Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

At about 12:05am on Saturday, July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin, 22, and Michael Mageau, 19, parked at the parking lot of secluded Blue Rock Springs Park on the eastern outskirts of Vallejo, Solano County, CA — a popular area for couples — to talk. Darlene parked 70 ft from the lot entrance. Soon, another car parked about 80 ft to her left. The driver turned the headlights off and sat motionless at the steering wheel before leaving the parking lot at a high speed. Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin. Five minutes later, the other driver returned and parked a few feet next to Darlene's vehicle at the passenger side. He exited his car and shined a flashlight into Darlene's car; the couple assumed he was a police officer and rolled down the passenger side window. The man wordlessly fired a gun into the car. One bullet hit Michael in the right arm, and the other Darlene in the neck, causing her to slump towards the steering wheel and become motionless. After five shots were fired, the man...

Deana and an older girl, Tonna, were adopted from an orphanage in Hong Kong by their (white) foster father Dean Hooper in 1966; because of this, Deana and Tonna regarded each other as sisters. Deana, her adoptive parents, her older sister, and a brother lived together in Sonoma. Eventually her sister became married and moved to Vallejo, Solano County, CA. Deana lived in Yountville at the time with her family. Photo from the March 13, 1975 edition of the  Vallejo Times-Herald . Edited by me for clarity.   At the time of her death, Deana, 18, was staying with her older sister, Mrs Tonna Albright, who lived at 901 Georgia St in Vallejo. According to the missing person's report filed by Tonna on July 15, 1974, on Monday, July 11th, she and Deana had attended a party at the Enlisted Men's Club on Mare Island, and when it came time to go home, Tonna couldn't find Deana. That was the last time she was seen. When Deana did not return home following the party, Tonna called their fat...

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...

At 8:45am on Thursday, October 16, 1980 Kathleen Neff, 21, who also went by "Kathy," dropped her vehicle off at a Mazda dealership on Florin Rd near Franklin Blvd in Sacramento for service. She planned to pick the vehicle up later that same day. Contemporary sources differ as to how Kathy left the dealership. One states that she reportedly left the dealership on foot, "possibly to walk to her home on D Parkway." Another indicates that she "reportedly rode off in another vehicle with an unidentified person." Kathy was never seen alive again. She was last seen wearing a white knit top and blue jeans. She didn't reach her home and never returned for her car. She was reported missing by family and friends the next day. The Sacramento Bee published postings about her as part of their Secret Witness program, asking for information regarding her disappearance and whereabouts. She was described as a white female, 5'6 and 118 lbs, with brown hair and blue e...