The Possible Homicide of Twentynine Palms Jane Doe, December 1970

At about 3:30pm on Monday, December 28, 1970, a hiker named Helmeth Mehden of Yucca Valley discovered a nearly complete skeleton in a mining area 22.7 mi east of the desert city of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, CA. The hiker reported the find to the local substation, and police recovered a skull, backbone, and leg bones of an unidentified person. The remains were sent to Wiefel's Mortuary. Authorities returned to the scene the following day once the sun had risen to make a more complete search of the area.

The bones were found about 2.0 to 2.5 mi south of 29 Palms Highway/Highway 52, along Old Ironage Rd. This area is near Old Dale, a ghost town/former mining area. Officials determined that the skeleton had likely been dragged by animals to the spot where it was found from its original burial place about 30 ft away. 

Location of Jane Doe's body off of Old Ironage Rd in relation to the original burial place about 30 ft away. Created by me using Google Maps.

On December 29, 1970, investigators found what they believed to be the grave site, and recovered bits of clothing, hair, and skin from the body. Detective Don Hardy of the Sheriff's homicide detail in San Bernardino said the woman was apparently dumped there in an excavation made by a bulldozer, and then dirt was thrown on top of the body; as NamUs puts it, "evidence suggests that she may have been buried." One or both of the arms and hands were not recovered.

A county pathologist determined that the remains were those of a white female who was about 5'2 or 5'3. While all modern sources state that Jane Doe was about 15 to 35 years old, a contemporary source estimated her to be between 20 and 35 years old after an autopsy. Jane Doe had long red/auburn hair with dark roots. Her weight and eye color could not be determined due to the condition of her remains. 

While none of the sources have stated the cause or manner of Jane Doe's death, her case is/was being investigated by homicide detectives. It is believed that she died some months before she was found. According to contemporary sources, the pathologist specified that Jane Doe had been deceased for no longer than six months, meaning that she is estimated to have died sometime in or after late June 1970. 

Jane Doe was designated "Jane Doe #05-70" by county officials. Her DNA and dental records are available for comparison, while her fingerprints are not. She reportedly had "very bad teeth." She also had a plastic partial upper dental plate "with 6 front upper teeth on the upper left side, skips a tooth and then another tooth." Teeth #s 5 and 12 were cracked, possibly postmortem.

Jane Doe's NamUs page, #UP2467, was created on August 26, 2008 and last updated October 8, 2019. Her Doe Network case file is 1057UFCA, formerly Hot Case 1222; because of this, some references may mistakenly refer to her as "1222UFCA," which is actually the DN case number of a different Jane Doe.

There are four MP exclusions on her NamUs page: she is definitely not Mary Corrine Amos or Cindy Lee Mellin. The remaining two exclusions on Jane Doe's NamUs profile are not properly linked to a NamUs page. One of them is Ann Bernice Duncan, who went missing in 1969; however, Ann's name was not entered properly in Jane Doe's exclusion list, so it doesn't link back to Ann's page. Furthermore, Jane Doe is not featured on Ann's exclusion list. However, they are almost certainly still rule-outs, as Mary Bell once said in a personal email, "Unfortunately, listing NamUs exclusions is not a high priority. We get exclusions all the time that never show up on the NamUs exclusion list."

The remaining rule-out on Jane Doe's list is for "Garee Gasperian." It is possible that this is intended to be Jacqueline Gasperian, who went missing in July 1970; however, Jacqueline is not known to have ever used the name Garee. Because of this, I submitted Jacqueline Gasperian as a potential match to the Doe Network, which replied that to their knowledge no comparison had been done between the two before, so DN's panel would take a look at it.

On June 13, 2025, I received confirmation from Mary Bell of the Doe Network that the match between Jane Doe and Jacqueline Gasperian had already been ruled out.

In total, Jane Doe has four exclusions. Anyone with information in Jane Doe's case is urged to contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's Coroner Division at (909) 387-2978. The agency case number is 37284. 

Note: Jane Doe was found three days after Christmas and three days before New Years. See the Holiday & Events Reference Page for an explanation as to why this is being mentioned. 

Sources

NamUs 

WebSleuths 

Doe Network 

Unidentified wiki 

San Bernardino County Sun 12/29/70, 12/31/70

The Desert Trail 12/30/70 

List of general CA cases, ZK Ciphers forum [#186, mistakenly listed as "1222UFCA"] 

Note: While this write-up was originally published on July 9, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, fix any typos or formatting errors, check for updates, hyperlink new posts, 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 December 11, 2025.