The Disappearance of Debra Theresa Pscholka, June 1971

Debra Pscholka was born on November 7, 1958 to parents George and Sharon Pscholka (nee Hampton) in San Diego County, CA. According to NamUs, she used the nickname Debbie. She was the oldest of five siblings.

Sometime between 1969 and 1971 Debbie's family moved from LA County to Corona, Riverside County, CA. By 1973, the Pscholka family resided at 19076 Quebec Ave in Corona. According to WebSleuths user glosski, who claims to be one of Debbie’s maternal cousins, at the time of her disappearance Debbie’s family’s home “was located near the library on a fairly major street next door to what used to be a pretty well known mortuary.”

Photo from NamUs.

On Saturday, June 5, 1971, Debbie, who was 12 years old at the time, went to a movie theater with friends on 6th St in Corona. The staff caught her smoking and asked her to leave. Debbie told her friends that she was going to the local park. Which park Debbie intended to go to has not been specified in any of the sources that I could find. She was last seen at about 8:25pm, leaving the movie theater. She has never been seen or heard from again.

Foul play is suspected in Debbie’s case. She has no history of running away, and is classified as Endangered Missing.

The movie theater that Debbie was last seen at was the Corona Theatre at either 201 or 211 E 6th St, which was turned into a church in 1982. It was reportedly the only theater in town. According to users on WebSleuths, the owner of the theater later committed suicide at some point. It is unknown if (/unlikely to be) related to Debra’s disappearance.

Debbie’s siblings had her declared dead on September 28, 2017. Her parents, Sharon and George, passed away in 1990 and 2002, respectively, and her younger brother Michael passed away in 2016. Debbie’s remaining siblings are still looking for her.

Debbie was wearing blue Levi jeans and a green & yellow striped blouse when she went missing, as well as white sneakers and a leather choker. At the time of her disappearance, she was a 12-year-old, 5’6 white female weighing 125 lbs, with brown hair and brown eyes. A photo from around the time she went missing, as well as an age progression to 52 years old (c. 2010-1) created by NCMEC, is available.

Progression to age 52 (c. 2010-2011). Photo from NamUs.

The status of Debbie’s fingerprints is unknown, but her DNA and dentals — including dental x-rays — are available for comparison. While NamUs states that there are 30 UID exclusions total, one of these is a repeat, so there are in fact only 29 unique exclusions: one each from CO, WA, NV, CT, IL, and FL, two each from OH and OR, eight from CA, and nine from VA.  

The UIDs listed in Debbie's exclusions include Newhall Jane Doe 1980 and Corona Jane Doe 1981, as well as four UIDs who have since been identified as Marion McWhorter, Anne Lehman, Mary Silvani, and Arminda Ribeiro.

In the Contacts section of Debbie's NamUs page, October 1, 1993 is listed under "Date Reported"; it seems that the original missing persons report was purged at some point, and another one was then created in 1993. Her NamUs page, #MP4554, was created on January 6, 2010 and last updated July 28, 2025. Her Charley Project page was last updated on February 5, 2011. Her Doe Network page was created prior to 2011 — likely in 2006 or earlier, based off of her WebSleuths thread — and was last updated on May 18, 2022.

Debbie’s disappearance has been brought up in a Zodiac forum before, which is how I found out about her case. In her WebSleuths thread, users have drawn comparisons to the unsolved murders of Elizabeth Ernstein, Dana Lull, and Cheri Jo Bates, as well as the now-solved disappearance of Cynthia May Hernandez from a movie theater.

Anyone with information regarding Debbie’s disappearance should contact Detective John Garcia of the Corona Police Department at (951) 736-2330, or at police@ci.corona.ca.us. The agency case number is 71-4492.

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.

Sources

CA DOJ 

NamUs 

WebSleuths 

FindAGrave 

Doe Network

Charley Project  

The Corona Daily Independent 6/17/71 

International Missing Persons wiki 

Information on the Corona Theatre 

Corona Theatre Projectionist blog, archived

ZK Ciphers forum + mention 

List of CA cases, ZK Ciphers forum 

City of Corona Parks & Facilities

r/ZodiacKiller Reddit mention  

Note: While this write-up was originally published on July 4, 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., 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 October 26, 2025.