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. 

John or Jane Does With Very Clear Facial Photos -- Remain Unidentified

Author: Shane Lambert
Time of publication: January 29th, 2021

On this web page, I highlight cases of Unidentified Persons (UPs) who are deceased. What unifies all the UP profiles on this page is that a great photo of them is provided with their profiles from a time when they were alive. The photos of the unidentified persons are of good enough quality that these are cases where the only thing that is required to solve them is both media exposure and a person who is willing to simply state their names. 

Besides the mystery of their identities, there is the extra mystery of how they can be unidentified despite the clear pictures of their faces. I am not talking about media exposure when I state that. Rather, how did the authorities get the pictures of them alive without someone coming across their names? Did the decedents have pictures of themselves in their wallets? 

This is a web page that is always a work in progress: I will add to as I come across more cases that fit the category. Minimally, please scroll through this page and look at the faces even if you don't feel like reading that much. If a link is, pardon the pun, dead, then please report it in the comments.

Shane Lambert

February 2nd, 2025

I looked at the following case tonight and it also looked solvable. However, a lot of time has passed. But you would think this case would be solved if only enough people looked at the photo. Currently, she is known only as #UP127230.

January 13th, 2025

I worked on this one tonight. It looked solvable!

NamUs #UP76876

January 13th, 2025: Update! This one was solved! At least, they removed the profile (which usually means the person was unidentified.

This fellow was found dead in the Arizona desert on October 26th, 2020. He was believed to have been dead for about 36 hours. His height was measured to be 5'4" and his weight was estimated to be 125 to 135 pounds.

The reason they have a photo of him from life is because they were able to take a fingerprint off of his corpse. The print matched an apprehension from March 2020. The photo is an apprehension photo from that time.

He gave the name Gregorio Cota Valenzuela in March 2020, however, this may be an alias. That detail is something I find strange as I didn't think getting away from the authorities when they are fingerprinting you was as simple as giving a fake name, however, I guess there are scenarios where that is possible.

This individual was found by the USPB (United States Border Patrol). Individuals found in remote desert locations in Arizona by the USPB are often Mexican nationals that may be walking to Phoenix. However, that this person was fingerprinted seven months before he died may suggest that he was in the USA for a long time.

Still, I would not be surprised if he is a Mexican national. If you are working on this case, fluent English and Spanish may be useful in order to look at the missing person websites in Mexico.

Canada's Missing Case reference: 2017073538

January 25th, 2025 update: This case does not seem to be active anymore as the link no longer contains information. It says it was updated on May 10th, 2023.

This case comes from Canada. The man on the right is thought to be an Albertan. He was found deceased in Ontario on October 15th, 2016.

At some point, he identified himself as Mitchell Nelson. At some point, the photo of him must have been taken, maybe by police.

If you visit his UP profile with Canada's Missing using the hyperlink above, then you'll see that they have composite sketches of him too. 

This is truly a strange UP profile. It's the only unidentified person profile I've looked at where they have a composite sketch AND a photo of the UP from when he was alive. There also appears to be a sidelonged photo of him riding a bike and pulling a huge canoe, which is a really weird photo. If they found these photos of him on the John Doe, then why do the sketch?

In another strange twist, this man is given an age range of 40 to 67 years old. I don't see how anyone can look at that photo and see someone who is as young as 40. I see someone who is at least 50 and probably 53 to 63 is I was to give a ten-year guess.