apr 1, 1979 - Rebecca Jean Dunn DISAPPEARANCE

Description:

According to the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General (CA DOJ OAG) website, which hosts a missing persons database — and also according to Doe Network and Charley Project, which use CA DOJ as a source — Rebecca Jean Dunn was born on March 21, 1958. Through research on Ancestry, I have found that Rebecca was born on March 21, 1958 in LA County, CA to a mother with the maiden name Newquist. This is the only information I could find matching Rebecca’s info. Further speculation regarding possible Ancestry info is at the bottom of this write-up.

Rebecca was last seen in April, May, or June 1979, possibly specifically Thursday, May 10, 1979; either way, she was 21 years old when last seen. I have put her date of disappearance as April 1, 1979, as that is a sort of "placeholder" date used by several of the sources.

In early 1979, Rebecca and a female friend left their residences in Las Vegas, NV and traveled to San Diego, CA together along with two men. The friend eventually returned to Las Vegas, having last seen Rebecca in about April 1979. The friend told investigators that she and Rebecca had traveled to CA to act as prostitutes. At least one of the two men is believed to have acted as the women’s pimp while in CA. Rebecca has no known vehicle. Neither the female friend nor Rebecca’s family ever saw or heard from her again. Few details are available in her case, and the specifics of her disappearance are unknown at this time.

Rebecca is varyingly described as 5’8 and 150 lbs or 5’9 and 179 lbs. Some sources, such as NamUs, state that she had blue eyes, while others like CA DOJ state that her eyes were green. She had blonde/strawberry blonde hair. There was a (large) bump on the bridge of her nose.

Rebecca’s dental x-rays and charting, as well as her DNA, are available, while it is unknown if her fingerprints are as well. She is classified as Endangered Missing according to the Charley Project and Doe Network. According to official databases, Rebecca has used the aliases Babette Powers and Sandy Long.

There were no instances of “Sandy Long” or “Rebecca Dunn” corresponding to her in NV or CA from 1976 to 1979. The only instance of "Babette Powers" in US newspapers from 1976-1979 is of a girl/woman named Babette Powers being among the winners of a watermelon eating contest in September 1977, published in SF's Enterprise Journal.

Anyone with information regarding Rebecca’s case is encouraged to call the Las Vegas Metro PD at either (702) 229-3716 (according to CA DOJ) or (702) 828-2907 (according to NamUs). The agency case number is either 707191319 (according to CA DOJ) or 970719-1319 (according to NamUs).

NamUs states that 31 UIDs have been excluded as being Rebecca, however, one of these is blank and two are repeats, so in reality there are 28 distinct UIDs on Rebecca's exclusion list: of these, one each was found in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Ohio; two each in Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Pennsylvania; 7 in Virginia; and 9 in California. Regarding the UIDs from western states, five of them have since had their NamUs pages become unavailable (one from NV, 4 from CA); the remaining UIDs from western states on Rebecca's exclusion list are the following:
- Rimforest John Doe 1978
- Newhall Jane Doe 1980
- LA Jane Doe March 1980
- Valencia Jane Doe 1980
- Palm Desert Jane Doe 1980
- Mohave County, AZ Jane Doe Dec. 1979
- Bullhead City, AZ Jane Doe 1989
- "Becca" (Albuquerque, NM Jane Doe 1991)
- Shafter, NV Jane Doe 1993 (part of the Great Basin Murders)

Rebecca's NamUs profile — #MP7870 — was created on August 10, 2010, and was last updated 5/8/2024. Her Charley Project page was last updated January 11, 2011. Her Doe Network case — 1374DFNV — was created prior to 2011, and was last updated 5/18/2022.

-----
The first plausible person I could find on Ancestry who could possibly be Rebecca’s mother is Ann Rosmaine Dunning née Newquist, who was born in Iowa in 1933, and passed away in 2013. In 1955 Ann married Cecil Guy Dunning in San Carlos, San Mateo County, CA. According to the city directory, the couple were still living in San Carlos in 1958. Cecil was a communications supervisor for United Airlines (SF) at the time. The couple had two children together: Christopher John Dunning (1960-2012) and Dwan Leah Dunning (b. 1962); both were born in San Mateo County.

Another possibility is Ann Marie Newquist (1932-2006). Anne was born in Wisconsin, and her residence before 1951 was in Minnesota; her next address was in Pasadena, LA County in 1958, and then Los Angeles in 1960; from what I could find, Ann never married and didn’t have any children.

Ann also had three sisters (and a brother) who could have possibly been Rebecca’s mother: Beverly Ruth Priess nee Newquist (1929-2020), Pearl Maurine Rudie De Guelle nee Newquist (1934-2017), and Joan Eileen Clary nee Newquist (1942-2020). In 1949, Beverly married Vernon Erwin Priess in LA County. The couple lived in LA itself in 1950, and in Alhambra, LA County in 1952; to my knowledge, they had no children together, and the next piece of info regarding Beverly that I could find was from 1993. Just like Ann, Pearl and Joan resided in Pasadena in 1958 and in LA in 1960, with both marrying at some point later on.

-----
CONFIRMATION OF COMPLETION DATE: May 31, 2025

Cases mentioned above that are also/will be present on this timeline:
LA Jane Doe March 1980, Valencia "Younger Doe" 1980; Palm Desert Jane Doe 1980, Newhall Jane Doe 1980
-----
DAY OF WEEK: Thursday

Added to timeline:

Date: