Andrea: coroner case # 90-01853-LY
Andreas accident was very bad. She was hit by a white Mazda, then thrown into the path of a Lincoln Continental and ended up pinned beneath it. No charges were filed against the drivers. I doubt any witnesses have forgotten it and authorities who dealt with her case seem to have been deeply affected by it and very, very committed to identifying her. A lot of work has been done, imo. She had a blood-alcohol level of 0.07 and there were traces of cocaine in her system. One coroner said his personal opinion was she was a party girl.
The descriptions of Andrea as brown-eyed, brown-haired and with a buxom/full figure and slight acne scarring are all confirmed. As is the 5ft 4in height and 122lb weight, and the coroner reporting expensive, excellent porcelain dental work. She was in good health. Age 18-30 reported in all the articles from the 1990s.
Her dress is reported as being of black cotton, long and ankle-length. It had at least one pocket because the motel key was found in it. Her t-shirt was red and long-sleeved and her sweater was a bulky, hot-pink knit, New Hero brand. The fish nets are reported as being both stockings and hose (does that mean tights?). She was wearing low heeled pink pumps, one of which still had a $19.95 price tag on. Its reported by the man who gave her money and helped her that the shoes and (some/all?) of her clothes were bought at a Goodwill store. He also said she claimed to be adopted at a very young age, carried no identification and had made the hair ring by cutting her own hair the morning of her death, before she left his house. One article describes her clothing as garish. An employee of a new-age store in Long Beach called Eye of the Cat had speculated the hair was from a lover and the stone was a charm or worry stone.
Andrea was carrying a smooth black stone, a key with an unmarked orange tag, an Orange County Transit District bus schedule (for the route running from Santa Ana to Seal Beach via Westminster Ave) and $20.30 in cash (no wallet or purse). Also reported as being $18 plus change. Everyone involved with her case repeatedly mentions her youth, how she was such a young girl. It does suggest that she was much nearer the bottom of her age range than the top, imo, though one article states she may have been as young as 18.
The OC senior deputy coroner, Joe Luckey, took a particular interest in Andreas case because he was so touched by it:
At one point, Luckey carried a sketch of the woman pasted onto an identification card tucked in his wallet.
Hed initially speculated Andrea was a drifter from out of state and the stone might have indicated membership of a cult because it was a strange thing to be carrying around. He checked 12 motels, asked everyone he knew personally about her, sent her prints to Cal ID and the FBI as well, and within a year had compared her details to 122 missing persons reports: There was always something that didnt match up. Her info has been distributed to LE all across the US and hundreds of phone calls have been followed up. She likely has not been arrested in California.
Several people came forward when Andreas death was reported, including three transients who gave one of the following snippets of info each: She was from the East Coast, she was from Virginia and she was adopted and raised in an orphanage???(my question marks). Another said he had seen her going through a trash bin. One homeless man said he was 100 per cent certain she was the Andrea he had a brief friendship with when they met while he was hitching on the Pacific Coast Highway. She was riding in a car with a man who stopped for him (the hitcher). Andrea told the hitcher she was from somewhere like Virginia and another lady she was from New York.
False hope was raised by a lady in Hampton, VA, a month after Andreas death. She knew a young adopted girl working her way to California to find her birth family, but the girl was happily found to be alive and well. Another lady from Tampa, FL, called in April 1992, convinced Andrea was her missing daughter. Luckey managed to trace the womans daughter, alive and well, and reunite them. At least it makes it worthwhile, he said.
I see this as a girl who ran away, a bohemian type, into some kind of a scene maybe a follower of a certain kind of music, what used to be called punk but is something different now. Her clothing is almost like a costume thrift store stuff; Bruce Lyle, supervising deputy, OC Coroners Office, April 14, 1990.
April 14, 1990, Bruce Lyle: If shes not identified soon, I think shes going to be around here for a long time.
On June 26, 1992, it was reported if Andrea was not identified, she would be cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.
Information from archive articles in the Orange County Register. Direct links to each article cannot be posted as these are paid-for articles and the link expires. Can be retrieved by a search under jane doe, andrea in OC Reg archives.
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