The Murder of Bruce Edward Erickson, Summer 1979

Note: While this write-up was originally published on June 20, 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 November 24, 2025.  

Background 

Bruce Erickson was born on September 27, 1950 in Minneapolis, MN to parents Edward and Gladys Erickson (nee Endreson). Edward was an immigrant from Sweden. Bruce had two sisters, one older by five years and the other younger by twelve. Their parents eventually divorced, and both remarried by 1967. Gladys moved to Palmyra, WI with her new husband and her youngest daughter.

Very little could be found about Bruce, including where he may have gone to school. It seems that he grew up in either Minneapolis or Montrose, Wright County, MN. It is unknown which parent he was living with at the time of their divorce and remarriages, beyond the fact that he was still living in MN in 1966. I could not find any information on where Bruce resided between when he presumably graduated from high school and the period shortly before his death.

Photo of Bruce Erickson available on the Daly City Cold Cases page.

The Case 

Sometime prior to spring 1979, Bruce, 28, moved to Berkeley, Alameda County, CA, where he lived for a short period of time. The Daly City Police Department's Cold Case page — the primary source of this write-up — describes Brian as a "drifter," and states that his last known residence was in Berkeley.

On Monday, August 13, 1979, Bruce was found dead in his white station wagon in the 500 block of King Drive in Daly City, San Mateo County, CA. He had been murdered "by blunt force object." 

Approximately one month before the discovery of his body — about mid-July 1979 — Bruce's wallet was found in a storm drain in a neighborhood of South San Francisco, San Mateo County, CA. A more specific description of the area where the wallet was found has not been provided by any sources, which have also not indicated whether anything was missing from the wallet.

According to DCPD, Bruce's body had been in his vehicle for several weeks before he was discovered, indicating that he seems to have died sometime in about June or July 1979. The date of death in the California Death Index is Aug. 13, 1979, the day his body was discovered.

Very little information is available in this case, and I could not find any newspaper clippings on it beyond Bruce's obituary. Furthermore, his first name was originally listed as "Brian" on the DCPD Cold Case page; this error was corrected after I contacted DCPD about it over email in November 2025.

Anyone who thinks they may have any information related to Bruce's murder is urged to please email Lt. Harold Rolfes at hrolfes@dalycity.org, call DCPD at (650) 991-8169, or use their Citizen's Online Police Reporting System available here. Any little piece of information counts.

Sources

DCPD Unsolved Crimes

Minneapolis Star obituary 8/20/79 

FindAGrave   [Note: I am the creator and manager of this memorial.]

WebSleuths   [Note: I am the creator of this WS thread.] 

My Reddit post  [Note: This post consists of the original version of the write-up above.] 

Lt. Harold Rolfes, DCPD, personal communication