3 jan 1969 ano - Deborah Lee "Debbie" Shelton HOMICIDE & POSSIBLE RAPE

Descrição:

In early 1969 12-year-old Deborah Lee "Debbie" Shelton was living in Aptos, Santa Cruz County, CA with her mother, Marcia, 28, and sisters Victoria, 11, and Melissa, 6. They had moved to the Rio Del Mar area of the county from Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, CA about a year earlier.

Aptos is an unincorporated town in Santa Cruz County, CA. According to Wikipedia, it consists of several different small villages, including Rio del Mar, where Debbie's family lived, and nearby Aptos Village. The villages that comprise Aptos presently have a combined population of 24,402, with Rio del Mar itself consisting of 9,128 of those people.

Debbie was a seventh grader at Aptos Junior High at the time. Her father, James Vern Shelton, was killed in a car accident at the age of 28 in 1966. She reportedly visited her grandparents in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, CA often and had made several friends her age in the Santa Rosa area.

At about 9:30am on Friday, January 3, 1969, Debbie left her home at 423 Palmer St to go bike riding; one contemporary source, quoting Debbie's step-grandmother, stated that she was going to attend a mini-bike race. Debbie had told her mother that she was going to meet up with a male classmate named Sherman whom Marcia didn't know, as well as with Sherman's sister, near the Aptos railroad bridge, and then they were going to bike down to the beach at Aptos. She was expected to be home at around 11:30am for a dentist appointment that she had at noon.

According to her close friend, Loni Reeder, Debbie had been planning the ride for about a week. Loni had last seen her friend at church the previous December, right around Christmas time. At that time Debbie told Loni about an older guy that she was interested in named Sherman. She told Loni that she and Sherman were making a plan to go mini-bike riding. Debbie never told Loni what Sherman looked like, "aside from him being really cute." In 2014, Loni stated, "Now, on reflection, I wonder if [Sherman] was even his real name."

Debbie was last seen alive on Rio Del Mar Blvd at about 11:00am. She was wearing blue Levis, a light blue turtleneck, a purple jacket, and white shoes. She was 5'0, about 85-90 lbs, and had blue eyes and long, straight blonde hair. None of the sources state who was the last to see her and whether there was anyone with her at the time.

Debbie didn't make it home for her dentist appointment, though Marcia seems to have brushed it off as her losing track of time. The mother came home from taking one of her other daughters to an appointment when she received a phone call from someone at about 2pm.

The caller, who Marcia thought sounded like a teenager, said, "We have your daughter. Bring $500 up Trout Gulch Road. Don't call police or we'll kill her." Marcia, not yet thinking that Debbie was missing, thought that it was just a prank call at the time, and so replied "Don't be ridiculous" before hanging up. The caller was never identified, and they never called back, though one contemporary source states that the teenaged boy called Marcia twice. Marcia later told investigators that "the youth sounded older than her daughter, about 14 or 15 years of age."

Marcia eventually grew concerned by Debbie's absence. She first searched for her daughter herself before calling the Sheriff's office at 3:30pm. An intensive search of several days followed, yet failed to uncover any clues.

On Saturday, March 8, 1969, a boy out shooting his BB gun in a wooded area on Aptos Creek Rd stumbled upon a decomposed body lying beneath a tree in a secluded area near the railroad bridge in the village of Aptos. The body was on a vine-covered slope below Aptos Creek Rd, about 20ft above a road leading to private residences, and less than 0.25mi north of Soquel Drive. According to one clipping, "the area is no more than 200yd from the village of Aptos."

As of at least March 11, 1969, telephone company crews had "recently installed new pole and wire hookups" just across Aptos Creek Rd from the slope. Horsemen also regularly used the road, but the body wasn't found until a boy named Henry Tong happened across it.

Marcia identified the body as that of Debbie through the clothing present. The dentals also matched Debbie's records.

Debbie's hands were bound together behind her back with masking tape. Tape that had held her mouth shut prior to death had slipped down to her neck during decomposition. Her clothes were disheveled yet present. The ME estimated that the remains had been there for at least one month and/or for several weeks.

While the scene suggested the possibility of sexual assault, the coroner was unable to determine if any SA occurred due to the condition of the remains. Blood tests showed no poison, sedatives, narcotics, or alcohol in her system. The cause of death was strangulation with her underwear.

There was soil on the clothing that investigators hoped could be used to determine whether Debbie was killed at the scene or elsewhere. There were also several strands of hair that didn't belong to Debbie found on her clothing; however, it is possible that the hair came from the family's dog. Investigators sent the clothing to the FBI for investigation into the soil and hair; the masking tape was also sent in the hopes that fingerprints could be lifted from it.

Despite this, the case quickly grew cold.

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Debbie was buried in Saratoga, Santa Clara County alongside her father. Her mother, Marcia, is still alive as of at least 2017, as is Debbie's youngest sister, Melissa.

In December 2001, one of Debbie's younger sisters, Victoria Lee Specials, 44, went missing in Clear Lake, CA. It is believed that Victoria was likely murdered by her ex-boyfriend, though her body has not been found.

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Debbie's case has been brought up once before on a Zodiac forum, though it bears very little resemblance to any Z cases. This Zodiac forum is how I found out about her case, and is the reason I have tagged this event as a Connection.

Debbie's case has also been mentioned in a post from another amateur sleuth-run site that I use to find related cases: the Murder Incorp. blog, which compiles contemporary sources about crimes in CA from the 1960s and 70s that either have been recently confirmed to still be, or the blogger suspects to be, unsolved. Special focus is put on cases that bear resemblance and/or occurred somewhat in proximity to confirmed and possible EARONS and Zodiac crimes.

Furthermore, while Debbie wasn't hitchhiking — her mother pressed that she would not have been — her murder, as well as her known connection to Santa Rosa, brings the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders to mind; she also bears a strong resemblance to, and was the same age range (12-13) as, confirmed victims Yvonne Weber, Maureen Sterling, and Lori Lee Kursa.

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In 2014 one of Debbie's cousins, who was two years younger than her, set up the Facebook community "Find Justice for Deborah Lee Shelton." It seems that some of the posts on the page have since been taken down in between now (May 2025) and when I first discovered the page within the last six months.

On May 27, 2022, the cousin posted on the page, "There have been some recent developments and significant new information regarding Debbie’s case. The family’s attorney and law enforcement are actively working in this regard. Extremely encouraging. Please continue to keep good thoughts in finally bringing Debbie’s killer to Justice."

The next post after that, from Jan. 23, 2023, seems to have since been taken down. It read, "I pray that 2023 will be the year of resolution of Debbie’s murder...! FAITH... HOPE... LOVE." It is uncertain what the developments from the previous post were, as Debbie's cousin never elaborated on it.

According to a January 7, 2025 post regarding Debbie on the Pacific Northwest Cold Cases and Missing Persons Facebook page, Lance Voss, a suspect in the Lewis-Clark Valley / Snake River Killings, lived in Saratoga, Santa Clara County, CA — approximately 35mi from Aptos — and attended West Valley College in Campbell, Santa Clara County, CA at the time of Debbie's murder.

In late January 2025, Debbie's cousin replied to that same PNW Cold Cases & MPs post, stating, "Apparently there is a small amount of DNA but Santa Cruz sheriff department says there is not enough money to test again… it’s just horrible. I think they at least owe it to the family!"

In February 2022 user Terry [last name redacted for privacy] commented the following on the then-most recent post — which has since been deleted — on the Facebook page dedicated to Debbie:
"I was 14 years old when Debbie was found murdered. I also attended Aptos Junior High School. I remember my parents discussing the murder with my grandmother and other family members. [...] [In 2016 my mother] told me a story about the death of Debbie. She said that her mother (my grandmother) knew a family that had a son named Sherman. After the death of Debbie he hardly ever left the house for weeks. My Grandmother was very suspicious of his behavior and confronted his parents who preceded to break off all contact with my Grandmother. Back in the day no one got involved with other families problems so nothing else was ever said about the murder. This young man eventually joined the service and he soon thereafter took his own life."

According to Terry, after being told this story by her mother she called the Santa Cruz Police hotline number for Debbie's case and left a message stating that her mother had vital information. The investigators reportedly never returned Terry's call. Terry's mother passed away in 2018.

A user named Patty [last name redacted for privacy] replied to Terry's comment, saying, "I am a cousin of Debbie’s mom. I was there when it all happened. I remember my cousin saying Debbie was getting letters from a Sherman. Hang in there. Maybe we can solve this."

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Debbie's murder is still unsolved and present on the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office Unsolved Homicides page. Anyone with information regarding her case is asked to please call the Sheriff's Investigations at (831) 454-7620 or email them at shf236@co.santa-cruz.ca.us. The agency case number is 69-1574.

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WRITE-UP COMPLETION DATE: May 21, 2025
LAST UPDATED: June 17, 2025

Cases mentioned above that are also present on this timeline: Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
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LUNAR PHASE: full moon
ZODIAC SIGN: capricorn
DAY OF WEEK: Friday
EVENTS: Jan. 1 = New Years Day (2 days earlier)

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