Vallejo Times-Herald-March 13th 1975: A skeleton found Tuesday in an open field at Columbus Parkway and St. John's Mine Road was identified tentatively Wednesday by Vallejo police as the remains of an 18-year-old Chinese girl from Sonoma. Detective Richard Hoffman said the skeleton is presumed to be that of Deana Hooper, who had been reported missing here last July 15 by her sister, Mrs Tonna Albright of 901 Georgia Street, with whom she had been staying. Hoffman said Mrs. Albright made the tentative identification after viewing the clothing and sandals found at the scene of the discovery and recognized them as her sister's. Hoffman said Mrs. Albright also identified the ruby-colored birthstone ring on the right hand as that worn by her sister when she disappeared here nine months ago.
Hoffman said the first clue to the skeletons tentative identification came from Harold Thacker, a retired Vallejo police sergeant and now a criminal investigator to Mare Island. Hoffman said Thacker supplied the name of the missing Chinese girl after reading yesterday's Times-Herald account of the discovery of the skeleton. Thacker told Hoffman he recalled talking to the missing girl's father at Mare Island when he made inquiries at the shipyard after his daughter was reportedly last seen there. Hoffman said a check of Police Department records uncovered a missing persons report involving Deana Hooper which had been filed by her sister in Vallejo. Police immediately contacted the sister with the result to the skeletons' identity. Hoffman said confirmations of the identification rests with an examination of the Sonoma girl's dental charts, which have been released by a Napa dentist for checking with he skeleton's teeth.
On October 1st 1976, just over two years after Deana Hooper was reported missing and eventually found near the golf course alongside Columbus Parkway, the strangled body of 14-year-old Judy Gifford was found in a shallow grave by Lake Merced pumping station, an area surrounded by three golf courses in the southwest corner of San Francisco. She was discovered by a boy digging for turtle eggs in the sand, when he noticed a human hand protruding above the surface. Her body was fully clothed with a Timex watch on the wrist and wearing gold earrings. However, she was only reported missing in 2017 by her half-brother William Shin, only six at the time of her disappearance, who informed authorities that the family hadn't seen or heard from her since 1976. Her body remained unidentified until 2019, but through DNA of a paternal aunt she was ultimately reunited to her family and the Jane Doe No. 40 tag removed.
Hoffman said the first clue to the skeletons tentative identification came from Harold Thacker, a retired Vallejo police sergeant and now a criminal investigator to Mare Island. Hoffman said Thacker supplied the name of the missing Chinese girl after reading yesterday's Times-Herald account of the discovery of the skeleton. Thacker told Hoffman he recalled talking to the missing girl's father at Mare Island when he made inquiries at the shipyard after his daughter was reportedly last seen there. Hoffman said a check of Police Department records uncovered a missing persons report involving Deana Hooper which had been filed by her sister in Vallejo. Police immediately contacted the sister with the result to the skeletons' identity. Hoffman said confirmations of the identification rests with an examination of the Sonoma girl's dental charts, which have been released by a Napa dentist for checking with he skeleton's teeth.
On October 1st 1976, just over two years after Deana Hooper was reported missing and eventually found near the golf course alongside Columbus Parkway, the strangled body of 14-year-old Judy Gifford was found in a shallow grave by Lake Merced pumping station, an area surrounded by three golf courses in the southwest corner of San Francisco. She was discovered by a boy digging for turtle eggs in the sand, when he noticed a human hand protruding above the surface. Her body was fully clothed with a Timex watch on the wrist and wearing gold earrings. However, she was only reported missing in 2017 by her half-brother William Shin, only six at the time of her disappearance, who informed authorities that the family hadn't seen or heard from her since 1976. Her body remained unidentified until 2019, but through DNA of a paternal aunt she was ultimately reunited to her family and the Jane Doe No. 40 tag removed.
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The reason for this case being highlighted isn't just because of its location near a lake and the reference to a pumping station, or its proximity to several golf courses, but the striking appearance of both victims. Judy Gifford was of Asian descent, while Deana Hooper and Tonna Albright had been adopted at a young age from an orphanage in Hong Kong by their foster father. Some killers target a particular victim type, so the circumstances in both cases was noteworthy having been separated by just two years.
