Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

Background  Rosa Linda Zuniga was born on January 22, 1953 in San Antonio, TX, the oldest of four children born to parents Leonardo Cortez Zuniga and Maria Yrenia "Irene" Cantu. Her first name(s) may have been Rosalinda or Rosalind; I am using the most common version I could find, which was also used in the TX birth index on Ancestry. According to Rosa Linda's friend Ellen, she may have also gone by the nickname Rosie. Both sides of the Mexican-American family had deep roots in Texas, spanning all the way back to when the land was still a part of the Republic of Mexico. By 1959, the Zuniga family moved to Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, CA. The parents split up sometime afterward, with Leonardo moving to Ohio and all four children living with their mother. Soon afterward Irene remarried to a man named Jose "Joe" Gamez (occasionally misspelled as Gomez). Photo courtesy of Ellen [last name withheld for privacy]. Accessed from FindAGrave. Rosa Linda graduated from ...

Photo from CBI. Larry Gene Loucka was born on June 6, 1946. He first lived in Arizona starting in at least 1961; he may have been born there. He attended his freshman year of high school at Camelback High School in Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ in 1962. Larry then attended Norte Vista High School in Riverside, Riverside County, CA for his sophomore and junior years; it is unknown if he graduated. He then lived in Denver, Colorado for a period of time before moving back to Phoenix, AZ.  In early September 1974, Larry moved back to Denver from Phoenix. Larry was a 28-year-old white man who was known to his friends as "Smiles". His last known address according to one clipping was 1630 Humboldt St. According to his obituary, his address may have been 281 Sherman St. At 11:10pm on Sunday, September 8, 1974, Larry was walking on the sidewalk down the 400 block of E. 11th Avenue, holding a portable radio to his ear. An unknown man then ran up behind Larry and fired three shots, at le...

Thomas Gregory Cristiano was born on December 19, 1950 in Denver, Colorado, where he also spent much of his early childhood. He lived with his parents, Joseph Frank Cristiano and Verna Louise Cristiano (nee Place), and his siblings, David and Virginia. Thomas attended high school in Montrose, Montrose County, CO, where his parents were living at the time of their son's death. Some sources may spell the family's surname as "Christiano." Thomas's father had moved his family to Montrose "to get away from the crime and violence we saw there" in Denver. Thomas, however, eventually went back to Denver to be near a school where he was taking a "correspondence computer course." He  was employed at the Western Drive Inn on East Colfax Avenue in Denver. Thomas also had an interest in art. According to letters written to his family, he had planned to paint a night scene of the State Capitol Building at some point.  Photo from CBI. Late in the evening of F...

On Thursday, November 1, 1973, Corinne June Groenenberg, 16, left her family's residence in Modesto, Stanislaus County, CA. A family friend told authorities that they saw Corinne walk to the highway and begin hitchhiking shortly afterwards. The family friend saw Corinne enter a blue or green truck with an unidentified male driver.  According to an update from the Charley Project on September 15, 2025, Corinne was carrying a sleeping bag and a "red Indian blanket" when she was last seen. She was also wearing a blue denim jacket and blue jeans.  Corinne Groenenberg. Photo from NamUs. Corinne is a 5'6, 115 lbs white female with straight brown hair and blue eyes. She has a strawberry birthmark on her back, as well as a surgical scar on her abdomen. Corinne was born on either October 4, 1959 (making her 14 at the time) or October 14, 1957 (making her 16); most agencies list her as 16 at the time of her disappearance. Some agencies may list her first name as Connie. Corinne...

Pamela Spencer. Photo from NamUs. Pamela Spencer, 20, lived in an apartment at 2440 Ocean Park Blvd in Santa Monica, LA County, CA at the time of her disappearance. On either Friday, January 26th or Saturday, January 27, 1973, Pamela left her apartment shortly before 11:00am with her dog Layla, planning to hitchhike on the Pacific Coast Highway to the home of a friend, Sally Knipler, who lived at 20766 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, LA County, CA. Pamela never arrived at her destination. She was reported missing three days later, though by whom is not stated in any sources. Despite an "extensive investigation by Santa Monica police," no trace of Pamela was found. Her apartment was found intact, and it appeared she hadn't returned there after leaving for Malibu. Furthermore, all sources imply that Pamela's dog Layla was never found. Layla was a long-haired female dog. She was a gray and white Alaskan Malamute/Shepherd mix that was "husky-like in appearance....