The Possible Homicide of San Diego Jane Doe, September 1977
On Saturday, September 17, 1977, two employees of the Pickwick Hotel in San Diego, San Diego County, CA noticed a peculiar smell after parking in the hotel's basement parking lot. They reported it to hotel officials, who stated that the foul odor was coming from a vent in the garage.
After noticing the foul odor again the following day — Sunday, September 18, 1977 — the two employees — a bellman and his brother — decided to investigate it themselves. They pinpointed the smell as coming from the area of a van that was parked in a remote spot of the basement garage. Upon looking into the van shortly after noon, the two brothers discovered a decomposing body partially covered by bedding in the back of the vehicle. They promptly notified the night manager, who then reported the discovery to the police.
[Note: the Sept. 19, 1977 edition of the San Diego Union specifically states that Jane Doe was discovered by the brothers "shortly after noon" on the 18th. That same clipping does not mention the brothers having smelled the foul odor the previous day; that information is from the Sept. 21, 1977 edition of the same paper, which also specifies that the brothers reported the find to the hotel's night manager on the 18th. It is unclear which one of these timings is accurate: it's possible that the brothers discovered the body shortly after noon, but didn't notify anyone until the night manager was on duty, or one of the two editions of the paper got the timing wrong.]
The Pickwick Hotel — which was later renamed the Sofia Hotel — was located at 134 W Broadway in downtown San Diego. The seven-floor hotel was owned by Greyhound and had a bus depot on its first floor. At the time of the discovery, doors to the hotel's basement garage were closed every night from 10pm to 6am.
The inside of the van had been paneled. Food and bedding were also found inside, leading investigators to believe that someone may have been living inside the vehicle, which had Alabama license plates.
According to WebSleuths, when Jane Doe's case was added to NamUs in December 2019, it was stated that the van she was found in was blue in color, and its 1976 Alabama license plate was number 1P2503. The same source also noted that, "There w[ere] no signs of struggle in the van."
The van had reportedly been parked in the basement garage for some time: one paper reported "nearly a year," while an earlier clipping stated "approximately two years." Hotel officials were reportedly "unable to provide police with the name of the owner" of the van.
The body was determined to be that of a young woman or teenager. She was found lying on her back on a mattress in the rear portion of the van. The first mention of Jane Doe in the San Diego Union, from the day after she was found, reported that, "the body appeared to have been in the van for at least two weeks." In the September 21st edition of the same newspaper, Homicide Lt. Charles Schilder is quoted as saying that, "the woman may have been dead for five days to a week."
Meanwhile, NamUs does not provide an estimated PMI, though her estimated year of death is 1977. The Doe Network lists the estimated PMI as several weeks. Jane Doe's body was partially decomposed at the time of recovery, causing her face to be unrecognizable, yet features like eye color could still be made out.
The body was that of a white female who was measured to be 5'4 and 114 lbs. She had hazel eyes, and she was missing a front tooth. NamUs — as well as the Doe Network and Unidentified wiki, which use NamUs as a source — states that Jane Doe's hair color was brown, while the Sept. 21, 1977 edition of the San Diego Union indicates that she was blonde.
Sources differ regarding Jane Doe's age. The broadest age range is the one provided by NamUs, at an estimated 13 to 20 years old. The estimated age group provided by the same source is "Adult - Pre 30," which seems a bit incongruent with the aforementioned estimated age range to me, but I digress. The age range listed by the Doe Network and Unidentified wiki is 18 to 22 years old; this is also the range initially listed when Jane Doe's case was added to NamUs, according to WebSleuths. The Sept. 21, 1977 edition of the San Diego Union, meanwhile, indicates that Jane Doe was 18 to 20 years old.
Jane Doe was found wearing a blue tank top, "bikini-type" underpants, and blue Levi-type slacks. She was also wearing a "fine linked chain yellow metallic necklace with large bead-like links." It was noted that Jane Doe was not wearing a bra, and it seems that one wasn't found in the vehicle either. On the floor of the van, next to its right-side double doors, lay a torn, green, plaid shirt. A pair of rubber thongs — flip flops — were also found inside the van.
A green plaid rag was around Jane Doe's neck, knotted on the left side. Based off of the provided descriptions, it seems that the rag was a piece torn from the shirt found on the floor of the van.
Because of the rag found around Jane Doe's neck, investigators initially believed that she had been garroted. However, this belief was called into question after an autopsy was performed on about September 20th. As stated by the Sept. 21st edition of the San Diego Union, "According to Coroner Robert Creason, 'The usual findings for strangulation death were not found during an autopsy,'" indicating that she "may not have died of strangulation as previously thought."
In the same newspaper article the coroner goes on to say that, "further toxicological and microscopic slides have been ordered." From what I could find online, the findings of these tests have never been released to the public. Jane Doe's cause of death is categorized as unknown on the Doe Network. It seems that the manner of Jane Doe's death is also unknown, though by at least September 21, 1977 the case was still being handled by homicide investigators.
Detective Lori Adams is listed as the case contributor and contact point for the San Diego PD in the Contacts section of Jane Doe's NamUs profile. Among other achievements, Adams was a Detective for the SDPD's Cold Case Homicides Unit for at least ten years until she seems to have retired in January 2025. Lori has worked on cases such as that of Arminda Ribeiro, who was murdered and went unidentified from 1973 to late 2023.
Because of Detective Adams's involvement in the case, it seems to me that Jane Doe's death is still considered a homicide.
According to the Doe Network, Jane Doe's dental records are available for comparison, while the status of her fingerprints and DNA is unknown. It should be noted that in the Sept. 21, 1977 edition of the San Diego Union stated that, "The coroner's office said a fingerprint check will be made to determine to determine the identity." It is unknown if these fingerprint records are still available.
Jane Doe has only one MP exclusion on NamUs: she is not Julie Soracco.
If you have any information about Jane Doe, please call the San Diego PD at (619) 531-2000. The agency case number is 77-64827. You can also call the San Diego County ME's Office at (858) 694-2895, agency case number 77-02034. Any little piece of information helps.
Jane Doe's NamUs profile is case number UP62410, and was created and last updated on December 11, 2019 and April 18, 2025, respectively. The NCMEC case number is 1198398; however, I could not find a NCMEC profile for Jane Doe.
Sources
San Diego Union 9/19/77 [From Images & Documents section of NamUs]
San Diego Union 9/21/77
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