The Murder of Malibu John Doe, January 1977

On Saturday, January 15, 1977, three 17-year-old boys — Steven Lawton, of Canoga Park, and Bill Power and Nicholas Schmeets, both of Reseda — were, "coming home from the beach when their car overheated, [so] they stopped to let the engine cool down" near Seminole Hot Springs in either Agoura or Malibu, LA County, CA (sources vary). While waiting for the engine to cool, the three teens hiked around the area where they had stopped, 0.5mi south of Triunfo Canyon Rd and 2mi west of the Ventura Freeway. While hiking they discovered the body of a young man "in some bushes on a hillside" about 50 yds off of Kanan Rd. Lawton, Power, and Schmeets promptly notified authorities, and LA County sheriff's deputies responded to the scene. 

At the time of discovery, the remains were partially skeletonized, with some soft tissues remaining: A preliminary report from the coroner's office noted that the body was "'not so much decomposed as eaten,'" and "guessed that coyotes had gotten at the body."

John Doe was the victim of a homicide, having suffered blunt force trauma to the head. He is estimated to have died about six days before discovery, which puts his date of death at about Sunday, January 9, 1977. One contemporary news report, however, indicated that, "the body could have been down there since Jan. 1 [1977]."

John Doe was a white male whose age estimate varies across sources: he could have been 17 to 20 years old, "about 25 years old," or 17 to 30 years old. A contemporary report noted that it's possible John Doe may have been Latino. He is variously described as being approximately 5'4 to 5'8, "about 5'7," measuring in at 5'6, or being 5'8 tall. His weight during life is unknown, though his decomposed remains weighed only 43 lbs when he was found. He had brown hair, while his eye color is unknown. He was wearing green socks as well as a tan Levi corduroy shirt, size small. A photo of a cloth fragment of the shirt is available on NamUs and the Doe Network alongside a sketched reconstruction.

Sketches of John Doe provided by LASD. Photo from NamUs.

Malibu John Doe's dental records and DNA are available for comparison, though his fingerprints are not. Concerning his dentals, Doe Network states, "3 0 plus 0,10 developmental defects, 14 pin." John Doe has only one exclusion on NamUs: he is not Daniel Hoffer. 

There is little information about John Doe available. His NamUs page was created on September 10, 2008 and last updated June 5, 2026, the first time since October 12, 2022. His NCIC and NamUs case numbers are U770520657 and #UP4445, respectively. His Doe Network number is 1598UMCA, former Hot Case number 922. According to NamUs, his NCMEC number is 1184191, however he is not present in NCMEC's database.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Investigator Betsy Magdaleno of the LA County Medical Examiner's Office at (323) 343-0512 or IDUnit@me.lacounty.gov. The agency case number is 1977-00694. According to the Doe Network, individuals may also contact the LA County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

Sources

NamUs 

LACME 

WebSleuths 

Doe Network 

Unidentified wiki 

Thousand Oaks Star 1/17/77 and 2/4/77

Note: While this write-up was originally published on July 8, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, fix any typos or formatting errors, check for updates, ensure that I have exhausted all sources, etc. When edits are extensive, I re-post the write-up entirely. This post was last updated on Aug. 2, 2026.