CA CA - Theresa Clark, 28, Davis, 24 Nov 1986

[norcalsleuther]

"November 24-25, 1986: Theresa Dawn Clark
Theresa Dawn Clark, age 28 and a UC Davis graduate, was seen at a job interview on the morning of November 24 and at Albertson's Food Center on Eighth Street that evening. The next morning her backpack was found on I-80 near Mace Boulevard; she had disappeared. She was found, murdered, on March 1, 1987; the case is unsolved. (Sacramento Bee, March 25, 1990)"

http://daviswiki.org/Tragic_events/Homicides

Hi guys, I am a new sleuther and was trying to find some more info on this homicide that occurred in 1986... not a common thing in Davis, ca! It apparently went unsolved, maybe I could get help finding out more from some of you more experienced sleuthers? Thanks!!

 

[norcalsleuther]

thanks for moving it i wasn't exactly sure where to post... :waitasec:

I did find mention of this homicide in the online archive of the local paper:

"Several years ago, a friend of the slain UC Davis graduate contacted retired Sacramento police Detective Joe Enloe, who had hung a shingle as a private investigator. The friend, a college acquaintance, wanted to see the case reopened.

Retained to look into the case, Enloe contacted the Davis Police Department, which investigated Clark's disappearance in November 1986 and launched a murder probe when her body was found in the Yolo Bypass the following March.

Unwilling for confidentiality reasons to part with their files, the police department instead brought Enloe on as a city employee, partnering him with then-Detective Paul Resch to investigate the cold case.

"It was a great pairing," said Davis police Sgt. Scott Smith, citing the seasoned Enloe's vast experience and the younger Resch's technologically savvy investigative style. Together, they began re-contacting witnesses in the case and conducting fresh interviews.

Not long after, Enloe was stricken with esophageal and kidney cancer, which took his life in June 2006. Then, Resch took a job with the newly formed Elk Grove Police Department.

"Which left us back to square one again," Smith said.

Clark, 28, received her degree in environmental toxicology from UC Davis in June 1986. Five months later, on Nov. 24, she traveled to Sacramento for a job interview. She played pool at a Sacramento club afterward, and was last seen at about 8:20 that night buying groceries at the local Albertsons store on East Eighth Street.

The next day, some of Clark's clothing was found in Sacramento, while her backpack was discovered dumped near the Mace Boulevard overpass. But the whereabouts of Clark herself remained a mystery until March 1, 1987, when her badly decomposed body was found in the Yolo Bypass.

Authorities determined she had been badly beaten, based on cracks in the woman's bones. But the person who inflicted them remains at large.

"The case pretty much went stale in the late '80s, early '90s," Smith said. "We just ran into dead ends.""

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=11991A46204C0548&p_docnum=1

 

[Cubby]

Thanks for posting this case. The link is no longer working and reads search expired. Also, WS copy right rules, we ask you post no more than 10% of an article and add the link. Otherwise we risk copyright infringement.

Can you find an updated link?

Thank you.

 

[Kat]

I could only find pay-per-view articles covering the search parameters of Theresa Dawn Clark.

 

[norcalsleuther]

hmmm im not sure why that link expired....maybe this one will work? just click on the article

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives

 

[norcalsleuther]

*bump*

I find it so sad there is so little info and knowledge on this case when it is one of the only unsolved murders that has happened in Davis, CA.... most people here don't even know that it happened (!)

 

[Dorrick]

Do you know the name and contact information of the current detective?

 

[Steph54]

I wonder if Richard Hirschfield (Davis Sweetheart Murders) was responsible for this murder.

 

[dotr]

Looking for the right thread in which to post this link and this thread popped up, perhaps there is a connection?

"Published on Oct 22, 2018 Description: How the cold case prosecution for the 1980 murders of two UC Davis students unfolded over 30+ years.  Part 1 gives background and history of the case - who the victims were, what happened to them - and takes you through the early investigation from 1980 to 2002.  Show Notes: The lead prosecutor, Dawn Bladet, and investigator, Ron Garverick, discuss the cold case prosecution of Richard Hirschfield.  In 1980, Hirschfield murdered UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves – often called the UC Davis Sweetheart Murders. Bladet and Garverick set the scene of what the town of Davis and Sacramento region was like in 1980, and tell us about John and Sabrina.  The discussion goes back in time, describing the evening John and Sabrina went missing and the events that soon followed - from the families reporting them missing, to locating the van they were driving, to the discovery of their bodies and how that discovery affected the Riggins and Gonsalves families.  Bladet and Garverick talk through the twists and turns the case took giving the history and general timeline of the investigation, including the pursuit of the Hunt Group who were charged in Yolo County for the murders.  On the eve of their trial, they were exonerated by DNA.  This episode ends at the point where DNA taken from a blanket at the crime scene gets a DNA hit in 2002 to an unknown suspect, turning the case in a completely new direction.  This case was featured on 48 Hours" (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-swe...