The Murder of Corona Jane Doe, December 1981

Sketch of Jane Doe. Photo from NamUs.

On Friday, December 18, 1981, the nude, decomposing body of a white female was found in a shallow grave in a rural area near the McKinley offramp of the State Road 91 freeway in the city of Corona, Riverside County, CA. Jane Doe had been deceased for about one month, and it is believed that she may have died elsewhere. While her COD has not been reported, her case is being handled as a homicide by the Corona Police Department and the Riverside County Sheriff's Office (RCSO)'s Coroner Bureau. While NamUs states that her remains were not recognizable due to decomposition, a reconstruction of her is available.

Jane Doe was found wrapped in a gold-colored bedspread/blanket. There were no shoes, clothing, or jewelry found on or near Jane Doe other than the bedspread that she was wrapped in.

Jane Doe was a 17 to 21 year old white female who was 5'8 tall and estimated to have weighed 133 lbs. She had blonde hair with red tints that she wore above her shoulders, approximately four to either six or eight inches in length. Her eye color is unknown. Both of her ears were pierced.

Convicted serial killer Henry Lee Lucas has taken credit for Jane Doe's death; he stated that he picked her up at a bus stop in Riverside and took her to Corona, where he strangled and buried her. However, Lucas is known for having made many false confessions while in prison, and gave as many as 3,000 statements now presumed to be untruthful.

While NamUs states that she has 17 MP exclusions, three of these are in fact repeats. Six of the remaining exclusions are definitive, i.e., their NamUs pages are properly linked in Jane Doe's exclusion list: these are Carol Lubahn, Debra Pscholka, Dena McHan, Judith Odonnell, Kimberly Kahler, and Yvonne Regler.

The remaining missing women and girls on Jane Doe's exclusion list — eight, to be exact — do not have JD listed among the rule-outs on their own pages. These are Tracy Stewart, Gail Dahl, Janel Peters, Rebecca Dunn, Ann Narus, Janice Fullam, Lisa Borden, and Kristy Booth.

However, they are almost certainly 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." 

Jane Doe has fourteen known exclusions total. Her DNA, dentals, and fingerprints are all available for comparison. The Doe Network case number is 711UFCA. Her NamUs case, #UP7138, was created on May 12, 2010 and last updated on January 29, 2026, the first time in ten months. 

Anyone with information regarding Jane Doe or her death is urged to contact Sgt. Jesse Jurado of the Corona Police Department at (951) 736-2330. The agency case number is K181352029. Tipsters may also contact Coroner Sergeant Nancy Rissi of the RCSO's Coroner Bureau at (951) 443-2300 or by emailing CoronerUnidentified@riversidesheriff.org. The RCSO case number is 81-48239.

Note: Jane Doe was found three days before the winter solstice. See the Holiday & Events Reference Page for an explanation as to why this is being mentioned. 

Sources 

RCSO 

NamUs

WebSleuths 

Doe Network 

Unidentified wiki 

1986 Lucas Report, pg 208 of pdf

The Daily Times-Advocate 9/7/84, also available here

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, 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.