A vanished actress, a satanic cult, and the CIA | The bizarre 1980 disappearance of Valerie McDonald

In late 1980, an aspiring actress named Valerie McDonald disappeared in San Francisco. A man had promised her a role in a Dustin Hoffman movie filming locally, and hadn't been seen since she left her apartment with the man.Show more

From there, the case went crazy. It was learned her apartment was managed by Phillip Arthur Thompson and John Gordon Abbott, two hardened criminals who'd just bee released from San Quentin prison.

Turns out that John Gordon Abbott and Phillip Arthur Thompson had major connections to the CIA and FBI, including working on President Nixon's re-election committee.

When more dead bodies started turning up, police feared McDonald was the victim of a serial killer or a satanic cult.

In the years since, there has even been speculation that Phillip Arthur Thompson was none other than the infamous Zodiac Killer.

This is one of the strangest murder cases of the 1980s.