A Bay Area mom's murder and the quilt that may be key to solving it

March 8, 1989 was an ordinary day for Cathy Zimmer. That morning, the Bay Area mom of two dropped off her kids at school. She grabbed lunch with a friend, and then headed to San Jose State where she attended two classes. At 2:45 p.m., she was scheduled for an optometrist’s appointment in Los Gatos. But Cathy never showed. Hours passed, and she didn’t come home. Worried loved ones reported her missing.

Two days later, Cathy’s Chrysler New Yorker was found parked at San Jose Airport. A colorful, handmade-looking quilt was draped across the backseat. Law enforcement were horrified to discover what lay beneath: Cathy’s body. She had been strangled. When she died, Cathy was just 38. 

For over two decades, Cathy’s case seemed like it had been put on the shelf. But suddenly in February 2014, investigators from the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office released a photograph of the quilt, seeking leads from the public. A month later, Cathy’s husband, David Zimmer, and her brother-in-law Robert Zimmer were arrested on suspicion of her murder. 

It seemed like the cold case was finally heating up. The DA’s office even issued a press release titled, “Mystery Quilt Cold Case Cracked.” (The press release was removed by the DA's office, but the URL still exists.)

According to prosecutors at the time, David Zimmer, although still married to Cathy, was in a relationship with another woman. Zimmer also reportedly collected $183,000 from two life insurance policies taken out on Cathy and sold their family home for $225,000. Prosecutors said forensic analysis of the crime scene discovered DNA that tied the Zimmer brothers to Cathy’s murder.

What the DA’s office presented as a fairly open-and-shut case turned out to be anything but.

Several months later, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced his office was dropping all charges. In an apologetic statement to Cathy’s family, Rosen said that the discovery of a compromising relationship had forced his office to reevaluate the case. The original prosecutor “had an undisclosed and improper relationship with the case’s criminalist,” Rosen said; in addition, the DA’s office admitted to failing to hand over evidence in a “timely fashion.” 

David Zimmer’s lawyer Michael Cardoza told the San Francisco Chronicle that he’d received 10,000 pages of evidence just two weeks prior. 

“As I said from the beginning, there was not enough evidence to prosecute David Zimmer for this homicide,” Cardoza said. “It was an overzealous, unethical prosecutor that brought the charges. Thank God that his affair with the DNA analyst came to light.”

Rosen said charges could be re-filed, but it appears they never were. The DA's office did not return SFGATE's request for more information by publication time.

Now, as 35 years since Cathy's slaying have passed, the primary clue remaining is the unusual quilt. It’s a patchwork of different fabrics, including a red and white hibiscus print, yellow and white flowers on a light blue background and several dark blue floral prints. It’s bordered by mustard yellow fabric.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the cold case unit of the DA’s office at 408-792-2609.