NamUs #UP7139 - Jane Doe Found near Palm Desert, California (February 1980)

By: Shane Lambert

NamUs #UP7139 is a Jane Doe whose body was found in Palm Desert, California on February 16th, 1980 (Saturday). This Jane Doe case stood out to me because there is a decent post-mortem photo of her face associated with her NamUs profile. That should make this case solvable so long as enough people review the material associated with this Jane Doe case. From my research, this person appeared to be the victim of a flood.

Body found: Feb. 16th, 1980 at about 11 AM (Saturday)

Who found the body?: "a group of Canadian tourists" (San Bernardino County Sun/Feb 19th, 1980/A-3)

Location: Six miles south of Palm Desert, California; found in a gully, a landform created by running water, near highway 74.

Sex: Female

Race/ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Age: 25-30

How long had she been dead? (ie. PMI): 1 day

Estimated Date of Death: Would be February 15th, 1980

Height: 64"

Weight: 120 lbs

According to NamUs (paraphrased): This body was found at the bottom of a ravine about 35 feet down from a winding mountain roadway. She was fully dressed with no identification.

Hair: Short, light brown, 3-4 inches, presumably as pictured

Eyes: Hazel

Scars: "She has a well healed 5" scar on her right forearm and a 1" well healed scar on her upper right arm."

Physical characteristics: "She appeared well groomed with manicured fingernails, a recent haircut and nice clothing."

Clothing: Long sleeve tan colored velour blouse; Royal blue pants (no sizes noted); She had on tan sandals with no socks.

I could only find one Jane Doe case for Riverside County in California for a female's body that was found around February 16th, 1980. There was an article in the February 19th, 1980 edition of the San Bernardino County Sun that listed a woman who was found deceased in a gully near Palm Desert.

Presumptively, the article spoke of the Jane Doe known as #UP7139. The news report and NamUs both described an unidentified woman found in a ravine or gully, which are similar formations. She was listed amid numerous news stories associated with a flood in the area that had occurred around that time. The snipped paragraph from the newspaper likely describes this Jane Doe.

I found a news story of a nurse who had gone missing in the same flood. Her name was Inez Evans but she was described as a 44-year old, which would be well outside the estimated age of the Jane Doe. Evans' car was found but she was not found in the days after the flood. Whether she remains missing or not wasn't something I could ascertain. The clothing on the Jane Doe did not match the expected clothing for a woman commuting to a nursing job in addition to the mismatched age.

This case reminded me of cases where a pedestrian gets hit by a vehicle and dies -- without any identification on them. This Jane Doe did not get hit by a car but likely got washed away in a powerful flood -- without any identification on her.

That a group of Canadian tourists found her body suggests to me that she might have been doing something as a tourist herself. That would explain why no one local has found her. I would think that she would have been identified if she was a local to the area, because of the high-quality post-mortem photo.