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...

Yvonne J. Quilantang was born on July 11, 1957 in San Francisco to parents Terezo Vincent Quilantang and Evelyn Marie Quilantang (nee Leroy). Yvonne and her siblings were biracial, half white, half Asian: their father, Terezo, was an immigrant from the Philippines. Some sources from the 1970s mistakenly list Yvonne as Black. However, thorough research on Ancestry indicates that she was not Black, but instead Filipina. Yvonne was the youngest of six children: her older siblings are Sharon, Vincente, Michael, Linda, and Thomas; the latter was only two years older than her. Yvonne and her siblings were baptized Catholic. Yvonne's father was a seaman, and was therefore often away from home. Her mother eventually grew unable to care for her, so Yvonne was "taken into a foster home, where she had lived almost since she could remember." She seemed to still be in contact with her birth family. From the June 24, 1973 edition of the  San Francisco Examiner   In early June 1973, Yvo...

Rosa Maria Vasquez was born on August 14, 1952 in Texas. According to one contemporary source, she may have grown up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  By 1973, Rosa, a 20-year-old Latina woman, was living at 834 Bush St in San Francisco, California along with at least one female roommate. She was working as a keypunch operator at the Letterman General Hospital at the Presidio in San Francisco. Rosa was white and Hispanic. According to one source, at the time of her death she was 4'9 and 106 lbs, with brown eyes, medium-length black hair, and pierced ears. It is unknown what she was wearing when she was last seen alive. Rosa was last seen by her roommate, Frances Almazan, when she left their residence on Saturday, May 26, 1973 for the Memorial Day weekend. One source — an SFPD bulletin published in August of that year — indicated that Rosa was last seen alive on May 28th. Photo from the 1975 CA DOJ report. On the morning of Tuesday, May 29, 1973, the nude body of a young woman was f...

On Saturday, January 6, 1973, a hiker named Barbara McAninch discovered partial skeletal remains scattered over a 25-foot area in a gully at the top of Mt Tamalpais in Marin County, CA. It was in a wooded area near the outdoor Mountain Theater — aka the Cushing Memorial Amphitheater — within the Mt Tamalapais State Park. The remains were comprised of a nearly complete human skeleton, though the skull was missing. McAninch, a college student majoring in anatomy, took the bones home to San Francisco to study them. She decided to call authorities on about January 9th. On Wednesday, January 10, 1973, then-Deputy Coroner Bill Thomas told the press that he expected to receive the skeleton that day. At the time the remains were believed to be that of a male, and Thomas stated that the body could be of a victim of foul play; as he said, "Marin County often serves as a dumping ground for San Francisco's murder victims." A photo of Marin County coroner Dr Donovan Cooke examining th...

At about 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 5, 1973 — two days after Labor Day  —  a man on horseback was out with his dog  near a fire road east of Skyline Drive in La Habra Heights, LA County, CA when he discovered human remains in a hilly area. The fully-clothed body was that of a teenage girl lying in an open grave that measured  12" deep, 69" long, and 27" wide.  As the body was found in the evening, authorities waited until daybreak September 6th to remove it to preserve possible evidence. Jane Doe's remains are listed as skeletal, however, due to some of the information provided, it seems that there was still some soft tissue remaining. A newspaper article from 2010 indicated that the remains were decomposing at the time of discovery.  Jane Doe had been killed by a single gunshot to the head either 30 to 60 days (according to contemporary clippings) or 30 to 90 days (according to modern sources as well as the police bulletin) before discovery. This ...

Lulaida Sejalbo. Photo from NamUs . In 1973, Lulaida Morales Sejalbo was a 17-year-old Filipina girl living in Santa Clara, CA. At the time of her disappearance she was a student at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, where she also worked at a McDonald's. Lulaida disappeared on Sunday, November 25, 1973, three days after Thanksgiving. All modern sources state that she disappeared on her way home from work. However, the January 16, 1974 edition of the Peninsula Times Tribune states that after having dinner with her family, Lulaida left to go bowling with a female friend; she was last seen at about 11pm by the friend as she started to drive home from bowling, and she has not been seen or heard from since. All sources, including the clipping, state that Lulaida was last seen wearing her McDonald's work uniform. On Wednesday, December 24, 1973 — almost exactly one month after her disappearance — Lulaida's car was found abandoned in Santa Clara with her purse inside. According ...

On Thursday, November 1, 1973, Corinne June Groenenberg, 16, left her family's residence in Modesto, Stanislaus County, CA. A family friend told authorities that they saw Corinne walk to the highway and begin hitchhiking shortly afterwards. The family friend saw Corinne enter a blue or green truck with an unidentified male driver.  According to an update from the Charley Project on September 15, 2025, Corinne was carrying a sleeping bag and a "red Indian blanket" when she was last seen. She was also wearing a blue denim jacket and blue jeans.  Corinne Groenenberg. Photo from NamUs. Corinne is a 5'6, 115 lbs white female with straight brown hair and blue eyes. She has a strawberry birthmark on her back, as well as a surgical scar on her abdomen. Corinne was born on either October 4, 1959 (making her 14 at the time) or October 14, 1957 (making her 16); most agencies list her as 16 at the time of her disappearance. Some agencies may list her first name as Connie. Corinne...