The Death of Santa Monica Mountains Jane Doe, September 1978

On Sunday, September 3, 1978, a jogger discovered human remains while running in the Santa Monica Mountains in Calabasas Highlands in Calabasas, LA County, CA. The body was found down a hillside and covered with plastic trash bags. The remains were found within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which was established two months after the discovery of the body.

The unidentified person, who was determined to be a woman, was originally listed as being found in Thousand Oaks by NamUs, and is therefore often called Thousand Oaks Jane Doe 1978 online. However, Thousand Oaks is located in Ventura County, CA, but it has been known since the beginning that Jane Doe was actually found in Los Angeles County. In about 2019 her NamUs page was updated, with the location of her remains now being the community of Calabasas Highlands in Calabasas, LA County, CA. Her case is being investigated by the LA County Medical Examiner's Office (LACME).

All parts of the remains were recovered. The body was severely decomposed and not visually identifiable at the time of discovery. Jane Doe is believed to have died sometime in the same year that she was found. Her cause and manner of death is unknown. Personally, given the fact that Jane Doe's body had been covered in trash bags, it seems that, at the very least, another party was involved in the disposal of her remains, if not her death as well.

Jane Doe is a white female who measured in at 5'5 tall and 100 lbs. Her estimated age range was originally 35 to 50 years old, but has since been updated to be 25 to 40. According to LACME, Jane Doe is believed to be about 25 to 35 years old. The estimated age group on NamUs is simply "Adult." 

Jane Doe has brown hair, while the color of her eyes is unknown due to the condition of her remains. No tattoos were noted by LACME, however this may have also been a result of decomposition. A number of Jane Doe's teeth were missing postmortem: #s 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, and 29. There were no items, including seemingly clothing, found with the remains, with the exception of the trash bags covering the body.

Very little information is available in Jane Doe's case, and I could not find any contemporary news reports about the discovery of the body. Her dentals, fingerprints, and DNA are all available for comparison; despite this, there are no rule-outs present on her NamUs exclusion list. 

The NamUs, Doe Network, and NCIC case numbers are #UP4424, 1309UFCA, and U280018417, respectively. Furthermore, the former Hot Case Number on the Doe Network was 1424. Jane Doe's NamUs case was created on September 9, 2008, and last updated April 2, 2024.

Anyone with information regarding Jane Doe is urged to contact Investigator Betsy Magdaleno of LACME at (323) 343-0512 or IDUnit@me.lacounty.gov. The agency case number is 1978-10883. Any little piece of information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is appreciated, and may be the key to recovering Jane Doe's identity.

Sources

NamUs

LACME 

Websleuths 

Doe Network

Unidentified wiki