Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

Rosa Linda Zuniga was born on January 22, 1953 in San Antonio, TX, the oldest of four children born to parents Leonardo Cortez Zuniga and Maria Yrenia "Irene" Cantu. Her first name(s) may have been Rosalinda or Rosalind; I am using the most common version I could find, which was also used in the TX birth index on Ancestry. According to Rosa Linda's friend Ellen, she may have also gone by the nickname Rosie. Both sides of the Mexican-American family had deep roots in Texas, spanning all the way back to when the land was still a part of the Republic of Mexico. By 1959, the Zuniga family moved to Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, CA. The parents split up sometime afterward, with Leonardo moving to Ohio and all four children living with their mother. Soon afterward Irene remarried to a man named Jose "Joe" Gamez (occasionally misspelled as Gomez). Photo courtesy of Ellen [first name withheld for privacy]. Accessed from FindAGrave. Rosa Linda graduated from Watsonville...

Steven Ericson was born on April 3, 1954 in Los Angeles County, CA. His mother's maiden name is Roeder. Very little could be found about him or his family. 1972 Woodrow Wilson High School senior yearbook photo. Steven attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, LA County, CA starting in at least 1970; he graduated in 1972. The high school yearbook lists him as "Steve Ericson." His junior and senior yearbook photos are available on this post, as well as on sites below; they were originally sourced from Ancestry.   Steven was last seen on Thursday, June 1, 1972 in Grass Valley, Nevada County, CA. It is unclear why he was in Northern California, as he was from Long Beach.  Very few details are available in Steven's case. He is listed among deceased alumni on his high school class's website, linked below. He is classified as Endangered Missing on the Doe Network, while the Charley Project simply lists him as Missing. Steven is a white male with blonde hair and ...

At roughly 4:45pm on Sunday, October 8, 1978, a man from Boron, Kern County, CA was searching in the high desert two miles west of Kramer Junction, San Bernardino County, CA — located at the intersection of Highways 58 and 395 — for a part of his camper that he had lost earlier in the day when he discovered human remains half-buried in sand.  The man first notified Kern County authorities, who then reported the discovery to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department shortly before 5:00pm, as the corpse was found about 2.5 mi east of the Kern County line. The specific location was 0.75 mi south of State Highway 58, and about twenty miles from the incorporated community of Hinkley; because of this, the body, that of a male, became known as Hinkley John Doe 1978. The sheriff's department also designated him "John Doe #14-78." According to one newspaper source, "Detective Rod Conder from the Barstow [sheriff's] office was assigned, and with homicide investiga...

On Sunday, August 27, 1972, two hikers discovered human remains near a foot trail on the top of a hill in a forest area just inside unincorporated Jefferson County, CO. The skeleton was found on Forest Road 554, off Highway 285, about one mile east of the line between Park and Jefferson Counties. The discovery was made southeast of Bailey, Park County, CO, which is the closest large community to the exact location. The hikers promptly reported their discovery to the Park County Sheriff's Office; officers from that jurisdiction then notified authorities in Jefferson County. Responders to the scene named by the press were a Lieutenant Perkins, Investigator Piper, and Officer Robbins of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO), as well as Dr. John Hunt of the Coroner's Office. Captain Denny Boeka of the JCSO later responded to questions from the press.  At the scene the investigators, "took pictures and gathered the remains of the body for lab analysis." The body...

Kenneth Byram, 24, was last seen in Los Angeles, LA County, CA in 1979, possibly in November. Because the exact date of his disappearance is unknown, November 1, 1979 is used as a placeholder by all sources. Very little information is available in his case. Kenneth is a white male with green eyes and blond/strawberry hair. At the time of his disappearance he was 24 years old, 6'2, and 150 lbs. If alive today he would be 70 years old. Based on the aforementioned ages, Kenneth's date of birth may have been between November 2, 1954 and September 11, 1955.  There are very, very few details available regarding Kenneth's disappearance. The only source really is NamUs; all other references to him online cite NamUs as the source of all of its information. Based on the agency case number, it is likely/possible that Kenneth wasn't reported missing until sometime in 1983.  While nineteen UIDs are listed in the exclusion section of Kenneth's NamUs page, one of these is in fact ...

At 1:00pm on Saturday, January 26, 1980, a hiker found the remains of two decedents in a riverbed/wash south of Valencia Sewage Treatment Plant, north of Magic Mountain Parkway and west of the Old Road in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, LA County, CA. One of the decedents, who I will be calling Younger Doe, was estimated to be 17-24 years old, while the other, who I will be calling Older Doe, was estimated to be 17-35 years old; while these two decedents may have been the same or similar ages, I am giving these nicknames in order to easily distinguish between the two of them. Reconstruction of Younger Doe, from NamUs. Younger Doe was determined to have died by homicide by gunshot wound. While not explicitly stated, it is implied that this is also how Older Doe died as well; Older Doe's case is also being investigated as a homicide. Younger Doe's estimated PMI is months prior, though less than two years, and both of the Does' estimated DODs are 1978-1980. Younger...

On Wednesday, January 31, 1979, a deceased young man was found lying on the ground at Gompers Park in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. The decedent is unidentified, and is known as John Doe. He had died recently that same year, and his face was recognizable at time of discovery, though a more specific postmortem interval (PMI) has not been released. The cause of death is not stated in any sources. Gompers Park — officially Gompers Neighborhood Park — covers an area of 4.7 acres, and has a capacity of 250 people. It is located at 4926 Hilltop Drive in the Grantville neighborhood of San Diego, and is managed by the city. John Doe was a white male who measured in at 5'10 and 164 lbs. His age group and range on NamUs are listed as "Adult - Pre 30" and 18 to 25 years old, respectively. He had brown hair and hazel eyes. A black-and-white photo of John Doe's face is available on NamUs. John Doe was wearing the following clothing items: a white sock on his left foot; black un...

Patricia Tigard was born in Sacramento, CA on February 15, 1958 to parents Mary Eleanor Bergman (nee Canon) and Beverley Finley Tigard. It was both of the parents' second marriages. Eleanor (who went by her middle name) and Beverley separated by 1961, when Patricia was three years old; that same year Beverley married a woman named Virginia Pirrone/Garcia. He also possibly remarried in 1968, then yet again to a woman named Bertie Frye in 1975. In October 1970 Patricia's mother Eleanor died in a car crash in Medford, Jackson County, OR. After her mother's death, Patricia, 12, moved in with her maternal grandfather, William Canon, in Klamath, Del Norte County, CA. Patricia, who also went by the name Patti, eventually attended Del Norte High School in Crescent City, Del Norte County before reportedly transferring to the American Legion High School in Sacramento in 1975. She seems to have eventually returned to Del Norte County. On May 1, 1976, Patti gave birth to ...

On Tuesday, May 9, 1978, a crew working for a logging company was in the area of Holcomb Peak in Josephine County, OR, near the town of Williams in the same county. There they discovered partial human remains, including a skull and other bones in a wooded area. One or more limbs, as well as one or more hands, were not recovered. The remains were not recognizable, as they were partial skeletal parts only. Because of this, many things such as hair color, height, weight, and eye color could not be determined. Officers from the Josephine County Sheriff's Office, as well as search and rescue teams, scoured the area around the discovery site, "for clues to the identity of the victim and the cause of death." Despite this, no clues were found, and the cause of death is still undetermined.  According to contemporary news reports, there were no signs of foul play. The remains were initially believed to be those of a female between the ages of 15 and 25; because of this, many so...

Ernest Glenn Beight was born on February 10, 1940 in Mahoning County, Ohio. He was living in Arizona by 1965. He married his second wife, Eloise, on July 17, 1968 in Imperial County, California. Together they had one daughter together. Ernest worked for American Linen Co at the time of his death. He and his wife lived at 2206 E 14th Place in Yuma, Yuma County, AZ. Ernest, 28, was in California for an unstated reason on Saturday, December 14, 1968. One of his sisters lived in Napa at the time; it is possible that he had been visiting her.  At about 12:30am on Sunday, December 15, 1968, Ernest asked a service station attendant in Los Angeles, LA County, CA for directions to Yuma, AZ. Police believe he had been hitchhiking at the time. Approximately fifteen minutes later, at 12:45am, Ernest's body was found on the side of the southbound lane of the Harbor Freeway near the Slauson Ave on-ramp in Los Angeles. He had been shot in the abdomen and/or chest, with the bullet passing complete...

Early in the evening of Saturday, February 9, 1980, trappers were "setting lines in the brushy growth" along the banks of the Pajaro River when they discovered a human skeleton on the north bank. The body was found near the confluence of the Pajaro and San Benito Rivers, just west — and/or "2000 yards southwest"  — of the US Highway 101 crossing. The trappers called authorities to report the body. Detectives from San Benito County were the first on the scene, which was along the county line; they soon, however, turned the case over to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, as it was in their jurisdiction, about four miles south of Gilroy, Santa Clara County, CA. The remains were not recognizable, as they consisted of a complete or near-complete skeleton. They were determined to be that of a female. The body had been in the water and/or riverbed for at least a month, i.e., since at least early January 1980; an updated or more specific PMI is not available. Auth...

At about 11:00am on Monday, February 18, 1980, three tourists from Canada stopped at a mountain viewpoint on Highway 74 about four or six miles south of Palm Desert, Riverside County, CA. As the tourists peered over a guardrail, they spotted a body either at the bottom of a 20-30 ft gully, or about 35 ft down a ravine near a turn-out in the highway. The body was determined to be that a young woman. All parts were recovered, and Jane Doe's face was recognizable. It is believed that she had died only one or two days before discovery, putting her death at about Saturday or Sunday, February 16 or 17, 1980. NamUs erroneously states that Jane Doe was found on Saturday, February 16, 1980. Whoever entered the data seems to have incorrectly interpreted the date listed on the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Bureau website, Feb. 16th, as the date of discovery, when it seems to instead be the estimated date of death. All newspaper reports consistently place the discovery of the body as ...