The Murder of Montrose Jane Doe, July 1971

On Sunday, July 11, 1971, the skeletal remains of a female were discovered 40 to 50 ft down an embankment from the north side of the Angeles Crest Highway, 0.25mi west of the Red Box Canyon Ranger Station in Montrose, LA County, CA. She was found on the ground about 40 ft north of what was possibly a shallow grave site in the Angeles National Forest.

Aerial photo of the general Red Box area in the Angeles National Forest from Google Maps.

Jane Doe's COD is unknown, though she is estimated to have died up to one year before being discovered. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. Due to the state of her remains, investigators were unable to determine some things about Jane Doe, including her race, weight, and eye color.

Jane Doe is estimated to have been 15 to 25 years old when she died. While NamUs states that Jane Doe was measured to be 5'3, NCMEC and the Doe Network list her height as 5'3-5'8. She had long, manicured fingernails. NamUs also lists Jane Doe's hair color as brown, while NCMEC and the Doe Network states that it was "multicolored" (brown, red, and black). Meanwhile, a police bulletin posted by LASD in 2007 stated that, "she had kinky hair that was either red, brown, or black."

Jane Doe's watch. Photo from NCMEC.

Jane Doe was wearing a light yellow skirt, though the aforementioned 2007 LASD bulletin describes it as "orange/yellow." Jane Doe was also wearing a white slip with lace trim, a white wool knit turtleneck sweater with short sleeves, a size 34A white bra, white socks, and a yellow metal 1957 Bulova brand ladies' watch, which had a yellow metal expansion band with a broken link and bore the serial number T556641. Photos of Jane Does' belongings are available in the provided sources. Doe Network notes that based on her clothing sizes, Jane Doe may have appeared tall and thin.

While Jane Doe's fingerprints and DNA are not available for comparison, her dentals are. She had a full set of teeth, with a slight gap between her top front teeth that "would have been noticeable to her family and friends." She also had torus palatinus, or a bony growth on her palate.

Jane Doe has no exclusions on her NamUs page, which was last updated on March 19, 2025. Anyone with information should contact Betsy Magdaleno of the LA County Medical Examiner's Office at (323) 343-0512 or IDUnit@me.lacounty.gov. The agency case number is 717384.

According to NCMEC, individuals can also contact the LA County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Any little piece of information counts. The NCMEC, NCIC, and NamUs case numbers are 1137966, U740004821, and #UP3002.

Location

Map of the likely location where Jane Doe was found in relation to the Angeles Crest Highway and the Red Box area. The Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center is located where the Forest Service Ranger Station at Red Box used to be. Location pinpointed by me, screenshotted from Google Maps.

As mentioned above, Jane Doe's remains were found 40 to 50 ft down an embankment, and about 40 ft north of what was possibly a shallow grave site, in the Angeles National Forest in Montrose, LA County, CA. The body was found 0.25mi west of the Red Box Canyon Ranger Station.

While some sources say that Jane Doe was found on the north side of the Angeles Crest Highway, a) the shape of the highway in this area makes it quite unclear which side of the road is the "north side," b) the part of the highway that is west of the Red Box Canyon Ranger Station is actually very sharply northwest, and c) I could not find an area on the side of the highway with an embankment that would be visible to passerby.

The point where I have placed this marker is a) more directly west of the site of the former Red Box Ranger Station than the highway is, b) on a slope/ravine/embankment, and c) visible to passersby from a hiking trail.

The now-closed US Forest Service Station at Red Box was located at Mile Marker 38.4 and/or "at mileage paddle 38.38" on the Angeles Crest Highway, at the corner of Mt Wilson Rd. Furthermore, I have found a source indicating that the present-day Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center was converted from the old fire station in the 1990s.

The ravine where Jane Doe was possibly found, with hiking trail on the right. Location pinpointed by me. Original photo taken by Joshua Schpok and uploaded to Google Street View, from which I obtained this screenshot.

Note: This write-up was originally posted on July 7, 2025. However, I regularly review cases and look for more information in case I somehow missed anything, and update the write-up according. This post was last updated on August 4, 2025.

Sources

Note: I could not find any contemporary newspaper reports regarding Jane Doe.

Sources used to pinpoint location from provided description

USDA Forest Service Ranger Stations & LA County Fire Camps

Digital Desert

Summit Post