Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

On Wednesday, April 19, 1978, the decomposed body of an unidentified man was found floating in the Pacific Ocean "off the northern side and western end of the Santa Monica Pier" in Santa Monica, LA County, CA. The man has never been identified, and is currently known only as Santa Monica John Doe 1978. John Doe was a white adult man believed to be 25 to 40 years old at the time of his death; alternatively, the LA County Medical Examiner's Office (LACME) lists his approximate age as 30 years old. John Doe's height measured in at 5'7" (1.70m), and his weight was estimated to be 160 lbs. His eye color is unknown due to the condition of his remains. When his body was discovered he was wearing only black cut-off corduroy pants and a belt. John Doe had wavy brown hair, as well as a mustache and beard. On NamUs, his head hair is specifically described as "Wavy medium brown hair." The user-based Unidentified wiki interprets this description as meaning that...

On Wednesday, October 13, 1982, maintenance workers were clearing a roadside drainage ditch at Mt Baldy Rd mile marker 5.34 in LA County when they discovered the skeletal remains of a human underneath some bushes. The exact location is very close to the border with San Bernardino County, and is  just  inside the Angeles National Forest. The sex of the decedent is undetermined. Because of this, I will be using the singular  they  to refer them. Furthermore, instead of the usual "John/Jane Doe," I have chosen to occasionally refer to them as  Jean Doe , as Jean is a unisex name, and I do not want to simply refer to them as "Doe" or "Unknown Doe," as I find that to be dehumanizing.  Google Street View of what I strongly believe is the drainage ditch in which LA County Doe 1982 was found, viewed through Google Earth. The body was unrecognizable due to consisting of partial remains with soft tissues. One or more limbs, as well as one or both hands, were n...

On Saturday, January 7, 1978, human remains of a female were found by a hiker in a rugged area of the Antelope Valley in LA County, 0.5mi from the nearest road. According to previous postings of database entries to WebSleuths from 2016, Jane Doe may have been found in a canyon wash "at Rock Formations 150th Street East & Avenue P-8" in Palmdale, LA County, CA.  The website of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office (LACME) states that Jane Doe had been dead for less than one year. According to NamUs, her estimated year of death is 1978; considering the fact that she was found on January 7th of that year, this could be incorrect, or she had been killed only a few days before she was found. Jane Doe's remains were decomposed, and were unrecognizable at the time of discovery. The body's condition was partial remains with soft tissues. One or both limbs, as well as one or both hands, were not recovered. Jane Doe's COD is unknown, though her death is b...

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...

In early 1969 twelve-year-old Deborah Lee "Debbie" Shelton was living in Aptos, Santa Cruz County, CA with her mother Marcia, 28, and sisters Victoria, 11, and Melissa, 6. They had moved to the Rio del Mar area of the county from Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, CA about a year earlier. Her father, James Vern Shelton, was killed in a car accident at the age of 28 in 1966. Aptos is an unincorporated town in Santa Cruz County, CA. According to Wikipedia, it consists of several different small villages, including Rio del Mar, where Debbie's family lived, and nearby Aptos Village. The villages that comprise Aptos presently have a combined population of 24,402, with Rio del Mar itself consisting of 9,128 of that number. Debbie was born on July 25, 1956. She  reportedly visited her paternal grandparents in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA often, and had made several friends her age in the Santa Rosa area. Debbie was a seventh grader at Aptos Junior High who was on winter break at...

On Saturday, January 15, 1977, three 17-year-old boys — Steven Lawton, of Canoga Park, and Bill Power and Nicholas Schmeets, both of Reseda — were, "coming home from the beach when their car overheated, [so] they stopped to let the engine cool down" near Seminole Hot Springs in either Agoura or Malibu, LA County, CA (sources vary). While waiting for the engine to cool, the three teens hiked around the area where they had stopped, 0.5mi south of Triunfo Canyon Rd and 2mi west of the Ventura Freeway. While hiking they discovered the body of a young man "in some bushes on a hillside" about 50 yds off of Kanan Rd. Lawton, Power, and Schmeets promptly notified authorities, and LA County sheriff's deputies responded to the scene.  At the time of discovery, the remains  were partially skeletonized, with some soft tissues remaining: A preliminary report from the coroner's office noted that the body  was "'not so much decomposed as eaten,'" and ...

At about 4pm on Saturday, August 23, 1975, a hiker named Charles Jones discovered the body of a woman just inside the entrance to the Lake Anza area in Tilden Regional Park, about 20 ft from an auxiliary parking lot. The woman was lying on her side in the bushes along a pathway in the park in Orinda, Contra Costa County, CA. Charles Jones then notified the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) police of the discovery. Detectives arrived at the scene at about 4:30pm. The young woman had been killed by blunt force injury to the head; she was beaten to death, with her skull being crushed. In 2006 Detective Sgt. Dale Davidson said of Jane Doe, "She was hit with something very hard." It was determined that she was murdered at another location than where she was found. Despite her injuries, Jane Doe's face was recognizable, and a reconstruction dated April 21, 1976 is available below. Her death is estimated to have occurred about four to seven days before discovery, though N...