The Murder of Coachella John Doe, March 1980

On Sunday, March 16, 1980, the decomposed body of a man was located on the shoulder of Avenue 50 between Polk & Tyler St.s in Coachella, Riverside County, CA. He had multiple gunshot wounds, and had been dead for one to two days, putting his death somewhere between March 14th to 15th, 1980. He was fully dressed, but did not have any identification or personal belongings on him. His page on the Riverside County Sheriff's cold case website specifies that, "It is unknown where death occurred," indicating that he had been killed elsewhere before being dumped at the location where he was found.

John Doe was a white man with possible Hispanic ancestry who stood 5'9 tall and weighed 160 lbs. While NamUs and Doe Network put his possible age range at 20 to 30 years old, The Desert Sun and the Riverside County Sheriff's Office (RCSO) puts him at 20 to 25 years old. John Doe had light to medium brown hair, medium in length, as well as hazel eyes, a reddish-brown mustache, and a thin reddish-brown goatee. No scars, tattoos, or disfigurements were found. John Doe was wearing brown pants of an unknown type or size, as well as an orange t-shirt with the words "Indescribably Delicious" printed on the front. No shoes or socks were found.

John Doe's fingerprints and dental records are available for comparison. According to the RCSO page, "Numerous attempts to identify him by his fingerprints and missing person listings have not been successful." John Doe has two MP exclusions: he is not Donald Ewalt or Kenneth Welch.

John Doe's NamUs page, case #UP7201, was created on May 19, 2010, then last updated first on Sept. 9, 2025, then again on Dec. 29, 2025. The Doe Network case number is 3099UMCA, and was formerly Hot Case Number 1283. 

Anyone with information about John Doe is urged to contact the RCSO's Coroner Bureau at (951) 443-2300 or CoronerUnidentified@riversidesheriff.org. The agency case number is #1980-44518. Furthermore, the RCSO Cold Case Unit has a homicide tip line form, which can be filled out here. Any little piece of information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is appreciated, and may be the key to recovering John Doe's identity and solving his murder.

Sources

RCSO 

NamUs 

WebSleuths 

Doe Network 

Unidentified wiki 

The Desert Sun, Dec. 9, 1980 

Note: While this write-up was originally published on July 11, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, 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 February 19, 2026