Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

Note: While this write-up was originally published on August 5, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, check for updates, 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 February 18, 2026.    From the Sept. 14, 1977 edition of the  Fremont Argus. Background   Kurt Theodore Kaikinger was born on November 18, 1948 in San Francisco, CA to parents Theodore Joseph Kaikinger and Elaine Barbara Botzer, who had married in April of that year. Theodore's parents were originally from France. Kurt was the oldest of three boys, with his younger brothers Karl and Christian being born in 1950 and 1956, respectively. By 1950 the family was living in Oakland, Alameda County, CA before moving to San Leandro in the same county. Kurt graduated from Pacific High School in San Leandro in 1966.  According to classmates of his, who posted on ...

Early in the morning on Sunday, July 31, 1982, Patricia Schneider, 25, who also went by the nickname Patti, completed her shift as a cocktail waitress at an Indian Hills Golf Course restaurant and nightclub. At 3:45am, after getting off of work, Patricia made a call from the Circle K market on Limonite in Pedley, Riverside County, CA, reporting her car had broken down. Her car was a brown & white 1974 Toyota Celica with the CA license plate 018POF. Patricia has never been seen or heard from again. Patricia Schneider. Photo from NamUs. A clerk at the Circle K stated that he saw two white males with sandy hair in the parking lot while Patricia made calls from the phone. It's unclear if these individuals had anything to do with her disappearance. Between 5am and 6am that same morning, a Riverside County sheriff found Patricia's car on fire in a field near the intersection of Van Buren Blvd and Doolittle Ave. It was determined that the vehicle was burning due to arson. The area...

Reconstruction. Photo from NamUs. At about 9am on Thursday, October 30, 1980, a hiker discovered a badly decomposed body in a brush-covered field near the intersection of Colfax & Iowa Hill Rd.s in Colfax, Placer County, CA. Traffic on the Colfax-Iowa Hill Road was halted that morning while sheriff's investigators examined the scene, which was less than a mile west of the Iowa Hill Bridge. It was determined that the body, which was that of a young woman, had been deceased for at least one year, and her estimated year of death is 1979. Her COD is undetermined, and there were no weapons or signs of violence at the scene, but her case is being investigated as a homicide. Investigators were unsure whether she died at the scene, which is a known dumping site for trash, or at a different location. Jane Doe was estimated to be a white female, 18 to 27 years old; however, a newspaper article from the time stated that she was believed to be 18 to 22 years old. She was 5'0 to 5'5...