Found Deceased CA - Donna Lass, 25, South Lake Tahoe, 6 Sept 1970

[Lavender Moon]

Bumping for Donna

 

[Richard]

Has anyone read a book called "The Great Zodiac Hoax Of 1986" - by Thomas Henry Horan?

In it he goes to the actual police files and compares them against what Greysmith has written in his books and the differences are unbelievable....
... Reading directly from the files makes you wonder if there actually was a Zodiac killer, or were there several killers who get linked up together, resulting in none of them being solved...

You make a good point here. There does seem to be a tendency to try to link separate crimes to a single perpetrator. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and police would be amiss to NOT attempt to make connections. However, when it comes to high profile serial killings one sees it much more from professional writers than from police themselves. Your research would tend to support this.

Around the same time as Zodiac, there was a series of murders of young women in Michigan, and investigators (and reporters) were attempting to link them all together. Eventually John Norman Collins was arrested and convicted of one of those murders, while it was believed that he had committed others. Over time, however, three of those once believed to have been linked were solved and three other perpetrators arrested and charged.

In the case of Zodiac, most of his suspected murders came from the many writings that he (or someone claiming to be Zodiac) took credit for, or alluded to. Now some of those were pretty well documented and "authenticated" by his including information or evidence with his letters, but others were not. In fact, some were only claimed AFTER information about them was in newspapers. And some were linked to other suspects. It was obvious that Zodiac (the letter writer) was attempting to take credit for the crimes that others committed.

In the case of Donna Lass, the main link to Zodiac was the "Peeking Through the Pines" post card that he sent. While it is possible that there were other circumstantial links, such as Donna having worked at Letterman Hospital in SF, it is also possible that her disappearance was the work of another.

 

[Richard]

Donna Ann Lass
Missing since September 6, 1970 from South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, California.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• • Date Of Birth: November 3, 1944
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 25 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 135 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; blue eyes.
  • Dentals: Not available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Lass was last seen in South Lake Tahoe, she left her residence without her vehicle or personal belongings. Lass worked as a nurse at the Sahara Hotel-Casino. Her last entry in the nurse's log book was at 01:50, and although her car was found parked at her apartment complex in nearby State-line, she wasn't seen after leaving the Sahara.

The next day, an unknown male called her landlord and employer, stating Lass would not be returning due to a family emergency. The call was a hoax, and there has been no trace of Lass ever since.

Donna Lass may be a victim of the Zodiac serial killer, though her body has never been found.

A Zodiac letter gave clues to her body, but it has never been found. A few artifacts belonging to Lass were found in what appeared to be a shallow grave, but no body surfaced.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

South Lake Tahoe Police Department
530-542-6110

Agency Case Number: 706436

NCIC Number: M-001415154
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice
Zodiac Killer.com
Napa Sentinel
South Lake Tahoe PD
Doe Network case file 836DFCA

 

[Markybug]

Any more details on the artifacts found in a shallow grave ?

 

[Richard]

Missing for over 50 Years...

Donna Ann Lass

Lass, circa 1970

• Missing Since 09/06/1970
• Missing From South Lake Tahoe, California
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 11/03/1944 (76)
• Age 25 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4, 135 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes.

Details of Disappearance

Lass was last seen in South Lake Tahoe, California on September 6, 1970. She worked as a registered nurse at the first aid station at the Sahara Hotel-Casino and her last logbook entry was timed at 1:50 a.m.

Her car was found parked near her apartment in Stateline, Nevada, but nobody saw her leave the casino. She has never been heard from again. All of her personal belongings were left behind at her home, except her purse and the clothes she was wearing the night she vanished.

The day after Lass's disappearance, an unidentified male called her place of employment and her landlord to say she would be absent due to a family emergency. Lass was not actually having a family emergency at the time. The caller has never been identified.

A postcard purportedly from the serial killer nicknamed the Zodiac implied that he had killed Lass. The Zodiac sent many written messages to newspapers and police claiming responsibility for disappearances and murders, but Lass's abduction does not fit his profile and the postcard was later found to have been forged by a police investigator.

The Zodiac has never been identified. He is still considered a possible suspect in the disappearances of Robin Graham and Jeannette Kamahele, however.

Lass's case remains unsolved. She is missing under suspicious circumstances.

Investigating Agency

• South Lake Tahoe Police Department 530-542-6110

Source Information

• California Attorney General's Office
• The Zodiac Killer
• Enter the World of the Zodiac Killer
• The Doe Network
• The San Diego Union Tribune
• Unsolved in the News
• South Lake Tahoe Now
• Donna Ann Lass – The Charley Project

 

[Richard]

Missing for over 50 years...

Donna Lass, 25
Missing since 6 September 1970

 

[Richard]

Donna Ann Lass
BIRTH 1944
DEATH Sep 1970 (aged 25–26)
BURIAL Body lost or destroyed, Specifically: Donna Lass disappeared after being last seen at South Lake Tahoe, California.


Donna Ann Lass disappeared at the age of 25 at Lake Tahoe, California and was one of the possible victims of the famous Zodiac Killer. She was last seen at approximately 2:00 a.m. on September 6, 1970.

LINK:

Donna Ann Lass (1944-1970) - Find A Grave...

 

[Diane Redfern]

There's a certain contradiction about the locations:
Robert Graysmith's book says the hotel and casino was located in Stateline, Douglas County, Nevada, and he did not mention where Donna's apartment was located; Charley Project says the hotel was located in South Lake Tahoe, California, while Donna's apartment was in Stateline, Nevada.
However, there are two locations with that name: Stateline, Nevada County, in California, and Stateline, Douglas County, in Nevada. According to Wikipedia, the Stateline in California is incorporated to South Lake Tahoe, California. So... I feel confused.

 

[FOXINBOX]

The casino hotel was the Sahara Tahoe @ 50 US Route 50
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (Stateline) - Wikipedia

 

[FOXINBOX]

There are confused reports but apparently Donna's car was found
@ Monte Verde Apts., 3893 Pioneer Trail CA 96150. They're still there.

I have no idea where her old apartment was. Does anyone know?

 

[FOXINBOX]

Donna was a Roman Catholic & attended mass @ the open air chapel of St-Mary-in-the Pines which used to be in the grounds of St Theresa's @ 1041 Lyons

 

[kemo]

There's a certain contradiction about the locations:
Robert Graysmith's book says the hotel and casino was located in Stateline, Douglas County, Nevada, and he did not mention where Donna's apartment was located; Charley Project says the hotel was located in South Lake Tahoe, California, while Donna's apartment was in Stateline, Nevada.
However, there are two locations with that name: Stateline, Nevada County, in California, and Stateline, Douglas County, in Nevada. According to Wikipedia, the Stateline in California is incorporated to South Lake Tahoe, California. So... I feel confused.

The Hotel-Casino was in Stateline Nevada; no gambling in California. A Stateline address could be either Calif or Nevada depending on the location but anyone who describes their address as being in Stateline Calif technically lives in the city of South Lake Tahoe Calif. That was probably where Donna was living since it presumed that she was abducted from her apartment and South Lake Tahoe PD investigated her case. South Lake Tahoe was much larger than Stateline NV so most people who work in the Nevada Casinos live on the California side.

 

[FOXINBOX]

Donna lived in South Lake Tahoe, hence the CA 96150 zip code. The casino was a whopping 0.8 miles away @ Stateline Nevada 89449

 

[MajorHoople]

Dorothy Jane Scott 5/28/80 and Janet Stallcup 12/19/76 http://truthontatelabianca.com/threads/mona-jean-Gallegos.3434/page-2

1976 California murder case FINALLY solved as killer of girl, 19, identified with DNA test | Daily Mail Online

This is the only mention of Janet Stallcup I can find on Web Sleuths so I posted this link here: Her killer has been identified.

"A 44-year-old cold case was solved this week after advancements in DNA technology revealed the identity of a man who police say raped and killed a teenage girl in 1976.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office in California named Terry Dean Hawkins [he died in 1977] as the suspect in the murder of 19-year-old Janet Stallcup, whose body was discovered in Garden Grove more than 40 years ago, officials said in a news release.

Hawkins died in an Orange County jail a year later in 1977, while incarcerated for charges unrelated to Stallcup's murder.

'We’ll never have all the answers, but there’s so much relief in finally knowing who did this,' Stallcup’s sister, Lee Neil, told the Mercury News Wednesday.

At the time, Stallcup was a nursing student who authorities said was last seen leaving her apartment in her 1962 Ford Falcon. She was heading to a friend's party in nearby Santa Ana the evening of December 19, 1976.

Eight days later, Stallcup was found strangled in the front seat of her car, which was parked at a Garden Grove apartment complex, according to the News."

 

[Markybug]

Mentioned this before , has anyone found more details on the allegation that items of Donna’s were found in a “shallow grave” ?

 

[Richard]

Mentioned this before , has anyone found more details on the allegation that items of Donna’s were found in a “shallow grave” ?

Here is a portion of my post (#37) to this thread which first mentioned the "shallow grave". I have not seen any other information in this regard to the alleged items. Perhaps investigators listed in the source link might be able to give out more information.

(Quote) Circumstances of Disappearance

Donna Lass was last seen in South Lake Tahoe, she left her residence without her vehicle or personal belongings. Lass worked as a nurse at the "Sahara Hotel-Casino". Her last entry in the nurse's log book was at 1:50 a.m., and although her car was found parked at her apartment complex in nearby Stateline, she wasn't seen after leaving the Sahara.

The next day, an unknown male called her landlord and employer, stating Lass wouldn't be returning due to a family emergency. The call was a hoax, and there has been no trace of Lass ever since.

Donna Lass may be the "last" suspected victim of the Zodiac Killer, though her body has never been found. A Zodiac letter gave clues to her body, but it has never been found. A few artifacts belonging to Lass were found in what appeared to be a shallow grave, but no body surfaced.

Investigators

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

South Lake Tahoe Police Department
530-542-6110

Agency Case Number: 706436
NCIC Number: M-001415154

Source:

South Lake Tahoe, CA - Official Website - Donna Ann Lass
(Unquote).

 

[FOXINBOX]

Mentioned this before , has anyone found more details on the allegation that items of Donna’s were found in a “shallow grave” ?

Not as far as I know. Might well be a rumour started after the Discovery [I think, but it was a while ago] Channel program on the Big Z, when they went raking around a parking lot in the Donner Pass area with a load of cadaver dogs which made repeated hits on one particular area. They came to the opinion that human remains had been buried there, but had been taken away...

Incidentally, Donna's case should probably be looked at along with all the other stuff going on in South Lake Tahoe, it's not an isolated incident, There are other disappearances, several car bombs and at least one unexplained murder

 

[FOXINBOX]

Threads on other disappearances, but there is a lot of cross-over between this thread and the other two

CA CA - Charles Hollingsworth, 39, South Lake Tahoe, 26 Oct 1970

CA CA - Richard Strehle, 26, South Lake Tahoe, 5 July 1973

 

[BDHOLLAND]

I hope this might be helpful.

It is an interpretation of this crime in terms of a Zodiac attack.

There is no hard evidence she was a Zodiac target. It has always been weak circumstantial but since there is a historical record for discussing her in terms of a non-canonical Zodiac crime the possibilities remain. Even if Zodiac did write the communications and is referencing Donna Lass and others it doesn't mean he did it. It could also be just him dropping more red-herrings.

Anyway that link has a discussion going on with the interpretation. I put the main body of text up a website which is linked to that discussion here.

 

[FOXINBOX]

Have to admit I got into Donna's case via the Zodiac crimes, but I think the problem with linking Donna's disappearance to the Zodiac Bay Area attacks is that we [That is, the public at large] are 50 years on and we're still doing a re-tread of the same information, because nothing else has revealed itself during that time. Most importantly, all the ink that's been spilt hasn't brought Donna home, and so I would argue the case for looking at her disappearance independently of the Big Z, to see if we can glean new insights. Let's find Donna!
PS A Round in the Snow @ Incline Mountain Golf Course...it's on the map, but maybe Golfers Pass, hmm?