From Hollywood to the Hills: California’s Forgotten Victims
California’s sun-drenched coastlines and iconic landscapes hide darker secrets beneath their postcard-perfect veneer. The state’s vast geography, stretching from dense northern forests to scorching southern deserts, has created countless opportunities for crimes to go unwitnessed and unsolved. With over 840 miles of coastline, multiple mountain ranges, and extensive wilderness areas, California offers innumerable places where evidence can disappear and people can vanish without a trace.
California’s proximity to international borders, its extensive highway system, and its position as a gateway to both Asia and Latin America create unique challenges for tracking missing persons or fugitives who may have fled the state or country. Additionally, the state’s history of serial killers—from the Zodiac to the Night Stalker to the Golden State Killer—has left an indelible mark on its criminal landscape, with some investigators suspecting that certain unsolved cases may be linked to yet unidentified serial predators.
Thankfully, there are a number of cold case investigation units, like the Sacramento County Sheriff Cold Case Investigations Unit, San Diego Police Department Cold Case Team, and the Riverside Cold Case Unit. Behind each case number lies a human story—families suspended in grief, communities haunted by unanswered questions, and investigators who carry these unsolved mysteries with them long after retirement. These cold cases represent not just failures of justice, but ongoing wounds in the fabric of California’s communities.
California’s Unsolved Mysteries: Cold Cases That Haunt the Golden State
Here is a list of cold or unsolved cases in the state of California (CA) that I’ve written about, sorted from oldest to most recent:
The Keddie Cabin Murders: A Family’s Nightmare
Found Murdered on April 11, 1981 · Keddie, California
On April 11, 1981, Cabin 28 in the Keddie Resort became the scene of one of California’s most brutal unsolved crimes. Sue Sharp, her son John, and his friend Dana Wingate were found bound, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death. Sue’s 12-year-old daughter Tina was missing, only to be discovered three years later when her skull was found in a different county. Despite prime suspects including a local man with a criminal history who lived nearby, no one has ever been charged. Recent DNA testing and renewed investigation have brought new hope, but even after so many decades, the case remains officially unsolved.
Theresa Bier: The Bizarre Bigfoot Abduction Claim
Reported Missing on June 1, 1987 · Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, California
In June 1987, 16-year-old Theresa Bier went camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains with 43-year-old Russell Welch, a self-proclaimed Bigfoot researcher. When Welch returned alone, he offered an outlandish explanation: Bigfoot had abducted the teenager. Despite extensive searches and Welch eventually being charged with (though not convicted of) her murder due to insufficient evidence, Theresa’s body has never been found. The case remains open, with most investigators believing Welch responsible for whatever befell the young girl in those remote mountains.
Michelle Von Emster: Death by Shark or Foul Play?
Found Deceased on April 15, 1994 · La Jolla, California
On April 15, 1994, the partially eaten body of 25-year-old Michelle Von Emster washed ashore in La Jolla. Medical examiners quickly ruled her death the result of a great white shark attack—a conclusion that would make it California’s first fatal shark attack in decades at the time. However, shark experts soon disputed this finding, noting inconsistencies with typical shark attack patterns. Some forensic experts have suggested her injuries indicated she was already dead before entering the water, with evidence of possible homicide including broken neck vertebrae. Despite these questions, authorities have not reopened the investigation, leaving her true cause of death clouded in mystery.
Stacey Smart: A Mother’s Disappearance
Last Seen on October 15, 2016 · Lewiston, California
51-year-old Stacey Smart vanished from Trinity County in October 2016. Her family reported her missing on November 2 after realizing no one had seen or heard from her in weeks. Despite extensive searches of the heavily wooded area around her home in Lewiston, no trace of Smart has been found. Investigators have considered multiple angles, including the possibility that her disappearance might be connected to her boyfriend, but without evidence or remains, the case has gone cold. Her family continues to hold out hope while suspecting foul play.
Karlie Guse: The Teenager Who Vanished at Dawn
Disappeared on October 13, 2018 · Bishop, California
16-year-old Karlie Guse disappeared on October 13, 2018, from her family’s home in Chalfant Valley. The night before, she had attended a party where she reportedly smoked marijuana and experienced paranoia. Her parents described her as disoriented when they picked her up. Around 5:45 the next morning, witnesses reported seeing her walking along Highway 6, but after that, she vanished completely. Despite extensive searches, national media coverage, and involvement from multiple agencies, no trace of Karlie has ever been found, leaving her family torn between theories of abduction, accident, or voluntary disappearance.
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Otherwise, I’ll see you on the trail of our next unsolved mystery. Until then, stay safe, Cold Case Explorers!
—Skylar Aries