The Attack on Jim Alt and Murder of Barbara Jane Nantais, August 1978

Barbara Nantais. Photo from FindAGrave.

On the weekend of Saturday, August 12, 1978, Barbara's parents Ralph and Judy left San Diego to visit friends. A family friend was looking after Barbara and her three siblings.

Practically as soon as Ralph and Judy left, Barbara, 15, and her boyfriend Jim, 17, as well as friend Rick Selga and his girlfriend, got together and drove to Torrey Pines State Beach, where they all hung out together. The Perseid meteor shower was visible in San Diego after dusk.

Around 9:30pm the friends called it a night. Rick and his girlfriend decided to sleep in the station wagon that they had driven, while Jim and Barbara went down to the beach for some privacy. They zipped their sleeping bags together, crawled in them, had sex, and then went to sleep. Barbara was lying in Jim's arms when they fell asleep.

The next morning, Jim woke up cold and alone, covered in blood. Blinded by blood and disoriented, he had to feel his way along a fence up the sandy hill to the parking lot where his friends (Rick and his girlfriend) were sleeping in their car. According to Rick, Jim's face was swollen and there was blood all over his hair. Jim told Rick to go find Barbara; Rick ran down to the beach to look for her, and when he found her he yelled at some passersby to call the police.

Barbara was found nude, having been strangled and beaten to death. Her right nipple had been nearly sliced off with a sharp object, and her mouth was stuffed with sand. The killer dragged her body across the sand to an area north of the lifeguard tower and positioned her spread eagle on the beach. She was found near Lifeguard Tower 7.

Police arrived at the scene at 7:15am. According to police, when they found the body, it was covered with sand. She had some "very severe-looking" wounds on her head. Later on, it was determined that she may have been raped and sodomized.

Jim had a severe head wound that had knocked him unconscious during Barbara's murder. His head had been bashed in with a rock and a log from the fire pit. When he was found, he was only semi-conscious and had no memory of the attack. He was rushed to the hospital and was in a coma for days. A metal plate was put in his head, leading to his survival.

Photo from FindAGrave.

Among other evidence taken from the scene, police collected three white plastic bags: one that was covering Barbara's head, one covering her right hand, and one covering her left hand. A cigarette butt was also found at the scene, and DNA from an unknown source was found on it.

Barbara's murder and the attack on Jim have never been solved, and Barbara is listed among other victims of cold case homicides on San Diego PD's website. There have been no matches to the male DNA found on the cigarette butts at the scene of the murder. Barbara's family as well as Jim meet with San Diego police detectives every year to discuss any updates in the case.

Anyone with information regarding Barbara's murder is encouraged to call the SDPD Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293. For anonymous tips, call Crimestoppers at 888-580-8477 or submit the tip online here.

Similar cases

Less than one year after Barbara's death, in May 1979, a 15-year-old boy named Adam Ashley was found murdered on Torrey Pines State Beach: someone had struck him in the head multiple times with rocks. He was discovered near Lifeguard Tower 4. His murder is still unsolved.

In 1984, the body of Claire Hough, 14, was found in very similar circumstances to Barbara on the same beach near Lifeguard Tower 5: she had been beaten, strangled, and sexually assaulted. Furthermore, her breast had been mutilated and sand had been packed in her mouth and larynx.

It was eventually determined that Claire had been killed by convicted sex offender Ronald Tatro, whose blood was found in several spots on the girl's jeans and in her pubic hair. He was never charged due to having died before the DNA results came back. Despite the similarities in the cases, Tatro is not a suspect in Barbara's murder, as he had an alibi: he was in custody in Arkansas at the time. Furthermore, there have been no matches to the DNA found at the scene of Barbara's murder.

When I first wrote about these cases on Reddit, in October 2024, I stated that the murder of Adam Ashley had never been mentioned alongside, let alone thought to be connected to, those of Barbara or Claire. A user claiming to be Adam's niece or nephew commented on that post, stating, "We have followed both cases for years but as far as I know, no one else has explored a possible connection between Adam's murder and the Hough and Nantais cases. You're right that his case is never mentioned alongside theirs. We've also asked the police about it but they seem not to think there's anything there because the girls were sexually assaulted, and Adam wasn't."

However, I have since found a Project Cold Case Facebook post about Adam from June 2022, on which a user commented, "[Barbara Nantais's] case has been linked to another young lady [Claire Hough] that died under similar circumstances [...] No killer has been caught. I'm wondering whether these cases may be connected and that there was a violent serial attacker that set upon the youth at this time, resulting in deaths, and trauma for survivors?"

On May 27, 2025 Barbara's case was mentioned in a CBS News article about Adam's murder. Furthermore, according to an NBC 7 San Diego article from the week prior, Adam's sister Terri, "recalled two high-profile murders of young women along the same stretch of beach within a few years of Adam’s murder. Adam’s case, she said, did not get the same kind of attention."

When I posted about the three cases on Reddit, one user proposed that if Adam's murder is related to the other two, then it's possible that, viewing him from behind in the dark, the killer may have mistaken Adam for a teenaged girl, but didn't commit sexual acts on him like with Barbara or Claire upon realizing he was a boy: Adam was skinny and had long, shoulder-length hair that could have looked even longer if wet.

From north to south, the locations of the bodies of: Barbara Nantais (dark blue), Claire Hough (purple), and Adam Ashley (dark green) near Lifeguard Towers 7, 5, and 4, respectively, on Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego. Created by me using Google Maps.

In 1985, 25-year-old Marsha Funderburk was also found dead in San Diego County with sand stuffed in her mouth, like Barbara. Funderburk's murder also remains unsolved, though it has never been linked to Barbara's murder by authorities.

Long Beach Jane Doe 1974 was another young woman found murdered with her body having been dragged across the sand, like Barbara; Gary Stamp confessed to Jane Doe's murder, and died while in custody before he could be brought to trial.

According to page 109 of the 1986 Lucas Report, Barbara was briefly thought to have been a victim of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. However, Lucas is known for having made over 300 false confessions, and seems to no longer considered a suspect in Barbara's case.

Concluding notes

While I originally found this case while doing my own research, I have also tagged this as a link/connection due to the other murders that have been brought up as similar online. The similarities between the murders of Marsha Funderburk and Long Beach Jane Doe 1974 and that of Barbara Nantais were noted in a 2020 CBS News article.

This case has also been mentioned in a 2020 post from another amateur sleuth-run site that I use to find generally related cases: the Murder Incorp. blog, which compiles sources about crimes in CA from the 1960s and 70s that either have been recently confirmed to still be, or the blogger suspects to be, unsolved. Special focus is put on cases that bear resemblance and/or occurred somewhat in proximity to confirmed and possible EARONS and Zodiac crimes.

Barbara's murder and the attack on Jim have never been solved.

Note: While this write-up was originally posted on June 25, 2025, I often revisit cases, receive updates from contacts, and/or find new sources, and then edit and re-post my write-ups accordingly. This write-up was last edited on August 6, 2025.