Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

Martin Burleson was born on October 9, 1950 in Sacramento County, CA to parents Edward Lee and Geraldine "Gerrie" Burleson (nee Khan). His mother, Gerrie, is half Indian — possibly specifically half Punjabi — through her father; on census records, she is listed as East Indian.  Martin seems to have been either the oldest or second oldest Burleson child, though this is uncertain due to not being able to find birth records for his (possibly older) sister Linda. He had eight siblings total, who — other than Linda — ranged between three and fifteen years younger than Martin. Among family he went by the nickname Marty. It seems that all of the children, including Martin, attended Rio Linda High School.  From what I could find, the Burleson family lived variously in Carmichael, Elverta, and Del Paso Heights (a neighborhood of Sacramento), all in Sacramento County, as well as eventually Live Oak, Sutter County, CA, up to at least 1978 as well as in the 90s. In 1968 and 1978  — t...

1970 graduation photo. Accessed from NamUs. On Friday, April 16, 1971, Michael Pickering, 20, told his family that he was hitchhiking to San Francisco, and that he would return in a few days. However, he never returned to his home in Victorville, San Bernardino County, CA. He has never been seen or heard from again. Few details are available in his case. Michael is a white male who also goes by the nickname "Zappa." At the time of his disappearance he was 6'0 to 6'1 and 130 to 140 lbs. He has blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair, which appears in photos to be wavy to curly in texture. His right ear is reportedly deformed. It is unknown what he was wearing when he was last seen. A photo of Michael as a child. Accessed from NamUs. Michael is classified on the Doe Network as Endangered Missing. His date of birth is December 14, 1950. If alive today he would be 74 years old. He seems to have graduated from high school in 1970. Michael's DNA is available for comparison...

On Saturday, October 4, 1975, the body of an unidentified man was discovered in the All-American Canal in Mecca, Riverside County, CA. He had been killed from a blow to the head before a rope connected to a piece of iron (used as a weight) was tied around his neck; his body was then placed in the canal. It is believed that he died three to seven days before he was found, meaning his estimated DOD is somewhere between Saturday, September 27th and Wednesday, October 1, 1975, inclusive. The canal is controlled with a series of gates, and the distance to the last gate was about 8mi into the rural community of Mecca. The body was found face-down in the canal at the last gate. While all parts were recovered, his remains were not recognizable due to decomposition. John Doe was an 18-25 year old white and/or Hispanic male. He had straight, medium-length dark brown hair, with no facial hair. His eye color is unknown. John Doe was measured as being 6'0 and about 185 lbs. He was wearing blue ...

Note: While this write-up was originally published on August 18, 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. When edits are extensive, I re-post the write-up. This post was last updated, even in a minor way, on October 14, 2025.     At about 11:00am on Monday, February 18, 1980, three tourists from Canada stopped at a mountain viewpoint on Highway 74 about four to six miles south of Palm Desert, Riverside County, CA. As the tourists peered over a guardrail, they spotted a body either at the bottom of a 20-30 ft gully, or about 35 ft down a ravine near a turn-out in the highway. The body was determined to be that of a young woman. All parts were recovered, and Jane Doe's face was recognizable. It is believed that she had died only one or two days before discovery, putting her death at about Saturday or Sunday, February 16 or 17, 1980. NamUs erroneously states tha...

Note: While this write-up was originally posted in June 2025, then again on July 17, 2025, I often revisit cases, receive updates from contacts, and/or find new sources, and then edit and re-post my write-ups accordingly. This write-up was last edited on September 27, 2025.   Rosa Linda Zuniga was born on January 22, 1953 in San Antonio, TX, the oldest of four children born to parents Leonardo Cortez Zuniga and Maria Yrenia "Irene" Cantu. Her first name(s) may have been Rosalinda or Rosalind; I am using the most common version I could find, which was also used in the TX birth index on Ancestry. According to Rosa Linda's friend Ellen, she may have also gone by the nickname Rosie. Both sides of the Mexican-American family had deep roots in Texas, spanning all the way back to when the land was still a part of the Republic of Mexico. By 1959, the Zuniga family moved to Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, CA. The parents split up sometime afterward, with Leonardo moving to Ohio an...

Steven Ericson was born on April 3, 1954 in Los Angeles County, CA. His mother's maiden name is Roeder. Very little could be found about him or his family. 1972 Woodrow Wilson High School senior yearbook photo. Steven attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, LA County, CA starting in at least 1970; he graduated in 1972. The high school yearbook lists him as "Steve Ericson." His junior and senior yearbook photos are available on this post, as well as on sites below; they were originally sourced from Ancestry.   Steven was last seen on Thursday, June 1, 1972 in Grass Valley, Nevada County, CA. It is unclear why he was in Northern California, as he was from Long Beach.  Very few details are available in Steven's case. He is listed among deceased alumni on his high school class's website, linked below. He is classified as Endangered Missing on the Doe Network, while the Charley Project simply lists him as Missing. Steven is a white male with blonde hair and ...

At roughly 4:45pm on Sunday, October 8, 1978, a man from Boron, Kern County, CA was searching in the high desert two miles west of Kramer Junction, San Bernardino County, CA — located at the intersection of Highways 58 and 395 — for a part of his camper that he had lost earlier in the day when he discovered human remains half-buried in sand.  The man first notified Kern County authorities, who then reported the discovery to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department shortly before 5:00pm, as the corpse was found about 2.5 mi east of the Kern County line. The specific location was 0.75 mi south of State Highway 58, and about twenty miles from the incorporated community of Hinkley; because of this, the body, that of a male, became known as Hinkley John Doe 1978. The sheriff's department also designated him "John Doe #14-78." According to one newspaper source, "Detective Rod Conder from the Barstow [sheriff's] office was assigned, and with homicide investiga...

On Sunday, August 27, 1972, two hikers discovered human remains near a foot trail on the top of a hill in a forest area just inside unincorporated Jefferson County, CO. The skeleton was found on Forest Road 554, off Highway 285, about one mile east of the line between Park and Jefferson Counties. The site is near the Miller Gulch Trailhead, inside the Pike-San Isabel National Forest. The discovery was made southeast of Bailey, Park County, CO, which is the closest large community to the exact location.  The hikers promptly reported their discovery to the Park County Sheriff's Office; officers from that jurisdiction then notified authorities in Jefferson County. Responders to the scene named by the press were a Lieutenant Perkins, Investigator Piper, and Officer Robbins of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO), as well as Dr. John Hunt of the Coroner's Office. Captain Denny Boeka of the JCSO later responded to questions from the press.  At the scene the investigator...

Kenneth Byram, 24, was last seen in Los Angeles, LA County, CA in 1979, possibly in November. Because the exact date of his disappearance is unknown, November 1, 1979 is used as a placeholder by all sources. Very little information is available in his case. Kenneth is a white male with green eyes and blond/strawberry hair. At the time of his disappearance he was 24 years old, 6'2, and 150 lbs. If alive today he would be 70 years old. Based on the aforementioned ages, Kenneth's date of birth may have been between November 2, 1954 and September 11, 1955.  There are very, very few details available regarding Kenneth's disappearance. The only source really is NamUs; all other references to him online cite NamUs as the source of all of its information. Based on the agency case number, it is likely/possible that Kenneth wasn't reported missing until sometime in 1983.  While nineteen UIDs are listed in the exclusion section of Kenneth's NamUs page, one of these is in fact ...

At 1:00pm on Saturday, January 26, 1980, a hiker found the remains of two decedents in a riverbed/wash south of Valencia Sewage Treatment Plant, north of Magic Mountain Parkway and west of the Old Road in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, LA County, CA. One of the decedents, who I will be calling Younger Doe, was estimated to be 17-24 years old, while the other, who I will be calling Older Doe, was estimated to be 17-35 years old; while these two decedents may have been the same or similar ages, I am giving these nicknames in order to easily distinguish between the two of them. Reconstruction of Younger Doe, from NamUs. Younger Doe was determined to have died by homicide by gunshot wound. While not explicitly stated, it is implied that this is also how Older Doe died as well; Older Doe's case is also being investigated as a homicide. Younger Doe's estimated PMI is months prior, though less than two years, and both of the Does' estimated DODs are 1978-1980. Younger...

On Wednesday, January 31, 1979, a deceased young man was found lying on the ground at Gompers Park in San Diego, San Diego County, CA. The decedent is unidentified, and is known as John Doe. He had died recently that same year, and his face was recognizable at time of discovery, though a more specific postmortem interval (PMI) has not been released. The cause of death is not stated in any sources. Gompers Park — officially Gompers Neighborhood Park — covers an area of 4.7 acres, and has a capacity of 250 people. It is located at 4926 Hilltop Drive in the Grantville neighborhood of San Diego, and is managed by the city. John Doe was a white male who measured in at 5'10 and 164 lbs. His age group and range on NamUs are listed as "Adult - Pre 30" and 18 to 25 years old, respectively. He had brown hair and hazel eyes. A black-and-white photo of John Doe's face is available on NamUs. John Doe was wearing the following clothing items: a white sock on his left foot; black un...

Patricia Tigard was born in Sacramento, CA on February 15, 1958 to parents Mary Eleanor Bergman (nee Canon) and Beverley Finley Tigard. It was both of the parents' second marriages. Eleanor (who went by her middle name) and Beverley separated by 1961, when Patricia was three years old; that same year Beverley married a woman named Virginia Pirrone/Garcia. He also possibly remarried in 1968, then yet again to a woman named Bertie Frye in 1975. In October 1970 Patricia's mother Eleanor died in a car crash in Medford, Jackson County, OR. After her mother's death, Patricia, 12, moved in with her maternal grandfather, William Canon, in Klamath, Del Norte County, CA. Patricia, who also went by the name Patti, eventually attended Del Norte High School in Crescent City, Del Norte County before reportedly transferring to the American Legion High School in Sacramento in 1975. She seems to have eventually returned to Del Norte County. On May 1, 1976, Patti gave birth to ...