The Murder of Donna JoAnn Peeples, July 1975

Born Donna JoAnn Gardner on May 31, 1958 to parents Richard and Betty, Donna had two older siblings — a sister and a brother — and two younger sisters, Reba (b1959) and Anna (b1962). I couldn't really find anything about what kind of person Donna was, but from what I can glean, she seemed to be a fun and loving young woman. She had long blonde hair, and from the descriptions given of her, was quite stylish. She didn't have a criminal record, and her only brush with the law had been when she was picked up for being a juvenile in possession of alcohol.

On April 26, 1974 in Reno, Nevada, Donna married Leonard Monroe Peeples, who was born January 9 1958 in Stanislaus County, CA. I cannot find very much about Leonard in the newspapers from before their marriage, other than that he was injured in two separate car accidents, both of which he was not at fault for.

Together, Donna and Leonard had one daughter, April, who was born in late November 1974 in Modesto City Hospital. By July 1975, however, Leonard and Donna were separated, and Donna was living with her family and daughter at 2347 W Hatch Rd in Modesto, Stanislaus County, CA.

Donna Peeples. Photo from FindAGrave.

The Case

Donna spent the day before her death — Tuesday, July 15, 1975 — driving around with two friends. They had been drinking: an autopsy revealed Donna's blood alcohol level to be 0.18. The three of them went to several homes around Carpenter and Robertson Rd.s and Sutter Ave, and also visited some people in the Airport District. According to a clipping from 1998, "'My mother was last seen alive at a residence in the projects,' April Peeples said. 'The apartments at Robertson Rd and Sutter Ave were then known as the projects.'" During interviews with detectives, Donna's friends stated that she had said that she was going to be going on a date with someone named "Lex" later that day. She was never seen alive again.

At approximately 10:30pm on Wednesday, July 16, 1975, the body of a young woman was found in a grape vineyard at Maze Blvd and Dakota Ave in Modesto by a farm worker who was spraying the vineyard with sulfur dust. The body was found lying face-down between rows of grapevines, about 60 ft north of Maze Blvd and 200 ft west of Dakota Ave. According to comments from locals on Facebook, this vineyard seems to have been owned by a family with the surname Gallo.

The girl had been dead for about one day at the time of discovery. There were footprints leading from the roadway to her body. She had been strangled, though police have not released what was used. She had also been beaten, though she was not sexually assaulted. She was wearing a rust-colored patchwork midriff shirt that tied in the front, green socks, and tan corduroy pants.

On the night of Thursday, July 17, 1975, Donna's mother, Betty, read a description of the body in the Modesto Bee and then called detectives, believing that the body was Donna's. Unfortunately, Betty was correct. Investigators believe she was killed elsewhere, and her body was dumped in the vineyard. Police said they believe Donna knew her killer or killers. Despite this, the trail quickly went cold, and to this day Donna's murder is still unsolved.

Aftermath

In 1976, Donna's younger sister Reba, then 17 years old, married Leonard's older brother Richard, who was 20. In January 1978, Leonard, then 20 years old and still living in Modesto, was placed on three years probation and sentenced to five months in jail after pleading guilty to auto theft. That same month, Leonard's parents died in a murder-suicide. Then, in September of that same year, Leonard remarried: this marriage was to Donna's youngest sister, Anna, who was 16 at the time.

Donna with daughter April. Photo from FindAGrave.

(From what I could find, Leonard also had a sister, Debbie, who had the surname Gardner by January 1978. Donna had an older brother named Richard Gardner. Considering the rest of the families' marriages, it is possible that Richard and Debbie were married. However, take this with a massive grain of salt: while I couldn't find anything to contradict this, I also couldn't find anything to back it up.)

Leonard had some other brushes with the law: in 1986 he was arrested on a charge of harboring a fugitive after a 22-year-old man charged with the theft of a handgun had been mistakenly released from Stanislaus County Jail. In August 1993 Leonard also plead guilty to petty theft with prior convictions.

Leonard's brother Richard passed away in 1983 at the age of 27. Leonard himself, as well as Anna, died within months of each other in 2019 at ages 61 and 57, respectively. Leonard and Donna's daughter April, who has a family of her own now, is still seeking answers to her mother's death.

Conclusion

In 2009, then-CA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger offered a $50,000 reward to anyone with information in Donna's case. From 1998 to 2012 the Modesto Bee has released occasional articles asking for information. Her case is listed among others in a 2017 news article about CA cold cases.

Donna has been brought up before in a Zodiac forum, which is where I found out about her case. She has also been mentioned in the comments of a 2024 post on the "Modesto... Then & Now" Facebook page about grape cultivation in Modesto. The following exchange occurred in the comments of the post, linked below, with surnames redacted for privacy:

Christy:  I remember there use to be a lot of grape fields, I know there was one on Carpenter and California Ave by Mark Twain j.r. high, some on Whitmore .

Susan:  I believe you are talking about the Gallo property. They lived in the middle of that vineyard when Carpenter was a dirt road.

Christy:  nope that was across the street, the other one was next to Mark Twain, I do believe it was Gallo's but this was in 1975-77 when I went to Mark Twain. I remember they found a girl in that grape field that had been killed. [...] We wasn't allowed to be on that side of the field during gym till the cops were gone. Was a friend's cousin.

Deb: Donna Peeples

Pat:  Oh my god. I had not heard that name in almost 50 years. [...] Peeples from Riverdale Tract?

Anyone with information regarding Donna's murder is urged to contact the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department at (209) 525-7074. Tipsters may also submit details to the Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at (209) 521-4636 or through the Tip Form. Any little piece of information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is appreciated.

Sources

FindAGrave 

Turlock Journal 7/17/75  

Modesto Bee 7/17/75, 7/18/75  

Interview with April, Modesto Bee 9/20/98 

2009 Modesto Bee article  

2017 ABC10 article 

Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers profile, accessed through the Wayback Machine

Tapatalk Zodiac forum  

2024 Facebook post, mentioned in comments 

Whereabouts Still Unknown blog, mentioned   

Note: While this write-up was originally published on June 23, 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 25, 2026.