixth birthday might be in order. Her tertiary progressed chart (for Calcutta, the place of her birth) was not a happy chart. Even if she had survived the attack, she might have had some hard times ahead. Saturn and Mars were together in the 12th house of this chart, meaning she might have undergone at least some kind of accident, surgery, or confinement in the hospital. These two planets were also afflicting her natal Sun-Mercury-Saturn combination. Uranus rising in the tertiary chart and square to p0rogerssed Sun and Mercury indicates the suddenness of the events which befell her, while the sextile of Uranus to Venus indicates that she could not have suffered for very long.

[JAE Note: The orbs of these aspects are quite extreme. He seems to be follow Lyndoe's style, reading a tertiary chart much as a natal including very wide orbs. For example, the Mars-Saturn conjunction is 6° wide, but he is correct that Mars and Saturn are "together" in the 12th house. Uranus square Sun-Mercury is over 6°, etc.]

Event Chart.png

The aspects in her tertiary chart makes the chart for the actual event (2:30 PDT, according to the police) even more telling. Again, her natal Sun-Mercury-Saturn comes to the fore as we see the transiting Sun, Mars, and Saturn bearing down on the important part of her chart. The fact that this trio is afflicting the angles of the [event] chart indicates that the stated time of death is probably very close. The Sun and Mars indicate the fact of the assault while Saturn here indicates the intensity with which it was carried out, as well as the final result.

What is interesting about the chart, though, is the prominence of Mercury. The other important planets seem to indicate directly what we know of the event, but Mercury does not fit in with this. Could this, then, give us some idea about who it was who killed her and why? Perhaps it could. Mercury, with its semisextiles to Neptune in the 11th and the Venus-Pluto conjunction in the 8th could indicate a conversation about the ending of a romantic relationship, or it could show the refusal to get involved in such a relationship. On the other hand, it could indicate the intrusion of a stranger on the scene through devious means - perhaps in the guise of a messenger. It would certainly not be new if someone with criminal intent had gained entrance to an apartment through such a ruse.

Although it is certainly easy to see the astrological forces at work in this unfortunate event, one wonders could anyone have warned the unwitting victim beforehand? Surely an aware astrologer looking at her chart might have warned her to be careful on the days surrounding her murder. But could he have told her that at that time and at that place her life would be in such grave danger? In other words, is our end fated, or can we delay that final hour?

[Suzzette]

I was going to message you, but I'm new and so I am not allowed.

[Jim Eshelman]

Suzzette, the article was shorter than I thought it would be, so I was able to do it quickly. The whole article is above.

What was Diana's last name at the end of her life?

[Suzzette]

Diana David

If you find time, I know you're busy.
Look into: Ronald [name deleted]
Born in Detroit on June 19, 1934 and let me know what you come up with. Maybe Arthur was right and astrology could solve this.

[Suzzette]

Thank you for the article.

[Jim Eshelman]

Do you have a birth time for him? BTW, I updated some of the analysis notes above, I'd made a couple of math errors - there is even more violence than first looked and at least one clear sign of a breech in a personal relationship causing this - so your suggestion is interesting!

[Suzzette]

What is interesting about the chart, though, is the prominence of Mercury. The other important planets seem to indicate directly what we know of the event, but Mercury does not fit in with this. Could this, then, give us some idea about who it was who killed her and why? Perhaps it could. Mercury, with its semisextiles to Neptune in the 11th and the Venus-Pluto conjunction in the 8th could indicate a conversation about the ending of a romantic relationship, or it could show the refusal to get involved in such a relationship. On the other hand, it could indicate the intrusion of a stranger on the scene through devious means - perhaps in the guise of a messenger. It would certainly not be new if someone with criminal intent had gained entrance to an apartment through such a ruse.

Did you or Arthur write this?

[Suzzette]

I've been looking for Ron's birth certificate. I do genealogy, but so far no luck. I'll keep searching.
If I told you the whole story and what you have posted, everything is fitting together.

[Jim Eshelman]

Born in Detroit on June 19, 1934 and let me know what you come up with. Maybe Arthur was right and astrology could solve this.

Going without a birth time for him, there is limited stuff I can do - but here it is.

Comparing their charts, the connection was quite strong, starting with his Sun on her Descendant square her Moon. His Venus on her Uranus is exciting, thrilling, a pleasurable adventure together. His Jupiter was on her Sun-Mercury-Saturn, which is extremely auspicious and uplifting for her (he actually admired and wanted to support what she had to say). However, his Saturn squared her Venus: He spoiled her fun, rained on her parade, disappointed her in love.; and his Moon was probably on her Mars-Neptune - not sure which is closer, since we don't have a time - which is an ultimately bitter combination. My old slogan for Moon-Mars was, "Time ends all things, including immortal love." The aspect begins sexually ferocious, driving the two of them mad together but, in other life areas, it starts becoming bitter, attacking, hurtful. It's certainly possible (not certain!) one of them could do the other great harm.

At the time of her death, he had no exact transits. So far as I can tell without a birth time, the universe was not zeroing in on him that day. (But it could have been - we don't know without a time - just like we wouldn't know that Diana had Pluto exactly on her natal Midheaven or an exact Moon-Pluto progressed conjunction.)

Was he in San Francisco at the time? Was he at her birthday party the night before?

Without a time, nothing is appearing to single this date out as in any sense remarkable for him.

[Jim Eshelman]

What is interesting about the chart, though, is the prominence of Mercury. The other important planets seem to indicate directly what we know of the event, but Mercury does not fit in with this. Could this, then, give us some idea about who it was who killed her and why? Perhaps it could. Mercury, with its semisextiles to Neptune in the 11th and the Venus-Pluto conjunction in the 8th could indicate a conversation about the ending of a romantic relationship, or it could show the refusal to get involved in such a relationship. On the other hand, it could indicate the intrusion of a stranger on the scene through devious means - perhaps in the guise of a messenger. It would certainly not be new if someone with criminal intent had gained entrance to an apartment through such a ruse.

Did you or Arthur write this?

He did.

[Suzzette]

I'm so amazed by this, my heart is rapidly beating. what I have figured and what Arthur has written are so close in thought and science ( is astrology science?)
I can not find Ron's birth time, I'm still searching.

[Suzzette]

I don't want to post personal things,, so I'll just say yes Ron is from Michigan and just happened to be in LA California at the time of her birthday. Her birthday has a personal connection to all this. I was wondering if Arthur caught the connection?

[mikestar13]

Has the SSR for the previous year been analyzed? It may be that the evil decisions that led to Diana's death were made prior to the time, towards the end of the previous year? I seriously doubt the murder was truly random--few are.

[Jim Eshelman]

Has the SSR for the previous year been analyzed? It may be that the evil decisions that led to Diana's death were made prior to the time, towards the end of the previous year? I seriously doubt the murder was truly random--few are.

I checked - presuming she was in San Francisco for her 1973 birthday (though I don't know were she really was). What I most saw is that the chart for the year beginning October 8, 1973 was splendid. Besides a Moon-Venus aspect wherever she was, for SF it had transiting Jupiter 0°09' from Eastpoint. My though (which I don't think I posted above) was that she had extra protection for the prior year - was being "saved" from something, with unusually good luck - and that protection evaporated when her 1974 birthday came around.

The '73 SSR also had natal Pluto angular. The full picture of the closest things (besides the Moon aspecting THREE benefics) was:

7°29' Can - r Pluto
8°04' Cap - t Jupiter
8°13' Lib - SSR MC

28°43' Cap - SSR Jupiter (PV 29°07')
2°08' Aqu - SSR Moon (PV 26°56')
2°48' Sco - r Venus
4°20' Sco - SSR Venus

The only other foreground aspect was a transiting Mercury-Mars opposition which IS common for murders - partile, but 6-7° off the angles. A possible contributor.

[Suzzette]

I did a Google search and she was there in San Francisco in 1973.

[Jim Eshelman]

I did a Google search and she was there in San Francisco in 1973.

Thanks

I had tried Spokeo, but it was too early for the records to be there. California currently has 46 different Diana Davids, one of whom would have been 84 this year and lives in North Hollywood with a past address in June Lake; but nothing on your Diana.

Is Ron still alive? (If so, do you know in which state he's been living?)

[Suzzette]

I read about overkill and this was overkill.
Overkill is mostly personal, a person who loved her very much or hated her very much and knew her.
I read on all the serial killers at that time and none were like her murder.
I have an old newspaper article on her death. The time is different from what Arthur said.
Was the time listed, when they found her and pronounced her dead? Could she have been killed earlier?

[Jim Eshelman]

The article said it was from a police report. These are estimates and can be wrong. What time did you find elsewhere and how was it reported?

[Suzzette]

Her name was Diana Adrinne David

[Suzzette]

San Francisco Examiner Nov. 14, 1974
Headline reads:
Unsolved murders
Diana David 36 manager of a Union Street apartment complex and a part-time model, killed inside her apartment at 1438 ( I googled her address and found it was actually 1458A) Union Street at 3:12 pm Oct 9 she was repeatedly stabbed during an apparent sexual assault.

In Arthur's article he wrote that the coroner said she wasn't sexually assaulted.

[Jim Eshelman]

Is Ron still alive? (If so, do you know in which state he's been living?)

Ah, this may answer my question:

Ronald [name deleted], 88 in Rochester, MI at least as of 2019 (previously in Troy MI and Jacksonville FL). Related to Wanda and Cari. (I have the condo address, phone number, and at least one email but won't paste then here from legal privacy considerations.) He's reportedly on Facebook and LinkedIn under Cari's name (which may simply mean that it's really her email address and not his). There is at least one sex offender in the national data base with his name, but I'd have to pay to look at that further. Ditto for 800+ criminal records nationwide for someone with his name.

[Jim Eshelman]

San Francisco Examiner Nov. 14, 1974
Headline reads:
Unsolved murders
Diana David 36 manager of a Union Street apartment complex and a part-time model, killed inside her apartment at 1438 ( I googled her address and found it was actually 1458A) Union Street at 3:12 pm Oct 9 she was repeatedly stabbed during an apparent sexual assault.

In Arthur's article he wrote that the coroner said she wasn't sexually assaulted.

Yes, this is quite different from what he reported. He evidently was going off a police report. These can be wrong (often are) but one generally presumes the are correct. He probably wouldn't have had ongoing access to local newspapers.

So the paper a month after the murder said she was sexually assaulted, though the police report said she wasn't. Both her being apartment manager and a part-time model introduce a large number of additional outside factors This time is slightly later than the police report listed (and there's might have been a coroner's estimate). And it was very violent.

This does match her charts. I was surprised at the claim of no sexual assault and thought the charts were more consistent with one in some ways, but the violence is what overwhelms the most. The 3:12 PM chart is less violent and removes the mysterious Mercury on which Arthur focused (Moon was exactly setting), but doesn't make much difference otherwise for her chart.

[Suzzette]

Yes, he's still alive, that's why I can't get his birth certificate to see the time of his birth.
Sex offender??
I wrote the investigator who worked her case, Frank Falzon. He said his partner remembered the name David as being the prime suspect, but didn't have enough to hold him. He told me to go to the SFPD cold case detectives and determine if anything contained within could lead to the identification of the suspect.
I live in N. Carolina, so I can't just drive there.
Her case # is 74-077912

[Jim Eshelman]

Wait, I just got a new picture with a zoom-in to the door that has 1456 and 1454 above two doors of one property, and 1462 of the same building on the other side of the tree. So it must be in the building and behind the tree. (This is a little different than the picture that came up before, with no numbers visible. I think this is what you were describing though.)

[Suzzette]

It's in an area called Russian Hill which has been and still is a very nice area. I guess the Governor lives there. It's not a high crime area.
The one thing I'd like to know since she lived there less than 2 years and didn't have much belongings is if the knife was from her kitchen. I wonder if they searched that? A phyco killer I'm sure would bring his own knife.

[Suzzette]

I wish this forum would post photos, then we'd know which building we are looking at.

[Jim Eshelman]

I wish this forum would post photos, then we'd know which building we are looking at.

It's here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/1458+ ... 11c5c74qbj

Or, more on the unit itself: https://www.google.com/maps/place/1458+ ... 11c5c74qbj

[Suzzette]

It's the one without the garage, you can zoom in on the address. The numbers are even, so it's the door on the left. Apartment "A" should be that front window on left.

The last photo of the men at the right is not it. The first photo where the men arr on the left, that's it. Zoom in onto the doors n look at addresses