mar 23, 1973 - Phelan Jane Doe 1973 UID & HOMICIDE

Description:

On Friday, March 23, 1973, a black labrador retriever brought the skeletal remains of an unidentified female into the residential yard of the house trailer of his owner, Donald Parsons, in an isolated desert area about a mile south of White and Phelan Roads in Phelan, San Bernardino County, CA. The Parsons originally gave the bones to a neighbor's granddaughter, who was an Ontario, CA high school student and planned to show the bones to her anthropology class; however, Parsons had second thoughts and called authorities, who picked up the bones on Monday, April 9, 1973.

Despite being described as skeletal, NamUs also states the condition of the remains were "partial remains with soft tissues." The dog originally found a skull, jaw bone, and leg bone. Further search by authorities on horseback within a mile radius of the discovery site turned up a rib bone and a few other small pieces of bone. They found no signs of a grave.

It was determined that the cause of death was two gunshot wounds to the head. According to the medical examiner, either one of the two gunshots, which were fired at a close range using a .22 caliber gun, would have rendered the victim unconscious and therefore unable to fire the second shot, leading to the conclusion that Jane Doe was the victim of a homicide. While the estimated PMI is two years, i.e. about 1971, the estimated year of death is listed as 1963-1973 on NamUs.

The body was determined to be that of an 18-25 year old female who was about 5'2-5'4; a 1977 newspaper report, however, listed Jane Doe's height as 5'4 to 5'7. She had a pointy chin and a small frame. Skeletal analysis suggests non-European ancestry, possibly Asian or Native American. The aforementioned newspaper article stated that, "doctors said the skull appeared to be that of a Caucasian who had Mongolian ancestry." Jane Doe's weight, hair color, eye color, and clothing are unknown. Her maxilla was missing, but the rest of her dentals are listed as available on the Doe Network. Teeth #17 and #32 were unerupted, and #27 is "root only."

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In late June 1968, a California Highway Patrolman was informed by a motorcycle gang member who was trying to "skate on a[n unrelated] charge" that he had seen other motorcyclists place a young woman in a car trunk and kidnap her. According to the biker, a young woman with reddish-brown hair who was about 5'7 came to a party in Baldwin Park, LA County with one of the bikers' wives. The woman was then raped by fifteen gang members. After threatening to call police, she was reportedly stuffed in a car trunk and left there overnight. The following afternoon the woman was taken to the Hesperia area — about 10 miles from Parsons's trailer — and shot her in the head with a .22 caliber revolver.

Further investigation years later uncovered further witnesses who confirmed the story, though LE noted that "It has been the practice of some bikers to spread the word of murder around when, in fact, none has been committed. None of the informants can be classified as very reliable... some of them are in deep trouble and are looking for help in their case by providing information."

Sometime after the 1973 discovery of Jane Doe, Detective Charles May connected the story to the unidentified body and believed that Jane Doe was the victim in the biker's story. According to May, the victim may have been a resident of El Monte, eastern LA County named "Karen" or "Kathy." She also may have had a young daughter whom she was raising at the time of her death.

The original informant had given the name of a suspect, who died in a motorcycle crash in 1972. Furthermore, by the time May uncovered the CHP report and formed his theory, the victim's female companion — the only person at the party who knew her — had died of a drug overdose, and the CHP informant hadn't been seen by lawmen since 1973.

By 1977 May was trying to follow up on a tip concerning the wife of one of the bikers, whose husband reportedly had seen the bones of a woman who was slain near the Cajon Pass; the sighting supposedly occurred in 1970. Further information regarding this tip is unavailable.

It is unclear if May's theory is still believed by law enforcement. By 1977, Jane Doe's bones remained in a cardboard box at the county coroner's office. I could not find any information regarding any burial or cremation for her.

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Jane Doe's DNA is also available for comparison. She has four MP exclusions on NamUs: she is not Mary Ann Switalski, Lynn Bandringa, Jamie Grissim, or Karen Tompkins.

On February 2, 2025, I submitted Phelan Jane Doe and Jeannette Kamahele as a possible match on the Doe Network. Later that day, Mary Bell of DN replied, "Thank you for the suggested match. I don't show any comparison of these having been done so I will have our panel look at it. If [it] is proven to be a positive match, I will contact you further."

On June 13, 2025, I asked Mary Bell about the status of various matches that I had submitted to the Doe Network over the past year. I learned from her response that the possible match of Jeannette Kamahele and Phelan Jane Doe 1973 has been submitted to law enforcement.

Anyone with information regarding Jane Doe should contact September Fonzi-Jones of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department - Coroner Division at 909-387-2978. The agency case number is 42536.

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** Note: I am the creator and manager of her FindAGrave memorial. **

WRITE-UP COMPLETION DATE: May 26, 2025
LAST UPDATED: June 13, 2025

Cases mentioned above that are also/will be present on this timeline:
Jeannette Kamahele, Lynn Bandringa, Jamie Grissim
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LUNAR PHASE:
ZODIAC SIGN:
DAY OF WEEK: Friday

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