Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

At about 4:45pm on Wednesday, September 19, 1979, the body of a teenager or  young man  was discovered in the Los Angeles Riverbed, north of the Patata St overpass/trestle in Bell, LA County, CA. He had been deceased for only some hours prior, and his face was recognizable; a postmortem photo is available through a link on the Doe Network. The cause and manner of death have not been released. Artist rendering from NCMEC. John Doe was 15 to 25 years old, 5'8, and 129 lbs. The estimated age group listed by NamUs is "Adult - Pre 30." He was white and had brown eyes and short, thin, light brown hair. A reconstruction of him created by NCMEC is available. When found, he was wearing blue slacks, a Hawaiian print shirt from K-Mart, a brown leather belt, underwear, and white socks with a red stripe at the top. John Doe's dentals, DNA, and fingerprints are all available for comparison. He has six MP exclusions on NamUs, as well as one repeat: John Doe is not Donald Rexroth (wh...

Sandra JoAnn Rushing was born on August 27, 1960 in Denver, CO to parents Joe Bailey Rushing Jr and Shirley Joan Rushing (nee Otey). Sandra's mom's side of the family was from Denver, while her father's side was from Abilene, TX. Sandra had two older siblings, sister Brenda Kay Tate (nee Rushing) and brother Terry Joe Rushing. Brenda was a little less than four years older than Sandra, as she  was born in late 1956 . Terry was born in late September 1959, making him eleven months older than Sandra; despite this, the two of them were in the same grade in high school. This is likely because Sandra's birth date was on the cusp of the cut off; she was only seventeen years old when she graduated. Sandra's 1978 Lakewood High School senior yearbook photo. The Rushings lived in Denver proper up to at least 1969, though by 1973 they were living in Lakewood, Jefferson County, CO, a suburb of Denver. All three Rushing children went to Lakewood High School. Both Sandra and Terr...

Thomas Cristiano was born on December 19, 1950 in Denver, Colorado, where he also spent much of his early childhood. He lived with his parents, Joseph Frank Cristiano and Verna Louise Cristiano (nee Place), and his siblings, David and Virginia. Thomas attended high school in Montrose, Montrose County, CO, where his parents were living at the time of their son's death. Some sources may spell the family's surname as "Christiano." Thomas's father had moved his family to Montrose "to get away from the crime and violence we saw there" in Denver. Thomas, however, eventually went back to Denver to be near a school where he was taking a "correspondence computer course." He  was employed at the Western Drive Inn on East Colfax Avenue in Denver. Thomas also had an interest in art. According to letters written to his family, he had planned to paint a night scene of the State Capitol Building at some point.  Photo from CBI. Late in the evening of Friday, J...

Yvonne Quilantang was born on July 11, 1957 in San Francisco to parents Terezo Vincent Quilantang and Evelyn Marie Quilantang (nee Leroy). Yvonne and her siblings were biracial, half white, half Asian: their father, Terezo, was an immigrant from the Philippines. Some sources from the 1970s mistakenly list Yvonne as Black. However, thorough research on Ancestry indicates that she was not Black, but instead Filipina. She was baptized Catholic. She was the youngest of six children: her older siblings are Sharon, Vincente, Michael, Linda, and Thomas; the latter was only two years older than her. Yvonne's father was a seaman. Her mother eventually grew unable to care for her, so Yvonne was "taken into a foster home, where she had lived almost since she could remember." She seemed to still be in contact with her birth family. From the June 24, 1973 edition of the  San Francisco Examiner   In early June 1973, Yvonne was 15 years old and attending Opportunity II High School. She ...

Lynn Mueller, 21, was found dead in her bedroom by her husband Mike, 27, at their house at 880 E Main St in Ventura, Ventura County, CA on Friday, May 30, 1975. That day Mike had taken Lynn to the dentist because she had a toothache. Once they got back to their home, Mike made Lynn some soup, then left for his job on the night shift at an oil refinery "off the Rincon." Photo from the City of Ventura Cold Case Investigations page. Lynn, who was devoutly religious, went next door to a service at a Pentecostal church on Kalorama and Main St that evening. Other churchgoers stated that they last saw her at church  at 9:30pm . After returning home, Lynn called Mike at work and chatted with him for about 15min. A neighbor then reported seeing Lynn speaking with a man on her porch at approximately 10:00pm. The man was described as light haired and wearing a short jacket, perhaps a uniform jacket. The witness description matched that of a man who had argued with Lynn regarding religio...

Deana and an older girl, Tonna, were adopted from an orphanage in Hong Kong by their (white) foster father Dean Hooper in 1966; because of this, Deana and Tonna regarded each other as sisters. Deana, her adoptive parents, her older sister, and a brother lived together in Sonoma. Eventually her sister became married and moved to Vallejo, Solano County, CA. Deana lived in Yountville at the time with her family. Photo from the March 13, 1975 edition of the  Vallejo Times-Herald . Edited by me for clarity.   At the time of her death, Deana, 18, was staying with her older sister, Mrs Tonna Albright, who lived at 901 Georgia St in Vallejo. According to the missing person's report filed by Tonna on July 15, 1974, on Monday, July 11th, she and Deana had attended a party at the Enlisted Men's Club on Mare Island, and when it came time to go home, Tonna couldn't find Deana. That was the last time she was seen. When Deana did not return home following the party, Tonna called their fat...

John Croasdale was last seen on Sunday, February 13, 1977 in North Highlands, Sacramento County, CA. He left his residence for San Francisco, and has never been seen or heard from since. CA DMV photo circa 1971. Accessed from NamUs. John is a white male who was 29 years old, 5'11, and 160 lbs at the time of his disappearance. He has blue eyes and straight brown hair. When he went missing his hair was collar-length, and he had a mustache. He also had a tattoo on his left forearm; a description of it is unavailable. It is unknown what he was wearing when he disappeared. He is classified as Missing on the Doe Network.  Very few details are available in his case. According to NamUs, John was 29 when he went missing, and his current age as of July 29, 2025 would be 77 years old. From this it can be gleaned that his date of birth was sometime between July 30, 1947 and February 13, 1948, inclusive.  It is unknown if his dentals, fingerprints, or DNA are available for comparison....

Winnefred Jeanette Freeman, 20, was last seen on Wednesday, May 8, 1968 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. She was seen getting into her car with a middle-aged, heavy-set man who has not been identified. Her car was a 1964 blue & white Chevrolet. Four days later, on Sunday, May 12, 1968, Winnefred's car was found abandoned in the city. Very few details are available in her disappearance. It is unknown if/when Winnefred was originally reported missing. On September 27, 1968, her parents — Mr and Mrs Isaac Harpole — published a $300 reward — $2,756.93 today — in  The Oregonian  for anyone with information concerning Winnefred or her possible abductor; informants were asked to notify the missing persons department of the Portland Police Bureau. At the time of her disappearance, Winnefred was 20 years old, 5'4, and 115 to 120 lbs. She is a Black female with black hair and brown eyes. It is unknown what she was wearing when she was last seen. 1965 Jefferson High S...

At the time of her disappearance, Kimberly Ann Stewart (nee Morgan), 21, was estranged from her husband, Steven Michael "Mike" Stewart, whom she married when she was 15 and he was a freshman in college. They had met while attending Lincoln High School together. Kimberly was last seen on Tuesday, May 24, 1977, in Sheridan, Placer County, CA. She left her home on Rioso Rd in Sheridan and dropped her two young daughters off with their babysitter, a family friend named Monica Wooden. Kimberly told Monica that she would be back to pick up her daughters later that evening. Photo from NamUs. Kim then left in her gray 1975 Chevy Vega hatchback to meet with her estranged husband Steven. The two had arranged to meet at a pizza parlor for dinner to discuss their impending divorce and/or for Steven to give Kimberly some money (sources vary). Witnesses at the pizza parlor in Wheatland, Yuba County, CA stated that the couple argued, then left soon after arriving. According to Kimberly'...