Cold Cases of the Golden Coast

At 2:13pm on Saturday, October 4, 1975, the body of an unidentified man was discovered in the All-American Canal in Mecca, Riverside County, CA. He had been killed from a blow to the head before a rope connected to a piece of iron (used as a weight) was tied around his neck; his body was then placed in the canal. It is believed that he died three to seven days before he was found, meaning his estimated DOD is somewhere between Saturday, September 27th and Wednesday, October 1, 1975, inclusive. The canal is controlled with a series of gates, and the distance to the last gate was about 8mi into the rural community of Mecca. The body was found face-down in the canal at the last gate. While all parts were recovered, his remains were not recognizable due to decomposition. John Doe was an 18 to 25 year old white and/or Hispanic male, with his estimated age group on NamUs being "Adult - Pre 30." He had straight, medium-length dark brown hair, with no facial hair. His eye color is un...

Jack James Kroecker Jr. was born on May 1, 1945, and grew up in Parma, OH. His father, Jack James Kroecker Sr, was the vice president of Permold Inc, an aluminum foundry in Medina, OH.  In 1963 Jack graduated from Parma High School, where he was a district wrestling champion. He then completed three years as a mathematics major at the University of Dayton before being drafted into the US Army in May 1968.  He graduated first in his class at Army Finance School at Ft Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, IN and took basic training at Fort Knox, KY. At the time of his death he was working in the finance section of Fort Carson in Colorado.  Photo from FindAGrave. Jack, 23, spent Christmas Eve 1968 celebrating the holiday with a fellow soldier in downtown Colorado Springs, El Paso County, CO. They had driven there from Ft Carson in the friend's car. Jack was wearing civilian clothes.  At about midnight on Wednesday, December 25, 1968, Jack returned to his friend's car and l...

Sixteen-year-old Christopher Wells was last seen in December 1972 in Seattle, King County, Washington. Sources differ as to when he went missing: the date provided by NamUs — as well as the Charley Project and the Doe Network, which use NamUs as a source — is Saturday, December 16, 1972, while, according to NCMEC and the Washington Missing Persons Database, Christopher was instead last seen three days earlier, on Wednesday, December 13, 1972. Photo of Christopher c.1972 from NamUs. According to NamUs, Christopher was reported missing on Saturday, December 16, 1972: this is either the day he was last seen, or three days after, depending on the source. The most likely explanation is that Christopher was last seen on Wednesday the 13th before being reported missing on the 16th, and that the reported date was mistakenly entered as the missing date on NamUs, then taken as fact by the Charley Project and the Doe Network. Along with the discrepancies regarding the date, there are very few det...

At about 4:45pm on Wednesday, September 19, 1979, the body of a teenager or  young man  was discovered in the Los Angeles Riverbed, north of the Patata St overpass/trestle in Bell, LA County, CA. He had been deceased for only some hours prior, and his face was recognizable; a postmortem photo is available through a link on the Doe Network. The cause and manner of death have not been released. Artist rendering from NCMEC. John Doe was 15 to 25 years old, 5'8, and 129 lbs. The estimated age group listed by NamUs is "Adult - Pre 30." He was white and had brown eyes and short, thin, light brown hair. A reconstruction of him created by NCMEC is available. When found, he was wearing blue slacks, a Hawaiian print shirt from K-Mart, a brown leather belt, underwear, and white socks with a red stripe at the top. John Doe's dentals, DNA, and fingerprints are all available for comparison. He has six MP exclusions on NamUs, as well as one repeat: John Doe is not Donald Rexroth (wh...

Winnefred Jeanette Freeman, 20, was last seen on Wednesday, May 8, 1968 in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon. She was seen getting into her car with a middle-aged, heavy-set man who has not been identified. Her car was a 1964 blue & white Chevrolet. Four days later, on Sunday, May 12, 1968, Winnefred's car was found abandoned in the city. Very few details are available in her disappearance. It is unknown if/when Winnefred was originally reported missing. On September 27, 1968, her parents — Mr and Mrs Isaac Harpole — published a $300 reward — $2,756.93 today — in  The Oregonian  for anyone with information concerning Winnefred or her possible abductor; informants were asked to notify the missing persons department of the Portland Police Bureau. At the time of her disappearance, Winnefred was 20 years old, 5'4, and 115 to 120 lbs. She is a Black female with black hair and brown eyes. It is unknown what she was wearing when she was last seen. 1965 Jefferson High S...

On Wednesday, June 21, 1978, the partial skeletal remains of a young female were discovered in Arvin, CA in southern Kern County. The body was discovered in a shallow grave in a grape vineyard after cultivation of the fruit. The condition of the remains was partial skeletal parts only. One or more limbs, as well as one or both hands, were not recovered. It has been estimated that Jane Doe had been dead for three to four months, which would mean her death occurred sometime in about February or March 1978. Jane Doe's COD has not been released and/or is unknown, but it seems that she is believed to have been the victim of a homicide. Reconstruction of Jane Doe from NCMEC. Jane Doe is a white female who is estimated to have been 13 to 24 years old. Her age group on NamUs is classified as Late Teen / Young Adult.  NamUs states that Jane Doe's height and weight could not be estimated; however, according to the Doe Network, she was estimated to be 5'3 to 5'8 tall. Her weight a...

At about 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 5, 1973 — two days after Labor Day  —  a man on horseback was out with his dog  near a fire road east of Skyline Drive in La Habra Heights, LA County, CA when he discovered human remains in a hilly area. The fully-clothed body was that of a teenage girl lying in an open grave that measured  12" deep, 69" long, and 27" wide.  As the body was found in the evening, authorities waited until daybreak September 6th to remove it to preserve possible evidence. Jane Doe's remains are listed as skeletal, however, due to some of the information provided, it seems that there was still some soft tissue remaining. A newspaper article from 2010 indicated that the remains were decomposing at the time of discovery.  Jane Doe had been killed by a single gunshot to the head either 30 to 60 days (according to contemporary clippings) or 30 to 90 days (according to modern sources as well as the police bulletin) before discovery. This ...

On Wednesday, July 30, 1975, a tractor driver was using a scraper to clear underbrush and weeds for a fence west of Gardner's Cove in Modesto, Stanislaus County, CA, when he noticed a bit of clothing among the debris he was clearing off. Upon closer inspection, he realized that there were human bones inside the clothing. Authorities were promptly notified, and investigation of the area continued up to at least August 1st to search for more remains. Newspapers reported that the bones "ha[d] been found scattered over an area about seven yards square. Some remains were moved by the tractor driver and his scraper Wednesday as he cleared a path for workmen to build a fence. Others were found when the detectives and inmates" — "a work crew of five men from the Stanislaus County Honor Farm" — "unearthed them with shovels. Others may have been carried off by animals or fallen in the river, and may never be found." Only partial skeletal remains, including ...

Donna Marie Larrabee is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. She is not missing from, nor was her primary residence on, tribal land. According to her nephew, Randall Larrabee, Donna was born on June 7, 1960. At the time of writing, she would be 65 years old. Donna Larrabee. Photo from NamUs. Donna, 16, was living in Rapid City, Pennington County, South Dakota with her mother and other family members. On Wednesday, November 17, 1976, she left home to take a Greyhound bus to Sacramento, CA to visit her father. However, it is unknown if she ever arrived. She has never been seen or heard from again. According to Doe Network, "the bus route traveled through South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California." Donna is an Indigenous female with black hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance she was 16 years old, 5'6, and 120 lbs. She wears glasses. It is unknown what clothing she was wearing when she disappeared. Few details are available in Donna's cas...

Lulaida Sejalbo. Photo from NamUs . In 1973, Lulaida Morales Sejalbo was a 17-year-old Filipina girl living in Santa Clara, CA. At the time of her disappearance she was a student at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, where she also worked at a McDonald's. Lulaida disappeared on Sunday, November 25, 1973, three days after Thanksgiving. All modern sources state that she disappeared on her way home from work. However, the January 16, 1974 edition of the Peninsula Times Tribune states that after having dinner with her family, Lulaida left to go bowling with a female friend; she was last seen at about 11pm by the friend as she started to drive home from bowling, and she has not been seen or heard from since. All sources, including the clipping, state that Lulaida was last seen wearing her McDonald's work uniform. On Wednesday, December 24, 1973 — almost exactly one month after her disappearance — Lulaida's car was found abandoned in Santa Clara with her purse inside. According ...

Adam Ashley and his twin brother Marc Ashley were born in Palm Springs, Riverside County, CA on May 18, 1964. They have a sister named Terri who is one year older than them. Their father Arthur was killed in a plane crash in March 1968, and afterward their mother Martha struggled to care for her three young children alone. The brothers, "grew up surfing and skateboarding in the beachside community of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, near San Diego." Adam was a good-natured person who "knew how to relate to other people." He had a good sense of humor and was athletic and musical.  By the time they were teenagers, both twins began to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana. Adam is said to have had anger issues, and would become violent during fights with his siblings. Adam Ashley. Photo from the City of San Diego Cold Cases page. In fall 1978 the twins began their freshman year at San Dieguito High School, and the family attended counseling. However, Adam still needed additional suppor...