Identified! CA - Westlake Village, HispFem 18-30, UP11249, pregnant, in parking lot, 18 July 1980. Maricela Rocha Parga *id'd Dec 2025*

[Friday Fan]

I'm glad that her family is in the US. With the way the DNA was going, I was afraid, it wouldn't be that way. It's good to know that she was working and going to school etc. If she had just been here alone from Mexico, I don't think we would have known much more about her than her name and a few pictures. Likewise, if her family was in Mexico, they may not have known what she was up to in the US.


I'm wouldn't be surprised if Chouest met her while she is working as a waitress...

The coffee shop that Chouest said he picked a woman up was at W Sunset and LaBrea.

 

[Friday Fan]

Sotera is Maricela's great grandmother. Her mother Catarina passed away when Sotera was 5 years old. Her father Martin passed away when she was 12. Somewhere around then, Sotera was adopted by her maternal aunt Paula Montellano, and Sotera's surname was changed to Hernandez. All subsequent records mentioning her name referenced her as Sotera Hernandez, daughter of Vicente Hernandez and Paula Montellano.

Well, that's totally confusing!!!!

I noticed that in Family Search, Martin Parga had some sons and I thought maybe that was the relationship.

You guys must have had to go to Mexico or something like that to figure this out!

 

[CarlK90245]

Well, that's totally confusing!!!!

I noticed that in Family Search, Martin Parga had some sons and I thought maybe that was the relationship.

You guys must have had to go to Mexico or something like that to figure this out!

We knew it wasn't one of the sons due to some very technical issues with how x-chromosome segments pass from generation to generation. X Chromosome segments cannot pass from father to son. They can only pass from father to daughter, mother to son, or mother to daughter.

An x chromosome segment originating from Martin Parga's mother (Maria de Jesus Lira) could not pass from Martin to a son, so the subsequent ancestral generation below Martin had to be female.

The records are all available in FamilySearch. However, in the birth records where grandparents are named, the grandparents' names aren't indexed, and are not searchable. Only the person born and his/her parents are searchable. You have to actually read the documents to get the names of the grandparents.

 

[EmiliaRT007]

Her name is Maricela Rocha Parga. She was 22 years old at the time of her death.

I can’t believe it… I was thinking about her recently, actually. I was wondering if any progress was made on her case… glad there was! Rest easy, Maricela, and may your unborn child rest easy too.

 

[JennyJukes]

Wellll I've been emotional all day about this and couldn't hop on and watch 'til now (special educator life). You all know I've been waiting for this for years. ENDLESS THANK YOUS to Carl, of course, and all members of her DNA Doe team for bringing her home. Her case is a good example of amazing people tackling what appears to be an insurmountable task. Not only is she finally able to rest peacefully, this also, I believe, will bring in a new era of Does with complex genetic genealogy cases being identified. I am thinking especially of our Hispanic and Latino Does since their genealogy can be tough, there's a LOT of them, and Latinos in general are already so underrepresented in DNA databases.

For anyone who didn't watch the press conference or didn't catch all the details, here's what was discussed: Maricela was a mom of a 2 y/o at the time of her death (Accounting for previous pregnancy history), and was of course expecting her second child then. Maricela was born in Mexico, and was living in Los Angeles when Wilson Chouest took her life. She was working as a waitress during the day and attending nursing school at night. Her family realized she was missing when she didn't bring a cake (which she had planned to do) to her younger sister's birthday party. Tragic and terrible, not only for the world to lose someone in such a violent way, but for the child who lost their mother, the family who lost their loved one, all her friends and everyone who cared for her...and for Maricela herself for her suffering.

Say her name - MARICELA - and let her be at peace at long last.

oh wow! i wonder if her family know she was pregnant? she was 5 months right and probably showing? and the father didn't know she was pregnant? i wonder what the family knew about it.

rip maricela - so glad she has been identified!

 

[Diavola]

oh wow! i wonder if her family know she was pregnant? she was 5 months right and probably showing? and the father didn't know she was pregnant? i wonder what the family knew about it.

rip maricela - so glad she has been identified!

If she was gonna bring cake to a birthday party it means she had family nearby, right? Surely they would see each other from time to time.

 

[rose_quartz]

Sotera is Maricela's great grandmother. Her mother Catarina passed away when Sotera was 5 years old. Her father Martin passed away when she was 12. Somewhere around then, Sotera was adopted by her maternal aunt Paula Montellano, and Sotera's surname was changed to Hernandez. All subsequent records mentioning her name referenced her as Sotera Hernandez, daughter of Vicente Hernandez and Paula Montellano.

Thank you for sharing that information. That's so interesting!

You and DNA Doe Project have done such an incredible job. The hard work and dedication you all put into these cases is inspiring.

 

[Friday Fan]

If she was gonna bring cake to a birthday party it means she had family nearby, right? Surely they would see each other from time to time.

Yes, CBS News said one of her sisters is still living in their family home, just waiting for her to come home.

I wonder if they saw the Doe posters?

 

[Susikatze]

oh wow! i wonder if her family know she was pregnant? she was 5 months right and probably showing? and the father didn't know she was pregnant? i wonder what the family knew about it.

rip maricela - so glad she has been identified!

4 months and the father claimed he cant remember dating her. Which probably was a lie but it is still possible he forgot her name and he certainly didn’t know she was pregnant. I guess brief relationship or ONS. I wonder if her family knew.

 

[silvernblack]

The grandparents Martin Parga Lira and Catarina Montellano Rojas are indexed -- see tree here:
FamilySearch.org

The part where it gets confusing is the Sotera Great-Grandmother getting adopted and using thereafter using the name Sotera Hernandez.... I think I found her but cannot verify it..... If you follow the tree you will see a Sotera Parga Montellano.
GVMW-VS5 FamilySearch.org

Separately I found this person, Sotera Hernandez Montellano, who may be the same person but I cannot prove it.
GJWB-JGF FamilySearch.org

I am fairly sure she is per post #700 by CarlK90245 ..... somebody can check me but it would be quite the coincidence if the listed mother of Sotera Hernandez is Paula Montellano also.....

The more I look at it the more it adds but I don't want to Merge the 2 Soteras without more info..... somebody check me please?

We knew it wasn't one of the sons due to some very technical issues with how x-chromosome segments pass from generation to generation. X Chromosome segments cannot pass from father to son. They can only pass from father to daughter, mother to son, or mother to daughter.

An x chromosome segment originating from Martin Parga's mother (Maria de Jesus Lira) could not pass from Martin to a son, so the subsequent ancestral generation below Martin had to be female.

The records are all available in FamilySearch. However, in the birth records where grandparents are named, the grandparents' names aren't indexed, and are not searchable. Only the person born and his/her parents are searchable. You have to actually read the documents to get the names of the grandparents.

 

[Friday Fan]

The grandparents Martin Parga Lira and Catarina Montellano Rojas are indexed -- see tree here:
FamilySearch.org

The part where it gets confusing is the Sotera Great-Grandmother getting adopted and using thereafter using the name Sotera Hernandez.... I think I found her but cannot verify it..... If you follow the tree you will see a Sotera Parga Montellano.
GVMW-VS5 FamilySearch.org

Separately I found this person, Sotera Hernandez Montellano, who may be the same person but I cannot prove it.
GJWB-JGF FamilySearch.org

I am fairly sure she is per post #700 by CarlK90245 ..... somebody can check me but it would be quite the coincidence if the listed mother of Sotera Hernandez is Paula Montellano also.....

The more I look at it the more it adds but I don't want to Merge the 2 Soteras without more info..... somebody check me please?

Above my payscale..LOL

In my family a man about a generations before my great grandfather married into the family. Or was his my great grandfather's grandfather? He changed his name to the bride's name. Then my great grandfather married one his daughters to someone who was descended from the guy who changed his name. (So I think they were second cousin or something like this) Anyway, family search won't even let me link the relationship because it goes in circles or something like that.....

It makes my brain hurt. The only reason I know about it this because my great grandfathe wrote a book about our family. He also married her to a man who is descended for the named (or renamed) man to "keep it in the family" (Because family married family. They came from another part of the world, where family married family in order to grow the family and because they didn't trust outsiders)

And then in the case of Spanish language surnames which are transposed different than here, some people write them US style in these databases and some immigrants in the US retain the Spanish order etc etc

 

[jennytrevor]

I'm so happy to see she got her name back.

I wonder if the father of her unborn child would recognize/remember her now that we have her name and an actual photo of her alive.

 

[CarlK90245]

The grandparents Martin Parga Lira and Catarina Montellano Rojas are indexed -- see tree here:
FamilySearch.org

Yes, they are in family search, and can be found if you search on their names, but birth or baptism records of their grandchildren would not show up in a query of their names, even if they are named in the birth records of the grandchildren. What you linked to was a tree constructed by a family search user, not a civil registry or baptismal record. Most of those trees were built by MP sleuths after we had put out the informational release a few years ago naming the elusive daughters of Martin and Catarina.

The part where it gets confusing is the Sotera Great-Grandmother getting adopted and using thereafter using the name Sotera Hernandez.... I think I found her but cannot verify it..... If you follow the tree you will see a Sotera Parga Montellano.
GVMW-VS5 FamilySearch.org

There was no record of that adoption. We had in GEDMatch, descendants of other children of Martin and Catarina, and we had in GEDMatch one person who was a descendant of Sotera"Hernandez" The shared DNA of the Sotera descendant, and the other Parga/Montellano descendants with respect to each other proved that they were all descendants of Catarina Montellano and Martin Parga as opposed their most recent common ancestors connecting a generation higher. Add in that Sotera "Hernandez" was the same age as Sotera "Parga", and that there was no baptismal record for Sotera Hernandez, even though there was for most of the other members of that extended family, there was a realization that Sotera Hernandez and the elusive Sotera Parga were the same person.

Separately I found this person, Sotera Hernandez Montellano, who may be the same person but I cannot prove it.
GJWB-JGF FamilySearch.org

That is a reference to Sotera Hernandez (incorrectly named as the daughter of Vicente Hernandez and PAULA Montellano), along with other children of Vicente and Paula.

 

[Springrain]

Just wanted to give a note for those who may not be aware. As reported, Maricela's family did report her missing multiple times at multiple different agencies. But for whatever reason, Maricela's missing person report was never actually put into "the system", and I can only imagine the issues with different agencies, states, etc. being able to communicate with each other did NOT help.

Since Maricela was planning to bring the cake to her sister's birthday party, she obviously either had or maybe still has family in the area (well, I guess that is just an assumption, but nothing was mentioned about her going out of her way to travel for a long distance), but it seems like she had other family members not in the immediate area which can also make it harder for a successful MP report to be made.

Like I mentioned before, how many Maricelas are out there? She is not the only one whose case faces these or similar obstacles. How many Does are in a similar boat where they have complicated genealogy? Or where family either DID report them missing, and those reports were never entered (for whatever reason that may be)? Or where they either were not reported missing by family or didn't have families around to file the report? How many reports weren't put into the system because they were adults and assumed to have left of their own volition? How many reports were not taken seriously or not prioritized? How many mothers and fathers were forced to leave behind children who have yet to get answers about what happened to their parents so long ago?

Maricela's case is tragic in and of itself, no one deserves to suffer like that - but it has multiple other tragedies compounded.

Just a reminder to not make assumptions about families (Not that I saw anyone on WS doing that) and to consider what the factors may be behind people remaining Does for decades. no one wants it for their loved ones. Tragedies all around.

 

[Friday Fan]

Just wanted to give a note for those who may not be aware. As reported, Maricela's family did report her missing multiple times at multiple different agencies. But for whatever reason, Maricela's missing person report was never actually put into "the system", and I can only imagine the issues with different agencies, states, etc. being able to communicate with each other did NOT help.

Since Maricela was planning to bring the cake to her sister's birthday party, she obviously either had or maybe still has family in the area (well, I guess that is just an assumption, but nothing was mentioned about her going out of her way to travel for a long distance), but it seems like she had other family members not in the immediate area which can also make it harder for a successful MP report to be made.

Like I mentioned before, how many Maricelas are out there? She is not the only one whose case faces these or similar obstacles. How many Does are in a similar boat where they have complicated genealogy? Or where family either DID report them missing, and those reports were never entered (for whatever reason that may be)? Or where they either were not reported missing by family or didn't have families around to file the report? How many reports weren't put into the system because they were adults and assumed to have left of their own volition? How many reports were not taken seriously or not prioritized? How many mothers and fathers were forced to leave behind children who have yet to get answers about what happened to their parents so long ago?

Maricela's case is tragic in and of itself, no one deserves to suffer like that - but it has multiple other tragedies compounded.

Just a reminder to not make assumptions about families (Not that I saw anyone on WS doing that) and to consider what the factors may be behind people remaining Does for decades. no one wants it for their loved ones. Tragedies all around.

She has a sister who is living in LA. She came from a family of nine children. I believe she was the oldest or second oldest.

 

[silvernblack]

ok.... looks like I was right; Sotera Parga is Sotera Montellano and the tree has expanded in the last couple of hours; up to and including Maricela......

You can click on the individuals in the family tree and see the available documentation for births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, etc.....

Someone with more information than I could find has tied up a lot of loose ends:

FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

www.familysearch.org

Yes, they are in family search, and can be found if you search on their names, but birth or baptism records of their grandchildren would not show up in a query of their names, even if they are named in the birth records of the grandchildren. What you linked to was a tree constructed by a family search user, not a civil registry or baptismal record. Most of those trees were built by MP sleuths after we had put out the informational release a few years ago naming the elusive daughters of Martin and Catarina.



There was no record of that adoption. We had in GEDMatch, descendants of other children of Martin and Catarina, and we had in GEDMatch one person who was a descendant of Sotera"Hernandez" The shared DNA of the Sotera descendant, and the other Parga/Montellano descendants with respect to each other proved that they were all descendants of Catarina Montellano and Martin Parga as opposed their most recent common ancestors connecting a generation higher. Add in that Sotera "Hernandez" was the same age as Sotera "Parga", and that there was no baptismal record for Sotera Hernandez, even though there was for most of the other members of that extended family, there was a realization that Sotera Hernandez and the elusive Sotera Parga were the same person.



That is a reference to Sotera Hernandez (incorrectly named as the daughter of Vicente Hernandez and PAULA Montellano), along with other children of Vicente and Paula.