Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

I am happy to say that Emigrant Gap Jane Doe 1977 has been officially identified through DNA as Melinda "Pip" Beardsley. I have been in contact with a member of Pip's family who had reached out to me, her niece Janet, throughout part of this process, but had been waiting for confirmation from law enforcement before following up on this here on my blog.  Melinda was born in Michigan in 1946, the youngest of six siblings. She was a 31-year-old mother of two at the time of her death; one of her children was adopted out of the family at birth, while the other was in the care of relatives when Melinda disappeared. Melinda was reported missing to the Reno Police Department in November 2025 by two of her nieces and a half-nephew after the latest confirmation of life that they could find was notification of a DUI charge in Reno in December 1976. She was last known to be living in Carson City, NV.  A fingerprint match was made between Melinda and the then-unidentified decedent so...

Note: While this write-up was originally published on July 29, 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 updates are extensive or significant, I re-post the write-up entirely. This post was last edited on February 4, 2026.   On Sunday, October 21, 1979, a motorist named Tony Trudnich became stranded in a rural area of Clark County, NV, somewhat near Las Vegas. He noticed a foul odor and began looking around for the source. There he discovered human remains "wrapped and bound in a sheet," lying partially in a culvert pipe on I-15 near mile marker 61, and/or north of mile marker 60 (according to her 2016 NamUs page), near Apex (a neighborhood of North Las Vegas). The victim's legs were extending outside of the pipe.  The decedent's torso, as well as one or more limbs and one or more hands were not recovered. The remains were not recognizable...

On Tuesday, July 16, 1974, a tourist couple stopped to stretch their legs in a rural desert area about 33 mi north of Wells, Elko County, Nevada, where the California Trail runs into US Highway 93. The area has also been described as either 8 or 11 mi north of Thousand Springs. There the couple discovered a human body in a dry wash full of sagebrush either 200 ft or approx. 120 yds off of US Highway 93, about 100 yds west of the old service station site at the turn-off to the Winecup Gamble Ranch. The body was determined to be that of a white female, about 16 to 25 years old. NamUs lists Jane Doe's age group as "Adult - Pre 30," while an official project on unsolved female homicides in rural Nevada states that Jane Doe was in her early 20s. She was estimated to have been 5'7 to 5'9 and 110 to 130 lbs. She had red/auburn hair. Her eye color could not be determined. Upon autopsy it was discovered that she had no adrenal glands. All parts of Jane Doe were recovered, ...

On Monday, October 2, 1972, a local man was out hunting for chukar — a type of bird — in rural Elko County, Nevada, when he discovered a body in a shallow ditch  — possibly a grave, according to sources  — and covered with dirt and dead willows. The body, with the decapitated head nearby, was found in the area of Deeth, Elko County, NV, approx. 100 yds off of Devil's Gate Road, just north of I-80. View from street of area where Jane Doe was found 100yds from the road. Location pinpointed by me. Screenshot taken from Google Maps Street View.   The unidentified person's torso was not recovered, and the remains were partial skeletal parts only. A 1998 newspaper article indicated that a skull, some rib bones, and a leg bone were found. Only the Doe Network states that the head had been decapitated. One newspaper article implies that animals may have gotten to the remains prior to discovery.  By 1998 the Doe's sex was still undetermined. An anthropologist who was sent the...

At about 9am on Friday, July 14, 1972, a rancher named Marion Morton discovered the nude body of a young woman in the Starr Valley area of rural Elko County, Nevada, about 8 mi south of I-80. The body was found lying on the north side of a hill just off of Dennis Flats Rd, about 0.5 mi west of Starr Valley Rd. According to one source, "Although the road is known by locals, a person not familiar with the area would have to have driven a considerable distance to get to the location." Jane Doe's body had been posed: some sources say she was posed in "an odd cross-like manner," while others state that she was spread-eagle, i.e. arms extended away from her body and legs splayed. According to one modern source, one of her hands was outstretched with the index finger pointing west, while her head was turned the other way.  Reconstruction from NamUs. Jane Doe was the victim of a homicide. She had been shot in the head twice with a .22 caliber pistol, once in the left ch...

According to CA DOJ — as well as Doe Network and Charley Project, which use CA DOJ as a source — Rebecca Jean Dunn was born on March 21, 1958. Through research on Ancestry, I have found that Rebecca was born on that date in LA County, CA to a mother with the maiden name Newquist. This is the only information I could find matching Rebecca’s info on that site. Rebecca was last seen in April, May, or June 1979, possibly specifically Thursday, May 10, 1979. Either way, she was 21 years old when last seen. Rebecca Dunn. Photo from NamUs. In early 1979, Rebecca and a female friend left their residences in Las Vegas, NV and traveled to San Diego, CA together along with two men. The drive from Las Vegas to San Diego is about 5.5 hours. The friend eventually returned to Las Vegas, having last seen Rebecca in about April 1979. The friend told investigators that she and Rebecca had traveled to CA to act as prostitutes. At least one of the two men is believed to have acted as the women’s pimp whil...