CA CA - Anita Mary Luchessa, 18, Berkeley, 7 May 1972

[Mysteries1974]

Anita Mary Luchessa

• 
• 
• 
• 

Luchessa, circa 1972; Mary Pesce; Ed Kemper, circa 1973

• Missing Since05/07/1972
• Missing FromBerkeley, California
• ClassificationEndangered Missing
• Date of Birth10/29/1953 (64)
• Age18 years old
• Height and Weight5'1, unknown weight
• Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA red shirt and white bib overalls.
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Luchessa wears gold-rimmed eyeglasses.

Details of Disappearance
Luchessa disappeared with her friend, Mary Anne Pesce, from Berkeley, California on May 7, 1972.

The two young women, both students at Fresno State University, were hitchhiking when they were picked up by serial killer Edmund Emil "Ed" Kemper III. Photos of Pesce and Kemper are posted with this case summary.

Kemper drove Luchessa and Pesce to a secluded wooded area near Alameda, California, where he stabbed and strangled both of them to death. He later dismembered their corpses in his apartment and dumped them near Loma Prieta Mountain. They were his third and fourth victims; his grandparents were his first.

Kemper would ultimately murder three more female college students, a fifteen-year-old girl, his mother and his mother's friend before turning himself in to police. He was convicted of eight counts of murder and sentenced to eight consecutive terms of life in prison, and remains incarcerated.

Pesce's skull was found in a wooded area on Loma Prieta Mountain in August 1972, but no trace of Luchessa has ever been located.
Investigating Agency

• Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department

Source Information

• The Santa Cruz Sentinel
• Find a Grave

Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated November 1, 2017; casefile added

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Who Were The Victims of Serial Killer Ed Kemper?

 

[Mysteries1974]

I wonder if Anita’s body can still be recovered after nearly 47 years.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

We had the remains of six people who had been missing for over 40 years pulled from Foss Lake, OK still inside their cars. Anything is possible.

 

[Mysteries1974]

Ok

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The Horrifying True Story Of The Santa Cruz 'Co-Ed Killer' Ed Kemper

'The Co-Ed Killer' Ed Kemper: Then And Now

 

[JerseyGirl]

To learn more about "The Co-Ed Killer," watch "Kemper on Kemper: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer" on Saturday, October 20 at 8/7c.

What Happened To The Rest Of Serial Killer Ed Kemper’s Family?

 

[Lavender Moon]

I wonder if Anita’s body can still be recovered after nearly 47 years.

If her remains have not been utterly destroyed, I think it is possible for them to be found.

 

[Mysteries1974]

If her remains have not been utterly destroyed, I think it is possible for them to be found.

Ed dismembered her remains and dumped them in a remote location. If they find Anita they may also find the rest of her friends remains.

 

[Mysteries1974]

Another victim?

Missing Person Case

She is feared to have been kidnapped and murdered. She’s a possible bundy victim.

 

[Fede]

I wonder why he did not confess where her body is. Maybe he got confused? Also I am asking myself why he didn´t drop the remains along with the Mary Anne Pesce ones since he killed them together.

 

[Mysteries1974]

I wonder why he did not confess where her body is. Maybe he got confused? Also I am asking myself why he didn´t drop the remains along with the Mary Anne Pesce ones since he killed them together.

Does anyone know if she has dental records? I’m trying to submit her NamUS

 

[Fede]

Here I found this. In fact the bodies were thrown in one place and the heads in another. He went back several times to check for Pesce´s head, so he must have separated them. And he showed LE where he left Pesce´s head and not Anita´s.

 

[Mysteries1974]

I wonder if Anita’s remains had been thrown into a brush then how come they weren’t found? You right he probably disposed of them somewhere else. Does Anita have DNA available? I plan on submitting her to the doe network.

 

[Fede]

I wonder if Anita’s remains had been thrown into a brush then how come they weren’t found? You right he probably disposed of them somewhere else. Does Anita have DNA available? I plan on submitting her to the doe network.

I can not find anything...

 

[Mysteries1974]

There must be something that can be crucial in locating her remains.

 

[Fede]

I only found these remains on the NamUs database
Unidentified Person Case

 

[Mysteries1974]

I only found these remains on the NamUs database
Unidentified Person Case

The time as well as the description and place of the remains seems to match up with our missing. I entered Anita into namus but I need her DNA or dentals or else they can’t add her case to namus.

 

[Fede]

The time as well as the description and place of the remains seems to match up with our missing. I entered Anita into namus but I need her DNA or dentals or else they can’t add her case to namus.

Maybe the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department has dental records. They are the investigating agency.

 

[Mysteries1974]

Maybe the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department has dental records. They are the investigating agency.

Yes you are probably right. They could be used for comparison against the remains.