You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, KFI AM sixty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. On any given day in southern California, hundreds of investigators are working more than ten thousand unsolved cases. That's thousands of friends and families who have lost loved ones, thousands of people who got away with a crime, and thousands of murderers who still walk the streets. Killers who may be your neighbor, go to your church, or could be dating a close
friend. For the next two hours will highlight cases that have gone cold, baffled investigators, or just needs that one witness to speak up. This is unsulled with Steve Gregory. Upland Police Department homicide case number two to two two zero five DASH zero zero two, the murder of Malik McGhee. This is our first case with the Upland Police Department. Investigators had hoped to get more clues on this bizarre attack, but after nearly a year and a half,
officials say it was time to turn to the public for help. For the first time, Malik's mother, Seanna Frasier, spoke publicly about the loss of her son. Life has been this horrible. It's I have emotions that I never had before. He always had a voice, he used to sing in church. They took a one of a kind person away from me and his world. He did a lot for me as a mother if he did things
that I never ever got to accomplish or do. Malik was from Victorville, but on July twenty fourth, twenty twenty two, at around one in the morning, he was performing at the Lava Lounge on Foothill Boulevard near Mulberry Avenue. That would be his last gig. Lead Detective Steve Whino and Sergeant Jacob Kirk walk Us through the case of the murdered musical medical student. Prior to his death, Malik was performing as a musician at Hookah Lounge, had around
the nine hundred block of West Foothill Boulevard. It's the intersection of Foothill in Mulberry. When Malik exited the Hookah Lounge and entered his car, a suspect fired multiple times, striking Aleik in the leg and torso. Milke fled the parking lot in his vehicle and collided in the center medium of Foot Boulevard, just west of the location. He was transported to a local trauma center, where he was pronounced deceased. Based on the evidence we collected, we believe
his murder was planned and premeditated. We have a video surveillance showing that the suspect rapped at the location about an hour prior to the shooting to scout out the best shooting angles to where Malige's vehicle was. And we're seeking in public's help, So let's go back. Pinis a picture this Hooka lounge, the Lava Lounge on Foothill Boulevard and Mulberry Avenue. What kind of an area is that? Is it? Is it? You know, residential? Mostly?
Is it businesses? Well Footall Boulevard for the most part in the city of Upland is all business the entire strip from the time you enter to the time you exit out. But just north and south of those of the street and those businesses is all residential. So you have a mix the business or the strip. Mall style parking lot is where the Hookah Lounge was located at,
and just directly behind that is plethor of apartments. You had video tape, some sort of surveillance video that's helped you with this right, correct, can you talk about and describe what you saw in that video? On the video about an hour prior to the actual shooting, and this took days of trying to scout out the location or the different videos that we have of the actual
event. We see a subject arrive about an hour before. The subject walks in the north alley behind the business strip mall and eventually it comes out to the east side of the first set of buildings. You can see the suspects standing around looking at one spot and then moving to another spot where he then produces. We believe it was a hand on or a shoulder rifle due to the quality of one of the videos. It looks like it's a shoulder rifle
and points in the exact direction of Malik's car. It appears that he wasn't satisfied with that location, so he went to another location and did the exact same, pointing out to where Malik's car was at. Describe for people what a shoulder rifle is. It could be an AR fifteen style weapon or a small caliber nine millimeter rifle short barrowed, but it's it appeared to be he was putting the buttstock into his shoulder and pointing towards a vehicle, or just
stretching his arms out. Like I said, the quality was wasn't to best on that one photo, so it could have been his arms that was stretched out to You said just a few moments ago also that you had multiple angles of video. Is that right correct? So, detective you said a few moments ago that you had multiple angles of video. What did some of those videos show you? Well, the one we released shows the suspect in the rear alleyway walking is prior to the shooting itself, walking casually to one of
his locations and then walking back to a different location. Then you did say, if I understood you correctly, you were talking about you saw this person, and if you identified gender, we could say we believe it's a Malia. Okay, So this guy you've identified, you said it looked like he was scoping out the place. Well, what led you to believe that? And what do you think he was specifically looking for? And I don't even
believe that it's a belief. It's he was looking at several different shooting platforms. He went to several different locations where you could clearly observe Malik's car at and he pointed what appeared to be a weapon at that car to see if he had the proper angle. What does that tell you this was pre planned, premeditated and a heinous crime. Now, when you've got multiple angles like that, were they all equally as grainy? Because I saw the one that
you released publicly. It was black and white. It wasn't very detailed, it wasn't high death. But what did the other angles show you anything at all that gives you any kind of a description. Well, the one that was released, it gives a clear indication of the clothing he was wearing. And then there was a separate one that we showed where you can clearly see the outline of his body pointing a weapon at the victim's vehicle. Again, we do have other video. I can't say that it's better or worse of
but these are the ones that we decided to release to the public. And what time of the night was this. It was approximately one o'clock in the morning. One in the morning. So this nightclub, this Lava Lounge, is at one of those that closes at two am, or is it? Well, it's just a hook lounge. And it seems that they at the time. They weren't permitted for it, but they were using the available space they had within their business to rent out for musical events or get togethers for
people. And typically it would close at two o'clock. But I don't believe that it would have closed if there was a good crowd or they were making money until whenever that people left. And was this business this hookah lounge? You said that people get to rent it out for different things. So was this a regularly scheduled event? This was highly promoted on social media? Okay? So it really was so multiple people were aware that this gathering was happening,
absolutely, And was Malik being advertised as a performer? He was, okay, so that it was very clear that everyone knew that Malik was going to be their perform That is correct. We're talking now with Detective Steve Wino with the Upland Police Department, and when we come back, we'll dig more into the case of Malik McGee, twenty three year old gun down. July twenty fourth, twenty twenty two. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, I Am six forty live and on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved Welcome back. We're at the Upland Police Department talking with Detective Steve Wino about a case from July twenty fourth, twenty twenty two, the shooting death of Malik McGhee. I'd also like to introduce now Sergeant Jacob Kirk with the department. Sergeant, thank you for joining us,
Thanks for having me. So who was Malique McGhee. Well, I've had the privilege of having some conversations with Malik's parents, who are wonderful people, and what I got to know about Malik from them was he was a very driven young man. He just graduated from Hampton University with a biology degree. He was a person that wanted to help others. He was a very act dive in his community. He was a choreography instructor at San Gregornio High
School. Is that correct? Yeah, he did teach some of the students from there, Yes, And he was he was really into music. He wanted he was his goal was to become a doctor. He had taken a small break between his biology degree going to med school and he ah, he started doing some music shows and unfortunately, you know, he lost his life for it appears to be really nothing. So this guy had he was about to go to medical school. Yes, I had a biology degree already.
Yes, And so there's no gang nexus here, is there? No? There? There isn't And it's so why is this such an unusual occurrence, especially when you say that he was targeted? So we believe that the motive around us had to do with the music industry for the mere fact that he was performing there. It was well promoted and he was known that he was going to be there. But again, our motive isn't clear. That's what we believe it might be, and it is very unusual on how targeted this
is. He had no known enemies from people I've spoken to. He got along with everyone, didn't have any grapes or arguments, and even on that day, he was having a good day from everything that I have learned so far with this investigation, Sergeant, on a homicide like this, just this shakes the community. Does I mean this has got You're a small knit, close knit, small community. This has got to really rock this town,
doesn't it. Absolutely, this is an abnormal occurrence in our community. We do have occasional homicides, but nothing, nothing, like this where we can clearly see that someone came here and took their time to be here an hour before to scout out locations to get a best shooting angle to take somebody's life. Uh, yeah, we don't. We don't have this in our city. Did Malik have siblings? Malik did? He had three other brothers, three other brothers. Correct, did any of them in the music industry to
my knowledge? No, So when we say music industry, I mean was this did this guy have a music career a thriving music career? I believe I know of one album that he did have out and he had just released a song that was, from my understanding, was going up in the community and people were getting some knowledge of it. So he was gaining some traction. Yeah, but he wasn't like touring artist or anything. No, No, he wasn't. He was doing performances at several different clubs and venues.
But it was he was he was making an for himself. He was just starting out and it seemed to be going somewhere. Possibly. Now when I ask you, these questions are coming from more of curiosity because I know that the steps that usually take on these kinds of investigations. What about known associates,
Could this have been a guilt by association situation? Well, again, since it's an open investigation, I really can't talk about certain of aspects of the case with his known associates or the people that he was with at the time. Okay, let me ask it to you this way. Do you believe he was the singular intended target or do you think he was part of a bigger plot. I would say he was targeted specifically. This is such an unusual thing, you know, when you've got a guy here that clearly
is very you know, very educated. He and he was a very active member of the community, right Sergeant. Yes, His mother indicated to us that he wanted he wanted to help people get to reach and achieve their goals. Things that he that he was passionate about was dance music. So he wanted to help the younger people that he was around to and show them, hey, look I made it here. Look I went to college, I
got a degree. You can do the same thing. So he went straight back into his community even after receiving his bachelor's degree or earning his bachelor's degree, to help the people that he that he knew and that he lived around. Detectives this music industry. Is there an active music industry in Upland? Is there I mean an active musical community here, a community, I would
say, no, like a large group of but there's music everywhere. People were doing it in their apartments, they're doing it in their houses, and they're coming from everywhere in this world. I do believe that there's a large amount of younger generation that are doing music and social media and stuff out in this community. We just may not see it on a daily basis, but
they're here. So when I and I you know, this music industry thing, I don't know why I can't wrap my head around it because it just seems like if you've got a guy that he's not very well known, I mean, he doesn't have a label supporting him. So based on your experience, Detective, when you say a dispute over the music or in the music industry, what do you think that might be rooted in maybe his his current success, jealousy It could be there. We're not set on an exact motive
that we believe right now. Again, because of the amount of promotion that he got from social media and the known location where he was at and what he was doing. There's a high likelihood it could be jealousy, maybe territorial of coming up. It's just uncertain at this point. Okay, when we come back, we'll talk more about the case of Malik McGhee from July twenty fourth, twenty twenty two. But first, this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I AM six forty. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on
demand I AM six forty live and on demand on the iHeartRadio app. This is Unsolved with Steve Gregory. Welcome back to the Upland Police Department. We're talking with Detective Steve Wino and Sergeant Jacob Kirk. We've been discussing the case
from July twenty fourth, twenty twenty two. Malik McGhee, a twenty three year old who was performing at the Lava Lounge near Foothill Boulevard in Mulberry app when he was gunned down by someone the detective said had scoped out the place ahead of time, looking for the best angle with which to shoot McGhee. And we've been talking now Detective about the fact that you know you said this is premeditated that the shooter took the time and methodically went around looking for just
the best angle to open fire. I mean, that's a lot of hate when you look about it, that's a lot of anger toward one person, or determination on their end, or determination sure one of those too. The location where he was where we found some of the evidence, it's in between two buildings. That angle was not good, So he deliberately had to go and find a specific location to where one he wasn't going to be seen and two where I'm assuming he believed he could he could strike the MALEIK from that
took determination on his part or hate, or a combination of both. And Sergeant to your point earlier, this is just unheard about in upland that's right, right, Yes, that's correct. So what kind of feedback have you been getting from the community. Have they been? Is the community kind of on edge about all of this? I mean, I know what happened in twenty twenty two. You just brought it back into the or this is the first time you've actually discussed it publicly, right, that's right, right?
So are you getting feedback from the from the public thus far? Because I know you released it to the media earlier. What's been the feedback from your community, the feedback from our communities that you know, they have high expectations of us. We want to provide a high level of service to them. I mean that they want to feel safe. They want to know that we're taking every step possible to solve this case and to put the suspect behind bars
where they belong. Is is there any sense of fear in the community that they know that there might be a killer among them. I don't have any information that would leave me to believe that they're fearful. Okay, Detective then, and I know this is I kind of know what the answer is going to be here. But since you don't really have much to go on on the suspect or the shooter other than a gray hoodie and what you called it, a shoulder rifle, do you believe it was somebody that lives in Upland
that is the shooter. Honestly, I'm not sure they could. But with the the outstretched arms of how much reach his social media had and the promoting that Malik was on someone in southern California, it is so hard to just say it's from here, or if it is from an outside location, because I mean he wasn't from Upland. I mean he had some ties to nearby cities. You used to live in Rancho, he was currently living in Victorville. He's got family that lives in San Bernardino. So it's hard to say
that the yes, he the suspect lives in Upland. Personally, I don't believe that is the case. I believe it could be someone in a different area. So I personally don't believe that the suspect is from Upland. It sounds like to me when you talk about Malik was from Victorville, he was. Yes, he was from up in the high desert, a high desert. And then so this could have been a pre existing beef from a completely different area of the state, or other area of the county or anywhere else.
This could have just been the culmination of that beef, right, correct, Also because you knew where he was at. Yeah, what was the caliber of the weapon used, do you think or how did you recover forensics and what did ballistics show you. Well, there's certain things about this case I'm not at liberty to speak about, and that's one of them. Okay, what about was it just a one weapon or was it Can you talk about how many rounds were shot or expended? And again, there's certain aspects
of the case I'm not going to release. We got to keep cool, I get it. So Malik was able to get into his vehicle right, yes, and then so how long after he got into his vehicle was he shot? It was a matter of seconds seconds, yeah, and then the rounds they penetrated the window or the door. How where was Malik hit? Lake was struck in the leg and in the torso, so like in center
mass, kind of like in the vital organ area. He was actually shot on the left side of the left side, so through like the chest or long straight across through his upper torso. Got it. What about the moments after that? So when he was shot, he was driving away from the scene. Is that what? Correct? He drove away from the scene in a short, short distance letter he crashed into the center medium. Okay, how many witnesses were on scene? It's hard to exactly say how many.
But at the time when we arrived, there was approximately twenty people still at the location, and all twenty people were interviewed. We interviewed every person that was at the location, did well, can I jump in there? That?
Sure? We believe there was a lot more people there based on some video surveillance from inside of the Hook Lounge, and so that's why we want to put this out because we believe that somebody there may have seen something or saw something, that heard something, anything that could help us help us solve
this case. When you say there were twenty, so this happened just after one am, right, Yes, was the evening coming to a close or was his just his set or his performance done and somebody else was performing or was the place shutting down? It wasn't shutting down. It was still going pretty strong and his part was done. So these twenty people that you were talking about, were they just kind of hanging out in the parking lot.
In the parking lot inside it was a mixed group and they're plusing a couple of employees that was also there too. And what were witnesses able to tell you? Well, again, the people that were at the location that we can see from videos events, some of them took off. The ones that
were inside basically didn't see or hear anything. But we know that there was more people at the location that we weren't able to speak to and that's why one of the reasons this was sent out to the media, so that we can get that assistance from getting those people to anonymously call us, if that's the way it needs to go. But we were looking for those people that
were outside that jump into vehicles and took off. Okay, when we come back, we'll wrap this case up and we'll give you a final moment to give your plea to the public. Okay, but first, this is Unsolved with Steve Gregory on kf I AM six forty two. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand k I AM six forty live and on demand on the iHeartRadio app. This is Unsolved with Steve Gregory. Welcome back to the
Upland Police Department. We're inside a conference room situated at headquarters talking with Detective Steve Whino and Sergeant Jacob Kirk about the twenty twenty two case of Malik McGhee, who was gunned down in front of the Lava Lounge near Foothill Boulevard and Mulberry Avenue. Detective we were talking a little bit about sort of the final moments of Malik's life. He got in a car, he was driving away from the scene and then he just second later he was someone opened fire on
the side on the driver's side of the vehicle, striking him twice. And what is it that you really need from the public at this point? What is it that you're hoping as they hear on this program and they've seen the video. How can you assure people they can come forward anonymously. Well, we have what's called a WE tip line. They can always contact that through the up Police Department. But the ultimate thing is just getting justice for the
family too. We know people were there, we know people left, and we're seeking their assistance and getting some information that we have not been able to gather because either they're afraid to come forward or they just can't or couldn't at the time because they left. So we're seeking the public's help for that information that we're lacking. And you talk about those at least twenty witnesses that were there that night, do you believe they saw who the shooter is? Any
one of them or all of them? The ones inside, I can't say that they data didn't. The ones outside had a much better advantage point to be able to say if they knew the person or if they seen any other descriptors that were lacking the uh, if you can kind of paint that picture of the scene. So the club was in a strip mall. Where was he driving away from? Was he parked in front of the club or was
he off to the side or in the alley. So if you're if you can imagine a strip club, strip mall, excuse me, if you can imagine a strip mall. If you walk out the door, and if you look directly in front of you, you can see the rear of a restaurant. They have parking into the the restaurant, and you have parking directly in front of the business. He was to the backside of the restaurant's parking lot.
He was facing eastbound, so he's backed into a parking spot. He walked out the door, walked directly onto off the sidewalk that is directly in front of the hook A lounge and directly to his car. He was directly in front of it. Once he unlocked his vehicle with his key this remote, you could see the lights turn on. He gets in his car and within seconds speeds away directly in front of him and goes down the drive through
to the right of that. That restaurant. Now one o'clock in the morning, it was closed, so he drove through the wrong side of the drive through to get out onto Foothill Boulevard. Foothill Boulevard has a north and south service road, so he got to the service road first, made or right, and then when a bee line directly to Foothill Boulevard, Tory ultimately just
kept going straight and crashed into the to the center medium. I just thought of something when you say the shooter got there about an hour ahead of time to scope locations to open fire. Right, correct, So he knew already Malik's car, right, that is correct. So what does that tell you, Well, during our investigation, it wasn't a mistaken identity for the vehicle that I know. Malik was the only owner of the car. So that's
what also leads us to believe this was one percent targeted. And when you say premeditated, that's this you know in advance, this was mapped out in it. That is correct, Sergeant, when you look at the video, you know, because I understand Detective, when you were giving us that detail, that's you actually saw all of that right on video. Correct. Okay, so you saw that all unfold, but the video that you released publicly, Sergeant, what more do you have to go on other than a gray
hoodie? Do you have an estimate of height? You're saying it's a man. What else sticks out to you in that video? I don't have a height estimate because the camera angle was at a doubt, was pointing downwards. Kind of hard to estimate the person's height. But he looked like an average had an average stature of a man, heavy, skinny, looked fairly thin,
thin. He had a like a large bag on his chest, like almost as if he was wearing a It was like a satchel type of bag, but maybe something that was about it was larger than a fanny pack. I would say three times the size of that. He's also wearing a pair of pants that were very distinct across like the thigh or the knee area. Right above the knee area, there was a stripe like reflective material, and
that was also down by his ankles. On top of that, he had a pair of boots that we would consider like a style of like a combat boot or similar. Okay, so these reflective pants. Were those fashionably reflective or do they look like utility pants or safety pants of some kind? I would I personally would say that it reminds you of when you're taxing out of the airport and you look outside and you see them directing the plane back that
style of pants to where you are. You're visibly seen in all areas. If light hits, you can see that you're there. So that stripe was down the side you said it was horizontally, not vertically. Oh, got it? Okay, so around the knee area, Okay, got it. Yeah, So I think I've also seen ems kind of like ems it has it like that? Yeah? Yah, yeah, I could. I could see it with him, the paramedics ems. Yeah, that's pretty significant, right, very significant. Yeah. So if you got a guy that's got
combat boots on, or any kind of military or tactical boots. Now, is it possible with a black and white video? Do you have the technology to determine any kind of a color scheme or not? No, you don't have that. That light colored hoodie could have been white, It could have been a light colored green, we don't know. The pants could have been faded blue jeans with that stripe around it. The color that is, but we can't say that it's one color or the other. We just know it's
very distinctive and no fashionable. Got it. How many detectives at Uplimpede We currently have five, were slated for six, and we also have a civilian investigator. What's your homicide rate? This is not a regular occurrence here, No, it's not. Okay, So how many cold cases are in salt cases? Do you think you have here? If you look at our entire case of homicides? I would say roughly five percent we're unsolved, and that's coming back quite a few years too. And do you have a number to
attach to that. I do not have an exact number, very very very very percentage. Yeah, well, let's hope that this helps close the books on one of them. Yes, okay, Detective Steve Whino, Sergeant Jacob Kirk, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Coming up, we head over to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for a case of a murdered Jane Doe. But first this is unsolved with Steve Gregory on KFI AM
six forty time Now for a news update. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand k if I AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved. If you're listening on the app, you can send us a tip about a case, a story, idea, or a comment about the show. Just tap the red microphone on the app and record your message. Riverside County Sheriff's Homicide case number B nine six zero two seven zero one three, the murder of Jane Doe. Mike
Thompson's an investigator with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. He reached out to make me aware of the county's Regional Cold Case Team, a unique group of people from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Riverside Police Department, the DA's Office, the FBI, and the Coroner's office. The group works cold cases and id's unidentified victims of homicide for any agency in Riverside County. Thompson told me
he's got a case that needs a lot of attention. Not only is he looking for the killer, but he's also looking for the name of the woman who was left for dead on the side of the road. We're also joined by Jason Corey, a detective of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. He begins
with an overview of the case. Yes, this case was in the early morning hours of January twenty seventh of nineteen ninety six, when two people collecting trash along the side of the eastbound sixty Freeway located the deceased body of a Hispanic female. It was The location is in the bad lands of the eastbound sixty, about one and a half miles east of Gilman Springs, and investigators arrived and immediately began an investigation and determined that the female had been shot in
the head, and a lengthy investigation continued from there. Where is Gilman Springs? Can you give us a larger city? Gilman Springs is just outside of Marino Valley. So as you travel as you're traveling eastbound on the sixty freeway and you travel through Marino Valley, you'll come upon on Gilmant Springs and Gilmant
Springs will take you out to the Hemit area. If you travel down Gilmant Springs, continuing on the sixty will take you into Beaumont Mike from the District Attorney's office in the DA standpoint, when does a prosecutor's office get involved in something like this at what level? Well, we've formed a cold case team back at twenty twenty, so the prosecutor's office it is a joint partnership and conducting the investigation and then bringing the case forward for a criminal filing decision.
When you look at this and I know you have a cold case team, a regional cold case team, how do you decide which cases and how does this unit or task force decide which cases take Well, we work with all the agencies here in Riverside County and we review the cases to see are there
workable leads? Is their evidence still remaining? You know, one of the challenges in cold case sometimes is due to the passage of time, witnesses pass away, evidence gets lost or just not through a not through a negligent process, but DNA degrades, it's no longer available, so that can hinder bring a case to a prosecution. So we review a case, what's available to work? Is it likely to be able to be brought to a criminal prosecution.
We do look at cases where perhaps we can't bring them to a prosecution, but maybe we can bring a level of resolution and approach to the family. I don't like to tell people there's closure because I think that leads to a myth that there's going to come a day where the pain of the loss of your loved one, you're not going to feel that pain anymore. And so I don't think closure is a right way to characterize that. But I think you can bring a certain level of resolution to a family where at least
the haunting no answers can bring them a level of peace. Jason, we go back. Let's start from the beginning of this case, this horrific case. How does an investigator approach you? What is the first thing you do when you look back at a case from nineteen ninety six. You're obviously the fresh pair of eyes on this right, certainly. So what we'll do is I'll review the whole case, or our other partners will take turns going through
the case, review everything. We'll respond out to the station. I mean that the Sheriff's Offices is so large in Riverside County. We have so many contract cities, so you know, having and a good bulk of the unsolved cases that we have are so far Shehriff cases, and so you know, having being a part of the regional team, you know, we have that intimate knowledge of the county of those stations, so we can we reach out
to the folks at those contract city stations. What we'll do is we'll go out, we'll pull all the evidence, and we'll look through all the evidence and make sure that we have a we have a sheet, we have a list of of of all the evidence items that were that were collected and collected at the the initial part of the investigation and over the years if if you
know, different investigators have done things over the years. Uh. And then something we also like to do is is once we review it and and understand
it, we can we can have a good knowledge of that investigation. We like to reach out to the to the the original investigators and that and that's also a large part of the interesting part of of working cold case because we contact these investigators from back in uh you know, in the nineties, or we contact them back from the eighties, and and you know, of course they're spread out, they're retired now, they're spread out all over the place.
Some of them are some of them are deceased. But it's fun to sit. I shouldn't say fun, I mean, it's it's just it's interesting to uh sit and talk with those folks over the phone and pick their head because they remember these things. A lot of these a lot of these detectives they remember these days. They remember these cases don't go away easy for them,
and they remember. And a lot of them that I've contacted, they you know, they answer the phone, they say, thank goodness, I was waiting for this phone call, waiting for somebody to pick that case back up again. And uh. And and these investigators with a technology, with the investigative techniques that they had back in the day. I mean, I go through these and I'm just amazed. I mean it's like, these these
are fantastic investigations. And then we're just lucky enough now to have these investigative tools that we have, the better DNA processing, the forensic genealogy that that we that we have all these all these tools that we can now put in our in our toolbox and we can and we can bring out and so you know, a lot of these investigators are extremely happy that we're calling him. And I had one one investigator on a case, say hey, as soon as you need me there, I'm on a plane. He's in Minnesota.
I'm on a plane to California. I can walk you guys through the crime scene whatever, whatever you guys need. Uh. So, so just having that so being able to digest that whole investigation, uh pick through everything, pick through all of the evidence, try and get back out to these crime scenes, take a look at him, kind of get an understanding of of
what they were seeing back in those days. And then and also going through the crime scene photographs and just being able to digest everything as a whole is a huge part in everything. And then, like Mike said, you know, we have to make sure that all of that evidence is available and so that way we can proceed with the investigation. And then those are some of the you know, the number one roadblocks that we have is the evidence. All that you just said, Jason, did that apply to this case.
Absolutely? Yeah. So it sounds like you got you found the original investigator. I did, and we'll hear more about that. But before we get back to more of detectives Thompson and Corey, I want to tell you how you can contact the Unsolved Team if you're listening on the iHeartRadio app. Just simply press the red microphone and record your story, idea, tip, or comment. Or press pound two to fifty on your cell phone and say the
keyword unsolved. That's pound two fifty and the keyword unsolved. More on the death of Jane Doe, but first, this is unsolved with Steve Gregory on KFI AM six forty. Listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, Hey, if i AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app, I'm Steve Gregory and this is unsolved. If you're listening on the app, you can send us a tip about a case, a story, idea, or a comment about the show. Just tap the red microphone on the app and
record your message. We're talking with detectives Jason Corey and Mike Thompson from the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Team about the shooting death of Jane Doe. It happened January twenty seventh, nineteen ninety six. So, Detective Corey, when it comes to tracking down the original investigators, is it as simple as picking up the phone. Sometimes it is. Sometimes we have phone numbers. Sometimes Sheriff Sadman. I've called here to Sheriff Sadman before and have had excellent luck.
The staff here has always been helpful in getting information for retired folks.
Sometimes we'll be able to look them up and find them through databases that we use and locate phone numbers if they've kind of moved out of the area and have gone off the grid a little bit, not kept up their personal information with the Sheriff's department, And so I was able to find a phone number for this detective who happens to be he retired as a chief deputy with the department, and so I was able to give him a phone call and talk
with him about the case. At this point, then Mike, with this cold case unit, what kinds of resources are available to help people like Jason and others on the team. What does his DA's office bring to the table in terms of resources. Well, one of the things when we started at the cold case of back in twenty twenty, one of the things that we were tasked was was developing forensic genealogy is a use and a tool in solving
cold cases. So one of the things about this case is this female victim, she's never been identified and which has been one of the challenges in solving this case. So we went through the steps to develop a genetic profile that we could upload to the various genealogical databases trying to see if we can find a family member of hers. She does have a Cesareans car, so she's
delivered a child at some point, presumably alive. She's got at least one kid who would be twenty six plus years old today, and so the question is where is her family and what is the story behind her disappearance to her family? So then layman looking at this from the outside end. So I suppose you go back and backtrack missing persons cases that might match or not missing
persons? How many what's the best way to look at this? If you're looking for a twenty six somebody in their mid twenties a child, how do you go backwards on that? Well, the child wouldn't be a missing person, as I mean, that's why I corrected myself, because it's like, oh, it's not a missing they're missing to you because you can't find them. But I mean, how do you look for a person like that?
Well, there's there's a federally funded database called NamUs n AMUS dot gov and they track missing and unidentified remains literally nationwide, So our victim is in namous and in an automated fashion, NamUs will suggest possible matches based on reported missing persons. However, maybe the person who murdered her didn't report her missing because that person has a vested interest in law enforcement not looking around for her.
So there's no guarantee that she's been reported as an missing person her. It's not one hundred percent. But if you've ever done your genealogy, you could look at your potential ethnic makeup and again it's it's still an experimental process, but we believe she's likely Hispanic from Latin America. Her genetic makeup is predominantly Mexico, but there is also some indication that she could be from South America.
And first generation immigrants are poorly represented in the genealogical databases because again, if you think about why does somebody put their name in a genealogical database, they're trying to answer a question, trying to answer a mystery. Well, if you're a first generation immigrant, you don't need to put your DNA because you know where you're from, your your parents, your grandparents probably live in the same community that you just emigrated from. So you said something is experimental.
So is this not an exact science? Well, I mean the ethnic predictors I see when you go to ancestry dot com or you read any of those, they're they're suggested, but they don't have those definitively locked down. That because your DNA leads you to a particular geographic location where your ancestors may have come from. The genealogy itself, whether or not you are genetically related to somebody else, that science is pretty solid, but the ethnic predictors are
something that's still kind of out there. From what I understand, I'm not a scientist. You were talking about the cesarean scar. Was the coroner or medical examler able to tell how recent the child had been born? I don't think so. They document a cesarean scar, but there was no way to determine how this scar was. They estimated or age between thirty and forty five years old, but a forensic pathologist doing an age s meant onto stay.
And that's not an exact science. And so there's her child could be significantly older than twenty six. Yeah, and that's what I'm trying to think because now you you know, that's got to be such a challenge not only finding out who this person is, but to find out if that person has a child or two that could be out there. So, jameson going back to the investigator, you said that you found what was the first thing they were able to tell you that you didn't see in the paperwork? Well, that's
a good question. I they actually they there wasn't nothing that I can recall. I mean, Chief Hill had had excellent recollection of the investigation. Chief Hill, it was the detective that was was on the initial detective for this case, and then over the years and he actually he retired as a chief deputy uh for the Sheriff's department here so and I have in the in the book are his notes. So, I mean, there's there's a lot of
stuff that's there, a lot of things to digest and go over. But he had excellent recollection of the investigation and uh, and it was it was quite extensive and they and they took they took detailed notes, did detailed wrote detailed reports. And so that helps out tremendously, especially in going back, you know, all through the years to to kind of digest the investigation. For more about this case and others, head over to k if I AM
six forty dot com keyword unsolved more detectives Corey and Thompson. But first, this is unsolved with Steve Gregory on k if I AM six forty. You're listening to kf I AM six forty on demand k f I AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is unsolved. To reach the Unsolved team through the iHeart Radio app, just press the red microphone and leave us a story, idea tip, or comment, or
press pound two fifty on your cell phone and say the keyword unsolved. I'm talking with detectives Jason Corey and Mike Thompson about an unidentified woman who in nineteen ninety six was shot in the head and dumped to the side of the road in the Beaumont area. When investigators arrived, they noticed the woman was wearing jewelry. She was wearing several pieces of jewelry, just what we believe distinctive
jewelry that could that could help an aid in identifying her. Which is which is the obviously the number one thing on our on our list right now, because we feel once we can identify her, work the victimology and work it backwards, then we can then we can figure out what happened to her and finally understand just what took place. Well, and when I look at that, when you say this person that had distinctive jewelry on was there a wallet
or not? Obviously not a wallet because they would have idea in it. But does that tell you that robbery might not have been a motive. I don't believe robbery was was a motive, because yes she did. She did still have these pieces of jewelry on her and and it's I don't think there's enough information right now that we have for the investigation to to actually say, you know, what what the motive would have been or the reasoning behind it.
There there are several things that that did occur at the crime scene. I mean, she she was killed at that location. She was not dumped there. She she was murdered at that location. Uh. And the jewelry that she had on that was recovered at the time of the of the post mortem autopsy, I think is going to be significant in potentially a family member
or a family friend. Uh, you know, hearing or seeing these photos, uh, and and then remembering and being able to give us possibly investigative leads to to sall the case in your experience, then, Jason, is that unusual that you have sort of a lot of information that could lead to an identification but no one coming forward. Yes, it's it's I mean,
it's been, it's been quite difficult. We've we've put out uh some press releases before over the years, there have been, you know, several press releases, and then obviously with the forensic genealogy and determining that she is from, you know, most likely down to Mexico, I think down somewhere near maybe the Acapolco area, somewhere down down there. Uh, it's it's sorry.
Is that was that determined by the forensic genealogy. We we think that that that area down there, down down somewhere down in that in that geographical area. But but again, like like Mike said, I mean, nothing is one hundred percent certain. So that's so that's why we try and push this information out as far and wide as we can get it. So that was so that way this information can can get out and folks can see these
photos. It's it's important for us to get it out. So describe these photos as as you look at them, because you're looking at some pretty nice quality photos of this, So describe what you're looking. Yes. So she had on a necklace, uh that had Jesus on one side of it, and it was a it was a gold necklace that she had around her neck. Uh. And then there was a another gold ring that she had on
her finger. And a second necklace she had on was a was a gold chain with a rose on it, and the roses is gold and then there's a rose gold uh, you know, colored rose on top of it. The flower bud is is rose gold. And then another significant piece, which we we believed to be pretty significant, was a watch that ended up having Uh. It is ah hopona watch j A P O N A. And that watch has a decorative cover. It's almost like a almost like a like
a pocket watch. You can but but on the wrist will the cover will flip open, uh, and then to reveal that the time piece inside of it. And then the decorative cover also has a what we believe to be
a birthstone. Uh. It's a like maroon and a ruby. Uh, in in uh, in color, and so we we think that several pieces that she had had that had that burststone there, and so that's also something we're looking into as well to try and narrow down uh, you know when we do find uh find other other folks on like names on the name this website where we're you know, we're looking at those dates of birth to try and see, Okay, what are we are we kind of consistent with that
with that possible birthstone. It's it's just I mean, we're we are open to to you know, we're leaving no stone unturned and looking looking at at every aspect. The jewelry valuable is costume jewelry. I think it's costume jewelry, especially the the Holpona watch. And I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Uh. You know, it's popular in the in the nineties and early two
thousands. I don't think it was a very expensive watch, more so costume jewelry, but uh I but distinctive nonetheless, And I think if if people can see the jewelry uh and look at it, I think that will really help and identifying her Steve. I do think the gold is real gold.
I mean it's not super fancy, high class type jewelry, so I don't I don't want to miss characterize as a costume joy just kind of okay junk, I mean, not high end, but I mean it's it's it's you know, I'm not a big jewelry guy, so I wouldn't know how to classify it or characterize it. But I guess what I'm getting in is it was it worth we're stealing or not worth stealing? Uh? Well, uh,
you know that that's a good question. I don't know. I mean, I suppose there are several things that that people kill other people over, and what would be worth you know, one person killing over doesn't really you know, does it really always makes sense? And you always kind of question, well, you know, is that really worth It's not, it's not worth it. So for me being able to make a judgment over that of if it's worth stealing or not, I suppose anything for somebody's worth stealing.
But but having this on there and her still having this this jewelry on her person, I don't think that robbery was was the overall motive. Okay, I want to ask Mike with a person like this, because you say that it's possible she could be from the region near Acapulco, Mexico. But you don't know whether she was she migrated here or immigrated here, or whether she was born here. You don't know anything about her origin. Right, it's
correct. So do you coordinate then, as a government entity or this task force, do you coordinate with the Mexican consulate or do you talk to Mexican authorities? Well, we have it yet she does. So her dental work. The forensic odontologist reviewed her dental work. She had extensive dental work, and then the forensic odontologists opinion. This was all done in the United States. And I don't know if you've had extensive dental work, but I know
from a family member that stuff's not cheap. So it would appear that perhaps she's a first generation immigrant, maybe she's a second generation immigrant, but that she had been in the US for some period of time. Where she's found is a corridor for people who live in Los Angeles going out to either Palm Springs or Arizona. Was she a Los Angeles resident going to see somebody in Arizona Because she's found in the eastbound lanes or the shoulder of the eastbound lanes.
So if the time is appropriate, if we find out that she is in fact a Mexican citizen, would we would reach out to them, But in the meantime we are I don't know that Mexico would have much to offer
us currently at this point because there's so little to identify her with. If you have a tip about this case or any we feature on the show, please press pound two fifty on your cell phone and say the keyword unsolved, or press the red microphone and the iHeartRadio app more with detectives Corey and Thompson. You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand kf I AM six forty heard everywhere live on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Steve Gregory and this is Unsolved.
If you're listening on the app, you can send us a tip about a case, a story idea, or a comment about the show. Just tap the red microphone on the app and record your message. We've been talking with detectives Corey and Thompson about the death of Jane Doe, found off the road near Beaumont on January twenty seventh, nineteen ninety six. Jason, what was something else? You were able to tell about this woman, you know, looking at the crime scene photos. You talked about the jewelry and great
length. But what else was distinctive about her? What they what they took notice of right away, is is her clothing. Her clothing was. In addition, Mike brought up a good point about her dental work. Her clothing was also very well maintained. Her clothing was was clean. Uh, it was appropriate clothing, uh for for the time. Uh. Pants and a top. Everything was was well maintained and clean. And so that was also something that that they took note of during the initial investigation. Was there any
evidence of a of a sexual assault. That's something that we're gonna we're going to hold on to as part of the as part of the investigation. Okay, was she fully clothed? She was, She did have clothing on.
Yes. In your experience, then, Jason, when you look at something like this where a person has been discarded on the side of the road, and as Mike sit on a main corridor, it takes you to other parts of the country, does this appear to be an act, a possible spontaneous act, or does this look like a calculated act to me just based on on on my experience, it looks to me like it was a spontaneous,
a spontaneous act. And and then obviously we won't know for sure until uh until we identify her and and we will identify her, and we will we will, we will backtrack this investigation and we will figure out who she was with and who is responsible for that, uh, for her for her murder. But it appears to me to be more of a spontaneous uh because just the location that it's in, it's a it's a turnout off the sixty freeway.
UH. If it most likely occurred at night, that would be that would be just you know, guess based on my experience, uh, and probably a spot that it's kind of hard to see if you're because you're traveling even through that area, even back in ninety six, folks would have been traveling it at probably a decent rate of speed going through the area. So it's so pull finding that pull out, stopping in the and that in that location, and then and then taking her out of the car. Uh,
it would probably have been a spontaneous, a spontaneous thing. This has got to this has just got to be the most complicated, most frustrating thing you've described the woman as well, kept took care of herself, at least has a child or gave birth to at least one child presumably, and you know, everything was intact. It just seems like a person like that just doesn't go, just doesn't disappear correct, and and it is it is very frustrating.
Uh and the what it what's more, what's what's also frustrating about it is is that just the cold calculated act that this person did by shooting her in the head, which caused so much trauma to to her, that we we had to have one of our forensic technicians, uh is a is a forensic artist, and so she over the over the years did a composite sketch which we believe is a very good likeness of her. And so that that is also the difficult part is is now we have to use, we're reliant
upon that forensic sketch to help aid in identifying her. Instead of being able to being able to put her, you know, her photo out for the for the public to see. How long was it estimated that she had been there before someone discovered her. I don't believe it was very long at all. I think it was just a matter of hours if I remember correctly. Okay, So, so then you got a pretty good sense and you were saying shot in the head. Was the face disfigured to the point where the
forensic or the sketch artist had to sort of fill in some blanks. Correct really, so shot in the head or in the face in the head? Shot in the head? Yes, got it? Mike? You know what is it you want people to know from this? I mean, obviously we've got a lot of visuals are going to put on our website at KFI AM six S forty dot com, Keyward and Solved. We'll have a great array of photos and want people to go in there and take a look for themselves.
But Mike, what's the what's the major takeaway here for people? Well, over the years, there's been a number of things that have been done trying to identify this victim, and there have been people who have called and suggested various people, all who have been eliminated as the potential victim. With the development of forensic genealogy, and given that immigrants are underrepresented in the genealogical
databases, if somebody I would appreciate it. If people have completed genealogical tests, if they could upload their DNA to a site called jed match g E d M A t H dot com and that allows us to compare DNA of our victim versus versus the population. Know that law enforcement never possesses your DNA that is completely on that site. What are the limits of There's a database called the Missing an Unidentified Person System run by the California Department of Justice,
and our victims DNA is in that database as well. But the limitations of that technology limits you to one degree of separation parent child relationships, sibling relationships. It can't really track down cousins extended family. Through jetmatch and through genealogy,
the technology allows us to look at distant relationships. And so if somebody listening has a cousin, a second cousin, perhaps they are a Mexican national who had a cousin come to the United States twenty thirty years ago and disappeared and has never heard from them, they could contact us. I can provide
them a genealogy kit that they can complete if the circumstances dictate that. If they have any questions about that certainly, if they have a family member who went missing, if they had a mother who went and nobody ever gave them
a substantial answer about whatever happened to them, give us a call. We would love to have that information, and we will follow up with that information because you know, from nineteen eighty six, I don't think familial DNA was a thing back then, right, Yes, the Grim Sleeper killer, the Lonnie Franklin case was the first case where familial DNA was done by the California Department of Justice. For people that don't understand familial DNA, wulitn't explain it.
Well, familial DNA is that's a match based on the CODAS database. But again the limitation of that is it has to be one degree of separation. But it's going to be a member of the family that, right, is what we're talking about. Right. They will so to the California Department of Justice if I get a familial hit, they'll say, that's not your person, but they're directly related to this individual who and the CODA of database
is made of people who've been arrestler convicted of felonies. Okay, got it, Yeah, but they have one has to be in the system for it to work though correct now the Missing an Unidentified Person system again, you could submit your DNA into MOPS what it's called, and that by law it is prohibited from doing comparisons between MOPS and codas. I understand that people might be
concerned about submitting their DNA to a law enforcement entity. But another thing somebody can do if they're afraid to disclose their DNA to law enforcement, they can go to the corner's office and say, I have a loved one who's gone missing. We haven't seen them, perhaps they've passed away, and the corner's office can complete a kit that goes to MOPS and the MOPS database is never, ever, not ever, no way cannot be done by law compared to
the coda's database. Gentlemen, thank you so much for your help and for your time, and let's hope that we get some hits on this. Thank you very much, an appreciate it, and that's going to do it Unsolved with Steve Gregory. The radio show is a production of the KFI News Department for iHeartMedia, Los Angeles. The program is produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez, our field engineers Tony Sorrentino, and our technical director is Raoul Cortes.
If you have a tip on this or any other case we've highlighted a comment or a case, just press pound two fifty on your cell phone and say the keyword unsolved. Or if you're listening live on the iHeartRadio app, press the red microphone icon and leave us a message. This is KFI AM six forty. KFI AM six forty on demand