The Death of LA Jane Doe, August 1978

On Sunday, August 13, 1978, the decomposed and/or mummified body of a white woman was found by hikers under a large bush on a ridge, 0.5mi south of Forest Lawn Drive and 1.0mi east of Barham Blvd in LA. Her head was resting on a brown tote bag. Inside the bag was a packet of birth control pills with fifteen pills left. Her cause of death is unknown, though it is estimated that she had died in 1978, the same year she was found.

Jane Doe was a 30-45 year old white woman. At the time that she was found, she measured in at 5'2 and 85 lbs. She had brown hair, as well as a possible scar "on the lower abdominal and right quadrant." Jane Doe was wearing a multicolored sweater, a beige sweater, tan pants, a white bra, and brown shoes. Also on the body was her brown shoulder strap tote bag containing the birth control pills; a brown coin purse; and a Shriek Alarm brand anti-rape defense device.

Jane Doe has zero MP exclusions on NamUs. Her fingerprints and dental records are not available for comparison, and there was insufficient DNA for profiling. Jane Doe's NamUs page, #UP4425, was created on September 10, 2008, and last updated February 23, 2022.  

If you have any information regarding Jane Doe, please contact Investigator Betsy Magdaleno of the LA County Medical Examiner's Office at (323) 343-0512 or IDUnit@me.lacounty.gov. The agency case number is 1978-09983.

Sources

NamUs

Doe Network

LA County Medical Examiner 

Unidentified wiki

Note: I could not find any contemporary newspaper articles about Jane Doe. She does not have a WebSleuths thread dedicated to her.

Further Note: While this write-up was originally published on June 30, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, fix any typos or formatting errors, check for updates, hyperlink new posts, ensure that I have exhausted all sources, etc. When edits are extensive, I re-post the write-up. This post was last updated on October 1, 2025.