The Disappearance of Rebecca Jean Dunn, Spring 1979
According to CA DOJ — as well as Doe Network and Charley Project, which use CA DOJ as a source — Rebecca Jean Dunn was born on March 21, 1958. Through research on Ancestry, I have found that Rebecca was born on that date in LA County, CA to a mother with the maiden name Newquist. This is the only information I could find matching Rebecca’s info on that site.
Rebecca was last seen in April, May, or June 1979, possibly specifically Thursday, May 10, 1979. Either way, she was 21 years old when last seen.
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| Rebecca Dunn. Photo from NamUs. |
In early 1979, Rebecca and a female friend left their residences in Las Vegas, NV and traveled to San Diego, CA together along with two men. The drive from Las Vegas to San Diego is about 5.5 hours. The friend eventually returned to Las Vegas, having last seen Rebecca in about April 1979. The friend told investigators that she and Rebecca had traveled to CA to act as prostitutes. At least one of the two men is believed to have acted as the women’s pimp while in CA. Rebecca has no known vehicle. Neither the female friend nor Rebecca’s family ever saw or heard from her again. Few details are available in her case, and the specifics of her disappearance are unknown at this time.
Rebecca is variously described as 5’8 and 150 lbs or 5’9 and 179 lbs. Some sources, such as NamUs, state that she had blue eyes, while others like CA DOJ state that her eyes were green. She had blonde/strawberry blonde hair. There was a (large) bump on the bridge of her nose.
According to official databases, Rebecca has used the aliases Babette Powers and Sandy Long; in my opinion, this seems to be tied to her sex work. Just to double check, I tried finding instances of "Sandy Long" or "Rebecca Dunn" corresponding to her in newspapers in NV or CA from 1976 to 1979, of which there were none. The only instance of "Babette Powers" in US newspapers from that time period was that of a girl/woman with that name being among the winners of a watermelon eating contest in September 1977, published in SF's Enterprise Journal.
In the Contacts section of Rebecca's NamUs page, July 19, 1997 is listed under "Date Reported." This is supported by the fact that the agency case number — which usually begins with the last two digits of the reporting year — for her missing persons case begins with "97." None of the sources state who reported her missing.
Rebecca’s dental x-rays and charting, as well as her DNA, are available, while it is unknown if her fingerprints are as well. She is classified as Endangered Missing according to the Charley Project and Doe Network. The Doe Network and NCIC case numbers are 1374DFNV and M067346653, respectively. Her NamUs case, #MP7870, was created on August 10, 2010 and last updated on June 11, 2025.
NamUs states that 31 UIDs have been excluded as being Rebecca, however, one of these is blank and two are repeats, so in reality there are 28 distinct UIDs on Rebecca's exclusion list. The most relevant of these exclusions are LA Jane Doe March 1980, Palm Desert Jane Doe 1980, and Rimforest John Doe. Rebecca's exclusions also include Newhall Jane Doe and Valencia "Younger Doe" 1980 — both believed to be victims of the Sunset Strip Killers, Doug Clark and Carol Bundy — and two decedents who have since been identified as Gwenn Marie Story and Pamela Diane Salley.
Rebecca is also on the NamUs exclusion list of Corona Jane Doe 1981, though the reverse is not true. They are likely still exclusions, as, according to a personal email from Mary Bell of the Doe Network, "Unfortunately, listing NamUs exclusions is not a high priority. We get exclusions all the time that never show up on the NamUs exclusion list." Because of this, it is evident that at least 29 UIDs have been excluded as being Rebecca.
Anyone with information regarding Rebecca's disappearance is urged to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) at (702) 828-2907 or by emailing MissingPersonsColdCase@lvmpd.com. The agency case number is 970719-1319, which is incorrectly listed as 707191319 on the CA DOJ website.
Furthermore, according to the CA DOJ's missing persons database, "If you think you know the whereabouts of any person, BEFORE TAKING ANY ACTION, please contact the law enforcement agency listed in the record, or the California Department of Justice at 1-800-222-FIND (24 hour nationwide toll-free Hotline) or (916) 210-3119, or email us [CA DOJ] at missing.persons@doj.ca.gov." According to the same site, individuals seeking to contact CA DOJ regarding a missing person can use the email form here.
The Naso Connection
In Aug. 2025, Vanity Fair published a two-part series on serial killer Joseph Naso, aka the Alphabet or Double Initial Killer, who has been convicted of six murders. Among Naso's possessions found during the investigation into him prior to his conviction was a list of ten "girls" that LE believes corresponds to each of his victims.
According to the Vanity Fair article, as well as a Sept. 2025 documentary miniseries, a fellow inmate, Bill Noguera, was reportedly able to get information out of Naso on his other victims, with private investigator Ken Mains then linking the information given to him by Noguera to unsolved disappearances and murders that match the descriptions.
Through this means Detective Mains has linked Rebecca Dunn to Naso; the full section of the documentary devoted to her can be found at this link to episode two, starting at about 34:17. Acting on Noguera's tip that Naso killed two women in Las Vegas, Det. Mains found that an unidentified woman photographed by Joseph Naso is visually similar to Rebecca Jean Dunn.
Furthermore,
according to Noguera's notes, Naso claimed that one of his Las Vegas
victims was a prostitute with blonde hair and green eyes that Naso
referred to as "Becky," "Becca," or "Rebecca." 
A photo of an unknown woman found among Joseph Naso's possessions compared to a photo of Rebecca Jean Dunn. Cropped screenshot taken from Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer, ep. 2, timestamp 34:41.
Detective Mains forwarded all of this information regarding the possible connection to Naso to the LVMPD. Responding to a request for comment from Vanity Fair, however, the LVMPD stated that, "[t]here are currently no new leads in this investigation [into the disappearance of Rebecca Dunn]."
Regardless of whether Rebecca was in fact a victim of Naso, it is important to note that as part of his investigation, Det. Mains submitted a public records request to LVMPD in order to obtain Rebecca's missing persons report, which they fulfilled. Important information can be found from the report; screenshots of it from the documentary are attached below.
Section of LVMPD's missing persons report on Rebecca Jean Dunn. Cropped screenshot taken from Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer, ep. 2, timestamp 37:00.
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| Close-up on the section of text that is covered in the first screenshot of the report (above). Cropped screenshot taken from Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer, ep. 2, timestamp 36:05. |
Sources
Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer, documentary mini-series, ep. 2
Note: While this write-up was originally published on June 27, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, fix any typos or formatting errors, check for updates, ensure that I have exhausted all sources, etc., and then make note of when I last did so, no matter how minor. When edits are extensive, I re-post the write-up entirely. This post was last updated on January 30, 2026.
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