Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

Ernest Glenn Beight was born on February 10, 1940 in Mahoning County, Ohio. He was living in Arizona by 1965. He married his second wife, Eloise, on July 17, 1968 in Imperial County, California. Together they had one daughter. Ernest worked for American Linen Co at the time of his death. He and his wife lived at 2206 E 14th Place in Yuma, Yuma County, AZ. Ernest, 28, was in California for an unstated reason on Saturday, December 14, 1968. One of his sisters lived in Napa at the time; it is possible that he had been visiting her, though this is just speculation on my part. At about 12:30am on Sunday, December 15, 1968, Ernest asked a service station attendant in Los Angeles, LA County, CA for directions to Yuma, AZ. Police believe he had been hitchhiking at the time. Approximately fifteen minutes later, at 12:45am, Ernest's body was found on the side of the southbound lane of the Harbor Freeway near the Slauson Ave on-ramp in Los Angeles. He had been shot in the abdomen and/or chest...

Constance Marie Paris, who also went by the nickname Connie, was an 18-year-old senior at Englewood High School in Englewood, Arapahoe County, CO. She lived with her parents, James and Marylou Paris, and her two younger brothers, Chris, 15, and Jeff, 11. Her father, James, was a postal worker. The Paris family lived at 3965 S Lincoln St. Disappearance  Connie was last seen by her family at about 5:30pm on Tuesday, March 26, 1968 when she left home to work on a research paper for school at the downtown Denver Public Library, as its resources were more abundant than those at the Englewood Public Library. It was reported that Connie went to the DPL's Central Library at W 14th Ave and Broadway. Connie finished working and packed up to leave at about 9:00pm, then rode on her usual 9:30pm bus home. She was seen getting off the bus — operated by Denver Tramway — by both its driver and three other passengers. She got off at her usual stop at the corner of S Broadway and E Girard Ave, ...

Jack James Kroecker Jr. was born on May 1, 1945, and grew up in Parma, OH. His father, Jack James Kroecker Sr, was the vice president of Permold Inc, an aluminum foundry in Medina, OH.  In 1963 Jack graduated from Parma High School, where he was a district wrestling champion. He then completed three years as a mathematics major at the University of Dayton before being drafted into the US Army in May 1968.  He graduated first in his class at Army Finance School at Ft Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, IN and took basic training at Fort Knox, KY. At the time of his death he was working in the finance section of Fort Carson in Colorado.  Photo from FindAGrave. Jack, 23, spent Christmas Eve 1968 celebrating the holiday with a fellow soldier in downtown Colorado Springs, El Paso County, CO. They had driven there from Ft Carson in the friend's car. Jack was wearing civilian clothes.  At about midnight on Wednesday, December 25, 1968, Jack returned to his friend's car and l...

On Friday, December 20, 1968, David, 17, drove his mother's station wagon to Betty Lou's, 16, house at 8:00pm. They left in the car at 8:30pm for the house of one of Jensen's friends. Sometime after 9:00pm they then drove to the outskirts of Vallejo, Solano County, CA and parked at a gravel parking area — a lovers' lane — along remote Lake Herman Rd. This is near/at the entrance to the city of Benicia, Solano County. A passing motorist noticed the couple between 10:15-10:30pm, parked on the side of Lake Herman Rd, on a gravel runoff near the gate to a Benicia water pumping station. They were spotted again at 11:00pm. David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen. Photo from Wikipedia. Sometime between 11:05 and 11:10pm, an unknown assailant pulled his car up next to David's, about 10 ft away from the passenger's side of the vehicle. The unidentified man left his vehicle and approached the couple's car, firing several shots inside. The bullets hit various parts of the c...

Winnefred Jeanette Freeman, 20, was last seen on Wednesday, May 8, 1968 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. She was seen getting into her car with a middle-aged, heavy-set man who has not been identified. Her car was a 1964 blue & white Chevrolet. Four days later, on Sunday, May 12, 1968, Winnefred's car was found abandoned in the city. Very few details are available in her disappearance. It is unknown if/when Winnefred was originally reported missing. On September 27, 1968, her parents — Mr and Mrs Isaac Harpole — published a $300 reward — $2,756.93 today — in  The Oregonian  for anyone with information concerning Winnefred or her possible abductor; informants were asked to notify the missing persons department of the Portland Police Bureau. At the time of her disappearance, Winnefred was 20 years old, 5'4, and 115 to 120 lbs. She is a Black female with black hair and brown eyes. It is unknown what she was wearing when she was last seen. 1965 Jefferson High S...

On the night of Sunday, September 8, 1968, a fire erupted at the home of the Walker family at 1042 Panadero Way/Court in Clayton, Contra Costa County, CA. The parents, Richard and Jean, were at a hospital fundraising event at the time. A neighbor, James Hanson, noticed the fire when his dog began to bark at the sparks; he called the fire department. Earlier that evening, the son of a neighbor, a Contra Costa County municipal court judge, had been visiting to play with the children, though he left after dinner. Another neighbor, Dale Ross, rushed to the scene, where he saw two of the children, Carolyn, 6, and Carlton, 9, banging on a window. Ross broke the window and pulled the children out of the house. However, Carlton stated that he needed to go rescue his 6mo baby sister, so Carlton ran back into the house. Ross was unable to follow after him due to the intense heat. Neighbors reported hearing numerous small explosions during the fire, followed by a final "big blast." Flam...

Linda Garrison, 19, was last seen on Tuesday, November 19, 1968 in Sumner, Pierce County, WA. She is not missing from tribal land. According to clippings posted to WebSleuths, Linda left home after a horse ride and hasn't been seen since. As of three weeks after the last sighting of her, her German shepherd, named "Checko," had apparently refused to eat since Linda's disappearance. One month before her disappearance, Linda — who was 18 years old and living at 1522 Fryar Ave in Sumner at the time — was, "rushed to Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup [on] Thursday [October 10, 1968] for treatment of back injuries sustained when she fell to the pavement from a horse." Linda is a white female with blond/strawberry hair and blue eyes. She was 5'1 and 125 lbs at the time of her disappearance. One newspaper clipping spelled her middle name as "Marie" rather than "Mary."  According to the Washington State Missing Persons Database, Linda does ...

Marina Elizabeth Habe was born on February 23, 1951 in Germany to writer Hans Habe and actress Eloise Hardt. She graduated from University High School in West LA in June 1968, and at the time of her death she was attending the University of Hawaii and was home for the Christmas holidays. Marina's parents were divorced at the time, and her mother Eloise had reportedly remarried. Her father Hans lived in Zurich, Switzerland. Marina was 5'3 and 113 lbs, with blue eyes and black hair. Marina was described by friends as "very quiet," and was planning on becoming an artist. Marina Habe. Photo from FindAGrave. At about 4:30pm on Sunday, December 29, 1968, 17-year-old Marina left the home she shared with her mother to meet with her date, John Hornburg, 22, at his family's house at 13326 Sunset Blvd in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Hornburgs were close friends of Marina's family at the time. The pair later left Hornburg's home, and at about 8:30pm ...