Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

Note: While this write-up was originally published on June 20, 2025, I regularly revisit cases, fix any typos or formatting errors, 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 January 16, 2026.   Background  Bruce Edward Erickson was born on September 27, 1950 in Minneapolis, MN to parents Edward and Gladys Erickson (nee Endreson). Edward was an immigrant from Sweden. Bruce had two sisters, one older by five years and the other younger by twelve. Their parents eventually divorced, and both remarried by 1967. Gladys moved to Palmyra, WI with her new husband and her youngest daughter. Very little could be found about Bruce, including where he may have gone to school. It seems that he grew up in either Minneapolis or Montrose, Wright County, MN. It is unknown which parent he was living wit...

At the time of her death, Ollie George, 19, was a student at American River College. Her father, Rev. C.D. George, was the minister of the Church of God in Christ. She had two younger sisters and an older brother.   Ollie left her home at 75 Butterworth Ave in North Sacramento at about 4:00pm on Monday, February 23, 1976 to buy some nylons at a shopping center in Sacramento. She was then seen by two clerks at the Safeway Store she had driven to.  Photo from FindAGrave. At about 5:30pm, Ollie called her mother to say that the car she borrowed from her brother wouldn't start. An employee at a nearby McDonald's reportedly saw Ollie some time after he started his shift at 5pm.  At about 6:00pm, Ollie's 17-year-old sister, Laurenda, and her brother's girlfriend, Beata, went to go help Ollie, but when they arrived she wasn't there. The car was unlocked and the keys were in the ignition. Inside the vehicle were grocery items, nylons, her purse, and a partially eaten M...

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...

Gregory Hinz, 22, was last seen on Monday, November 15 or Friday, November 19, 1976, in Altadena, LA County, CA. He was reported missing on December 14th of that year; sources do not specify who he was reported missing by. On March 1, 1977, the LAPD located Gregory's vehicle and towed it away as abandoned. They eventually released it to his family. NamUs and Doe Network list his date of last contact as Monday, November 15, 1976, while CA DOJ and Charley Project state that Gregory went missing on Friday, November 19, 1976. Gregory is a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes. At the time of his disappearance he was 22 years old, 6'0, and 165 lbs. He had a mustache and short beard. His date of birth is April 17, 1954. If alive today he would be 71 years old. Gregory Hinz. Photo from NamUs. Gregory's case is being handled by the homicide bureau. He is classified as Endangered Missing on the Charley Project and Doe Network.  When his mother died, her obituary listed him as ha...

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 ...

Rose Tashman was born in Israel; she and her parents — Mr & Mrs Charles Tashman — moved to the US in 1962. Rose graduated from Fairfax High School in June 1967. By 1969, she and her parents lived at 448 N Formosa Ave in Hollywood, and she was a student at San Fernando Valley State College. She planned to enroll in the fall at UCLA. Rose had dark hair and dark eyes. Rose Tashman's 1967 Fairfax High School senior yearbook photo. On the evening/night of Sunday, May 18, 1969, Rose, 19, left her home at 448 N Formosa Ave in Hollywood to study for final exams with a friend who lived in Van Nuys or possibly Panorama City, depending on the source. She eventually departed late in the night, driving home. At 6pm on Monday, May 19, Sgt Eugene Thompson was on patrol in the area when he spotted a nude female body in the bushes near Mulholland Drive and Coldwater Canyon Rd in the Hollywood Hills. The body was found in a brushy ravine near Beverly Drive, only 0.5mi from where Marina Habe was ...

Photo from the Monterey Cold Cases page. John Calvin Daly Jr, 18, was originally from Cape May, New Jersey, though he was visiting California at the time of his death. John, who went by "Jack" among people he knew, was a student at Redlands University in 1968-69, "but he was not registered for the current semester." A few NJ articles call him a "former student" of the university. It is unclear if John's parents knew that he was not enrolled for the fall semester. On Monday, September 8, 1969, John was found deceased in the city of Monterey. He had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and abdomen. He was lying in heavily-wooded Don Dahvee Park, "a steep area of oak trees and brush," on the east side of Munras Avenue. He had been dead several hours when he was found by Phillip Martinez, a city parks & rec employee. One clipping said John was estimated to have been dead "since early Monday." John was found lying on his back in ...

Scott Howard Allison grew up in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, before he and his family moved to Bakersfield, Kern County, CA for his senior year of high school. He was a varsity wrestler at West High, and finished third in the league. His former coach stated that Scott was "extremely strong, wrestling at 154 pounds." He graduated from high school in 1974. Scott Allison. Photo from FindAGrave By September 1977, Scott, 21, was an active-duty Army soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. At the time of his death he was on 30-day leave before departing for his new post in Ft Richardson, Alaska. On Thursday, September 1, 1977, Scott set out on a cross-country trip to visit his family at their residence at 1805 Esther Drive in Bakersfield. Scott's family heard from him for the last time on the afternoon of  Sunday, September 4, 1977 , when he called his mother from Prescott, Yavapai County, AZ and told her that he would be home in about 10 hours. According to Google Maps, the dr...