California Cold Cases

Constance Paris, who also went by the nickname Connie, was an 18-year-old senior at Englewood High School in Englewood, Arapahoe County, CO. She lived with her parents, James and Marylou Paris, and her two younger brothers, Chris, 15, and Jeff, 11. Her father, James, was a postal worker. The Paris family lived at 3965 S Lincoln St. Disappearance  Connie was last seen by her family at about 5:30pm on Tuesday, March 26, 1968 when she left home to work on a research paper for school at the downtown Denver Public Library, as its resources were more abundant than those at the Englewood Public Library. It was reported that Connie went to the DPL's Central Library at W 14th Ave and Broadway. Connie finished working and packed up to leave at about 9:00pm, then rode on her usual 9:30pm bus home. She was seen getting off the bus — operated by Denver Tramway — by both its driver and three other passengers. She got off at her usual stop at the corner of S Broadway and E Girard Ave, about ...

Marie was born Marie Sandra Abbatiello on March 8, 1947 in Nassau County, NY to parents Thomas Martin Abbatiello and Lucy M Caggiano. She often went by her middle name, Sandra. She had a younger sister named Philomena. The family was of Italian descent. Marie moved to Colorado sometime after 1963, possibly by 1966. She married a Black man named Shelton Edward Smith Jr (b. 1952) on October 13, 1976 in Denver, CO. Shelton's name is sometimes misspelled as Sheldon. Sandra took her husband's last name.   [Note:  CBI & Denver Cold Cases got her name wrong: it's Marie not Maria, she  often went by her middle name, Sandra, and she did not hyphenate her surname; instead her legal last name was Smith.]   Photo from the Denver Police Department.   By November 1977, Marie, 30, was working at the Airman's Club on the Lowry Air Force Base. She lived at 215 E 11th Ave with her husband Shelton. Shelton reported his wife missing on Sunday, November 20th, 1977. Marie'...

Jack Kroecker was born on May 1, 1945, and grew up in Parma, OH. His father, Jack James Kroecker Sr, was the vice president of Permold Inc, an aluminum foundry in Medina, OH.  In 1963 Jack graduated from Parma High School, where he was a district wrestling champion. He then completed three years as a mathematics major at the University of Dayton before being drafted into the US Army in May 1968.  He graduated first in his class at Army Finance School at Ft Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, IN and took basic training at Fort Knox, KY. At the time of his death he was working in the finance section of Fort Carson in Colorado.  Photo from FindAGrave. Jack, 23, spent Christmas Eve 1968 celebrating the holiday with a fellow soldier in downtown Colorado Springs, El Paso County, CO. They had driven there from Ft Carson in the friend's car. Jack was wearing civilian clothes.  At about midnight on Wednesday, December 25, 1968, Jack returned to his friend's car and lay down to...

At about 12:05am on Saturday, July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin, 22, and Michael Mageau, 19, parked at the parking lot of secluded Blue Rock Springs Park on the eastern outskirts of Vallejo, Solano County, CA — a popular area for couples — to talk. Darlene parked 70 ft from the lot entrance. Soon, another car parked about 80 ft to her left. The driver turned the headlights off and sat motionless at the steering wheel before leaving the parking lot at a high speed. Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin. Five minutes later, the other driver returned and parked a few feet next to Darlene's vehicle at the passenger side. He exited his car and shined a flashlight into Darlene's car; the couple assumed he was a police officer and rolled down the passenger side window. The man wordlessly fired a gun into the car. One bullet hit Michael in the right arm, and the other Darlene in the neck, causing her to slump towards the steering wheel and become motionless. After five shots were fired, the man...

On Friday, December 20, 1968, David, 17, drove his mother's station wagon to Betty Lou's, 16, house at 8:00pm. They left in the car at 8:30pm for the house of one of Jensen's friends. Sometime after 9:00pm they then drove to the outskirts of Vallejo, Solano County, CA and parked at a gravel parking area — a lovers' lane — along remote Lake Herman Rd. This is near/at the entrance to the city of Benicia, Solano County. A passing motorist noticed the couple between 10:15-10:30pm, parked on the side of Lake Herman Rd, on a gravel runoff near the gate to a Benicia water pumping station. They were spotted again at 11:00pm. David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Photo from Wikipedia. Sometime between 11:05 and 11:10pm, an unknown assailant pulled his car up next to David's, about 10 ft away from the passenger's side of the vehicle. The unidentified man left his vehicle and approached the couple's car, firing several shots inside. The bullets hit various parts of the c...

Mona Jean Gallegos was likely born in 1952 or 1953. She went by the nickname "Tuni" among family, and she had five siblings, two sisters and three brothers. Having previously lived in Colorado, the Gallegos family moved to southern CA in 1968; Mona attended Wilson High School in LA. In 1971 the family returned to CO, which is where Mona graduated from high school that same year. The Gallegos family eventually moved back to southern CA, where they lived at 4944 Vincent Ave in Covina, LA County, CA. Mona briefly attended Mt San Antonio College, then decided to go to work full time; she was a seamstress for awhile, then got a job as a waitress. For the last six months before her disappearance, Mona had been a waitress at Coffee Dan's in West Covina. She had reportedly planned to enroll again at Mt SAC in the fall, "probably to prepare for a career in social work." At the time of her disappearance Mona, 22, lived at 4944 Vincent Ave with her mother, Alice Gallegos, ...

Sixteen-year-old Christopher Wells was last seen in December 1972 in Seattle, King County, Washington. Sources differ as to when he went missing: the date provided by NamUs — as well as the Charley Project and the Doe Network, which use NamUs as a source — is Saturday, December 16, 1972, while, according to NCMEC and the Washington Missing Persons Database, Christopher was instead last seen three days earlier, on Wednesday, December 13, 1972. Photo of Christopher c.1972 from NamUs. According to NamUs, Christopher was reported missing on Saturday, December 16, 1972: this is either the day he was last seen, or three days after, depending on the source. The most likely explanation is that Christopher was last seen on Wednesday the 13th before being reported missing on the 16th, and that the reported date was mistakenly entered as the missing date on NamUs, then taken as fact by the Charley Project and the Doe Network. Along with the discrepancies regarding the date, there are very few det...

On Saturday, January 7, 1978, human remains of a female were found by a hiker in a rugged area of the Antelope Valley in LA County, 0.5mi from the nearest road. According to previous postings of database entries to WebSleuths from 2016, Jane Doe may have been found in a canyon wash "at Rock Formations 150th Street East & Avenue P-8" in Palmdale, LA County, CA.  LA County ME states that she had been dead for less than one year. According to NamUs, her estimated year of death is 1978; considering the fact that she was found on January 7th of 1978, this could be incorrect, or she had been killed only a few days before she was found. Jane Doe's remains were decomposed, and were unrecognizable at the time of discovery. The body's condition was partial remains with soft tissues. One or both limbs, as well as one or both hands, were not recovered. Jane Doe's COD is unknown, though her death is being investigated as a homicide. Jane Doe's necklace. Photo from NamU...

At the time of her death, Ollie George, 19, was a student at American River College. Her father, Rev. C.D. George, was the minister of the Church of God in Christ. She had two younger sisters and an older brother.   Ollie left her home at 75 Butterworth Ave in North Sacramento at about 4:00pm on Monday, February 23, 1976 to buy some nylons at a shopping center in Sacramento. She was then seen by two clerks at the Safeway Store she had driven to.  Photo from FindAGrave. At about 5:30pm, Ollie called her mother to say that the car she borrowed from her brother wouldn't start. An employee at a nearby McDonald's reportedly saw Ollie some time after he started his shift at 5pm.  At about 6:00pm, Ollie's 17-year-old sister, Laurenda, and her brother's girlfriend, Beata, went to go help Ollie, but when they arrived she wasn't there. The car was unlocked and the keys were in the ignition. Inside the vehicle were grocery items, nylons, her purse, and a partially eaten M...

Lynn Connes, 20, lived in an apartment at 2817 Regent St in Berkeley, Alameda County, CA and worked part-time as a telephone solicitor in Marin County at the time of her disappearance. Lynn had recently advertised for employment as a photographer's model in the newspaper, and a man who identified himself as "Jeff" called her, answering her ad. They agreed to meet at the Bateau Ivre Restaurant at 2629 Telegraph Ave, four blocks from Lynn's home. Photo from NamUs. On Thursday, May 20, 1976, Lynn was last seen at her residence, which she then left to meet with "Jeff." An unidentified waitress at the Bateau Ivre Restaurant stated that a woman matching Lynn's description came to the restaurant at 10:15am. Although the restaurant was closed, the waitress let her sit at a table to wait for someone. She has never been seen again. No one, including the waitress, saw the woman leave the restaurant. Law enforcement found Lynn's locked bicycle on the corner outs...