Author: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: February 2017
Updated and revised: February 17, 2026
All articles are subject to editing after original posting.
Missing Person: Denise Kathleen Anderson
NamUs Case:
MP27540 (Active as of 2026)
Date of Last Contact: April 13, 1971 (approximately 5:30 a.m.)
Last Known Location: Apartment at 925 16th Street, Sacramento, California (about 38.57881034100586, -121.48476808126783 on Google Maps but the app only goes back to 2007)
Age at Disappearance: 22 (DOB is probably July 13th, 1948)
Sex: Female
Race/Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Height: 5'2" – 5'4"
Weight: 120 – 125 lbs
Hair: Brown, straight, longer than shoulder length
Eyes: Brown
Attempts to Identify Denise Kathleen Anderson's Parents
Denise Kathleen Anderson's Family
When it comes to identifying someone in the documentary record, the danger of a same-name match is ever present. They are common, even with regard to middle names. Matters get far less common when you start working with birthdates. The chances of mistaken identity get extremely remote when working with relatives. Here's a look at who I think Denise Kathleen Anderson's parents were.
Denise's Mother: Helen Vassilopoulos
I am extremely confident that her mother was Helen Vassilopoulos (14 December, 1924 to 17 November, 2016). This is supported at Websleuths, a website that has some serious web researchers, and by the obituary of Helen Vassilopoulos as well. Her obituary from 2016 mentions that she, Helen, had a daughter named Denise Anderson and I don't think it's just a same-name match. The obituary is below and should be read.
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Denise Kathleen Anderson's mother's obituary.
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The obituary's language is interesting in regard to Denise Anderson. It does not use typical obituary language in describing a daughter of the deceased. In fact, the language used does hint at the Denise that is mention being a missing person, thus matching Denise Kathleen Anderson.
Typically, the language in an obituary would be "She was predeceased by her daughter, Denise Anderson" or "She was survived by her daughter, Denise Anderson." These kinds of statements in obituaries are not uncommon at all but incredibly common when describing the child or children in an obituary of a deceased. This, I'm sure, will jive with the common knowledge of most adults.
But when a missing person is described in an obituary, the language changes because the fate of the missing person is not known. I don't expect this detail regarding obituaries to be common knowledge but I've researched hundreds, if not small thousands, or missing persons cases and read numerous obituaries where a missing person is described in relationship to their deceased relative.
"Presumed deceased" is one phrase that is used but "Helen had a daughter, Denise Anderson" works as well. It is one way to describe Helen's daughter without committing to Denise being alive or dead. Since no one knows, with full certainty, whether Denise is alive or dead, then the statement is appropriate.
Denise's age in 1971, when she disappeared, is known. She was 22 years old according to her NamUs profile. That matches an Ancestry record for a Denise Kathleen Anderson. That same record states that her mother's maiden name was Vassilopoulos.
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Probably the same Denise Kathleen Anderson.
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Who Was Denise's Father?
Finding her father was complicated. As of February 19th, 2026, I would state with some confidence that it was a man named Frederick Edward Anderson. He died June 30th, 1969 at the age of 77 years, meaning he would have been born between July 1, 1891 – June 30, 1892. The obituary for this individual listed two children and contains a nagging missing detail. Look at the obituary below: a surviving child, as of Frederick's death, is described as Denise K. Anderson.
Whether that "K" stands for Kathleen is one matter. Another matter is whether it would actually be the same Denise Kathleen Anderson (because I did find a second one in California).
Here is where things start to get a little bit tricky. As you can see, the deceased Frederick Edward Anderson had a son with a pretty similar name "Fred E. Anderson Jr." So in addition to verifying if the Denise K. Anderson described in the obit is the same one we're dealing with in this article, my searches were compounded by a father-son exact name match (they ended up both being named Frederick Edward Anderson, with younger adding Jr.).
But I found a census from 1950 that was a good piece of evidence. The following census shows a 1-year old in 1950 named Denise K. Anderson and that matches our Denise Kathleen Anderson, because she was born in July 1948 and would be 1 years old for about the first half of 1950. Furthermore, according to the census below, Denise (described as "daughter") is living with Helen Anderson, which would be the married named of Helen Vassilopoulos (Denise's mother), who is described as Helen Vassilopoulos Anderson in her obituary.
The census below also shows the head of the household as Frederick E. Anderson, which is very convincing proof that this man was her father. The problem is the age does not match. It lists him with an age of 36 years old, whereas the obituary above would mean that Frederick Edward Anderson should be in his 50's as of 1950. This detail was a major source of confusion in my research and suggested that the two pieces of evidence pertained to different people.
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| 1950 Census |
The obituary says this:
- Denise Kathleen Anderson, daughter of Frederick Edward Anderson (who would be b. 1891 or 1892 by his age and death date)
The 1950 census says this:
- Denise K. Anderson, daughter of Frederick E. Anderson (b. about 1914 by an age of 36 in 1950)
Are we looking at two different families? A different birthdate does mean a different person. But one thing caught my eye: the number "36" for his age appears to have been written over something. The following is a close-up of the age for Frederick Edward Anderson as represented in the 1950 Census.
That is one messy 3 in 36. I could make it out to be a 2 using the bottom or a sloppy 5 without much of a spine in the 5. But all I think that can responsibly be said is that the number that was written could be disputed.
So what do we have?
- There's a Frederick Edward Anderson who was born about 1892;
- There's a Frederick Edward Anderson Jr. born about 1924;
- If that's a 36 in the 1950 census, there is a Frederick Edward Anderson born about 1916.
This latter Frederick Edward Anderson is
not one that could verify in any other document. When it comes to document verifications, you are never done looking but finding this person, a Frederick Edward Anderson who was born in 1916, separate of the 1950 Census used above is one task at hand that is on-going.
Frederick Edward Anderson, the one in the obituary at the start of this section (~1892 to 1969) appears in the 1940 Census as well. It shows a man named Frederick E. Anderson as the head of a household with his wife Ruth L. Anderson and son Fred E. Anderson.
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| Taken from the 1940 census. |
The census snipped immediately above has a nagging detail. Frederick E. Anderson is listed at age 45, meaning he would be born around 1895. The obituary had an age of 77 in 1969 for the Frederick E. Anderson there. A birthdate of 1891 or 1892 would make for a different person, regardless of a same-name match, than for a person with a birthdate of 1895. The matter cannot simply be overlooked without risking the conflating of different identities.
But I still think the Frederick E. Anderson in the 1940 census is the same Frederick E. Anderson living with Denise and her mother Helen in the 1950 census. I make an inferential leap on this matter but ground some confidence in more than just a same-name match. Both the 1950 census and the 1940 census show Frederick E. Anderson as originally hailing from Illinois, employed as an engineer, and employed with the US government in that capacity.
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| Frederick E. Anderson's employment information in the 1940 census. |
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| Frederick E. Anderson's employment information in the 1950 census. |
Despite inconsistences in years of birth, both the Frederick E. Anderson in the 1940 census and the Frederick E. Anderson in the 1950 census were employed as engineers for the US Army or US War Department. This suggests that they were the same person, despite the mismatched ages. A same-name match with first, middle, and last name, a same-state of birth, the same profession (ie. engineering), and same employer is a lot to overlook simply because of an age discrepancy when the writing is sloppy.
Furthermore, looking back at the 1930 census shows a Frederick E. Anderson living with a woman named Ruth and a son named Fred who was an engineer as well but with the state of California as an employer. That document is not as well preserved but the word "Engineer" or "Engineering" seems to appear in the first box, perhaps after the word hydraulic.
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| Frederick E. Anderson's employment information in the 1930 census. |
The 1930 and 1940 census link the Andersons by house number 861 as well. Importantly, the 1940 census states that Frederick E. Anderson is 45 whereas the 1930 census states he is 38. This proves that the census did not accurately depict ages by year of publication. The expectation is 10 years of aging for a ten-year gap between censuses. Perhaps 9 or 11 could be expected, depending on time of year when the work is completed. However, seven years of aging for a ten-year gap between censuses is hard to accept. It's fair to say that ages in the censuses from this time frame need to be taken lightly.
My conclusion on this section is a fairly confident "yes" that the Denise K. Anderson mentioned in the obituary for Frederick E. Anderson is the same person as the missing person, Denise Kathleen Anderson. It's not just a same-name match: there's evidence to show that Denise Kathleen Anderson lived with a man of that name when she was very young along with her mother. The evidence also shows this man's age was inconsistently reported and without perfectly clear writing. The matter can be looked at from other angles, but it seems her father was Frederick Edward Anderson (b. in the 1890's and died in 1969). In this case, the newspaper obituary seems to be a stronger piece of evidence than the census.
Other family
If I have her parents correct, her half-brother would be Frederick Edward Anderson Jr., who was five years old with the 1930 census and 15 years old with the 1940 census. I think he might be the same person who owned or part-owned several sports franchises.
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| A snippet from Ancestry |
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| Snipped from Newspapers.com. His death on Monday, reported on Wednesday, March 26th, would match the death date above in the Ancestry Snippet. |
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| His draft card. His mother name used the father's name (ie. Mrs. F.E. Anderson). |
Circumstances of Denise's Disappearance:
- Last seen (or heard?) asleep in her apartment at approximately 5:30 a.m. on April 13, 1971, by one of her two female roommates.
- A roommate borrowed Denise’s car that morning and returned it around 2:30 p.m.; Denise was gone at that time.
- Her vehicle remained at the residence after that day.
- Her personal belongings were reportedly left behind.
- No known financial activity occurred after her disappearance.
- She did not report to her job at a Wells Fargo branch and did not attend subsequent theatre rehearsals.
Denise's case is one of the true vanishings in North American history. Based on what's available and published about her, there are no clues as to her fate after she was last seen. Everything is pure conjecture, running through common missing person's scenarios. Those would include leaving her apartment willingly with someone she trusted or abducted.
The label "true vanishing" attached to this blog post will link you to some other cases that basically have no significant lead. That's different from cases where a person of interest, a suspect, charges, a physical clue, clandestine connections, or a witness clue provides some insight. Denise is an "into thin air" kind of missing person.
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| 1965 Sacramento High School Yearbook |
Employment and Activities:
- She went to Sacramento High School. Her name and possibly her picture appears on Page 160 of the 1965 yearbook on Ancestry.
- She was employed at a Wells Fargo bank branch in Sacramento. I found one that was located at 555 Capitol Mall in 1971, which would have been a 20-minute walk. However, if this was her branch or not is not know.
- She had been very active in the stage-acting scene for four years by the time of her disappearance (not including high school plays).
- From age 18 through age 22, Denise Anderson was:
- Consistently active in theatre for at least four consecutive years
- Involved in productions at:
- Harlequin Stage (community theatre)
- Sacramento State College
- Sacramento City College
- American River College (collaborative production)
- She was frequently named in cast lists and pictured in multiple productions
- She was firmly embedded in Sacramento’s collegiate arts community
- Months before her disappearance time, she was active in local theatre; listed as a cast member in a January 3, 1971 Sacramento Bee production notice for the play “Liliom” at the Eaglet Theater. She also had a supporting role in a play that was about to debut in two days at the time of her April 13th, 1971 disappearance.
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Jan 3, 1971. The Sacramento Bee.
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Clothing/Accessories Note:
- According to reporting and NamUs, Denise was known to wear a black short-hair wig; this item was reportedly missing from the apartment.
Denise Kathleen Anderson was 22 years old when she disappeared from Sacramento, California in April 1971. Accounts indicate she was last seen at her apartment very early that morning, and she did not report to work or to theatre commitments afterward.
I first wrote about this case in 2017, when I was fairly new to missing person blogging. I decided, with the experience I've gained over the years, that I would take a fresh look at this case. Let's start with some of the original journalism but note that nothing contemporaneous to her disappearance was available.
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| Sep 6, 1973. The Sacramento Bee. |
Denise Was In a Play at the Time of Her Disappearance
Denise was in a play known as "Marat/Sade" at the time of her disappearance. The long name was “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade" by Peter Weiss.
The opening night for the play was April 15th, 1971, meaning Denise disappeared two days before the opening of the play. She was cast as Simone Evrard (mispelled as Simone Everad).
I did not find Denise among listed cast members, however, her name appeared in a caption underneath a photo on April 18th, 1971. This photo was published five days after she was last seen, meaning that it must have been taken before her disappearance and during rehearsals.
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| Denise appears to be the women standing awkwardly and barefoot. |
I made an effort to find out who replaced Denise, because the show did go on despite her disappearance two days before it debuted. The play received good reviews and ran into May, as planned. Her character was not a plot-driving one.
I did wonder if the wig that missing from her apartment was depicted in the picture above, but could not authenticate this. Also, I found no reference to her disappearance at all in the numerous articles or advertisements I read regarding this play. It struck me that her disappearance was not considered too serious at the time or not considered clandestine at the time. But the photo above would be one of her last in a likelihood.
Centerplayers Production — The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (April 15th, 1971–May 1971)
Bob Brock — Jean-Paul Marat
Haze Bergeron — Marquis de Sade
Tom McGraw — Duperret
Michael Hefner — Jacques Roux
James L. (Jim) Foster — Institution Director (Coulmier)
Pat Dunnigan Shread — Herald
Zoe Riddle — Charlotte Corday
Victoria (Tori) Samuels — Marat’s nurse
Cheryl Watson — Singer
Tom Ribordy — Singer
John Karr — Singer
Nancy Vay David — Singer
*Denise Anderson — Simonne Evrard (spelled Simone Everad)
Director: John Gunn
*disappeared two days before opening night for the play/replacement not known
Known Serial Killers in the Area at the Time (Sacramento 1971)
I did not find a lot of information on active serial killers in Sacramento in 1971.
As of April 1971, Northern California would soon become associated with several notorious serial offenders, but none of the known active killers at the time clearly matched the circumstances regarding Denise Anderson’s disappearance.
The Zodiac Killer’s confirmed attacks occurred between 1968 and 1969 and involved public shootings and stabbings of couples and a taxi driver, not quiet residential disappearances. He did send a letter in March 1971, so he was alive at about the time of Anderson's disappearance but nothing linking him to Sacramento.
Juan Corona was arrested in May 1971 for murdering male agricultural workers in rural Yuba City, but that is a very different victim profile.
Herbert Mullin’s killings occurred in 1972–1973 in the Santa Cruz area, after Denise vanished. It is possible that earlier crimes went undetected but nothing is known to link him to Denise's disappearance.
Joseph James DeAngelo’s (ie. The Original Night Stalker) confirmed crime series in California began years later, with the Visalia Ransacker burglaries starting in 1973 and the East Area Rapist attacks beginning in 1976.
According to an LATimes piece on the DeAngelo, he was in Sacramento at
about the correct time: "In the spring of 1971, when (Joseph James DeAngelo and Bonnie Colwell) were juniors at Cal State Sacramento" (
Paige St. John, Man in the Window). This does mean that there was an eventual serial killer in Sacramento
at about the time when Anderson disappeared, in fact, DeAngelo is one of the worst serial killers in American history. If he disappeared Anderson, then that would extend his known active years.
But Denise's case, to my knowledge, is without a serious clue.
Further reading:
this blog post looked to be a serious effort on the topic of Denise Kathleen Anderson. It contains address information and perhaps even a bit of a challenge to what her address was at the time of her disappearance.
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