 Donna Ann Lass. Click to enlarge photograph.
View the private investigator's report concerning Donna Lass.
Donna Ann Lass (25), born November 3rd 1944 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota was last seen in Stateline, Nevada on September 6th 1970, having finished her shift that morning at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, (now the Golden Nugget Lake Hotel & Casino). where she was employed as a nurse. A few months earlier in June she had moved to South Lake Tahoe from 4122 Balboa Street in San Francisco, having previously worked as a nurse at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio, located north of the Paul Stine murder scene. Her residence was located 2.66 miles (as the crow flies) from the intersection of Washington and Cherry Streets. On September 5th 1970 she was scheduled to work her night shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel from 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, but was last seen at 1:50 am that morning for the last time. Sometime following (either on September 7th or 8th), it was believed that sinister telephone calls had been received by casino security and her landlord claiming that Donna Ann Lass had been called out of town due to a family illness. However, although it has been established that no sinister phone call was ever made to her landlord, it is extremely likely that the caller to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel was her killer, who probably initiated the "family illness" story to delay any concern about her continued absence from work and any police investigation that would inevitably follow. There was in fact no illness in the family of Donna Lass and the young 25-year-old woman was never heard from again. To examine one possibility regarding the phone call to the casino, click here. There is no tangible evidence connecting the Zodiac Killer to the disappearance (and murder) of Donna Lass, other than a postcard mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 22nd 1971 insinuating his involvement in her probable demise. And yet again, the Zodiac Killer failed to provide any useful information that indicated he was even in Stateline, Nevada on the day of her disappearance on September 6th 1970. On the contrary, here is an article examining the Pines postcard in light of the discovery of remains belonging to Donna Lass in 1985/1986, showing that its author may have designed the card to pinpoint the exact location where her body could be found. A jawbone (and all teeth) were found on the northern side of Interstate 80 and Highway 20, slightly east of Chubb Lake on December 31st 1985 (reported in the newspapers in 1986) by a fisherman traveling towards Lake Valley Reservoir via Yuba Gap. A human skull was found near to the other remains on January 19th 1986 during follow-up searches headed by Deputy Lowell Carleton. These bones remained unidentified until December 2023, when it was finally determined through DNA to be that of Donna Lass, her fate unknown for almost 53 years and 4 months. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department has notified the surviving members of the Lass family. ANALYZING THE PINES POSTCARD WITH RESPECT TO THE LOCATION OF DONNA'S REMAINS BIG NEWS IN THE DONNA LASS CASE- ZODIAC SPEAKING PODCAST ZODIAC KILLER THREATS TO INCLINE VILLAGE IN NOVEMBER 1969 ANOTHER SINISTER PHONE CALL TO THE SAHARA IN 1977 PLOTTING THE DISTANCE OF THE DEAD ZONE 
Approximate location of the skull based on current information. Click image to enter Google maps.
 The Paradice Motel, 953 Park Avenue, South Lake Tahoe. Click to visit website.
Harvey Hines (see below right), a detective from Groveland, Tuolumne County, Ca, who retired from the California Police Department in 1992, had an avid interest in the Donna Lass case and remained resolute in his determination to solve her disappearance, forming close associations with the Lass family members. Along with Mary and Don Pilker, the sister and nephew of Donna Lass, they became convinced the Zodiac Killer was responsible for the abduction in South Lake Tahoe, in addition to his crimes in the north Bay Area. Harvey Hines interviewed by the Tahoe Daily Tribune stated, "There was a lot of evidence inside Sahara Tahoe Casino that she left directly from there. She was a very personal person and she left a lot of personal items behind; an opened letter, a dirty uniform and on her log, a pen was dragged from the last word she wrote to the bottom of the page".
 Sierra Club stone cross. Click to enlarge photograph.
Donna Lass had recently rented her Monte Verdi apartments on 3893 Pioneer Trail Road on September 5th 1970 (street view), located just a four minute drive from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and Casino. When she first arrived in South Lake Tahoe in early June 1970 she stayed with her friends Ann and Larry Lowe at 4054 US Highway 50 before deciding to relocate to Pioneer Trail Road. She had made an inspection of the new residence on September 5th 1970 with landlord Nick Davis, and then later headed to work for the last time.
Although her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro convertible was discovered outside the Monte Verdi apartment complex after her disappearance, it is believed she had not driven it to work for her 6pm shift, having walked from the Monte Verdi apartments to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, which was 17 minutes walking distance. Although this is possible, it is considerably less than certain. She had made plans in the near future to meet up with her friend from San Francisco, Jo Anne Goettsche, who in a recorded interview with Zodiac researcher Michael Morford in 2021 stated that (to the best of her recollection) she had planned to meet up with Donna on either the Sunday or Monday night of September 6th/7th 1970. The private investigator's report stated September 7th 1970. This would suggest that Donna Lass had no plans to meet her friend after work on the 6th as many researchers have speculated. Harvey Hines is firmly of the conviction that Donna Lass was abducted from (or after) work - and there is a distinct probability that this is actually what happened. Donna Lass was a conscientious worker, described as very reliable by her friends and colleagues. This allied to the dragged pen mark from her nurses log has led some researchers to believe she was either physically assaulted here, or more likely lured from her work station on the ruse of a medical emergency in the parking lot, where she was likely abducted. The last person apparently to see Donna Lass before her disappearance was Joan Bentley from San Francisco, who stated that Donna appeared in good spirits at approximately 1:15 am. The last entry on her log according to Mary Pilker was "patient complains of", before the pen trailed off the page. Despite the arguments presented that suggest she never left the Sahara Tahoe Hotel grounds by her own volition, many observers speculate that Donna Lass may have arrived at her Monte Verdi apartment complex in her car, where her abductor lay in wait close by - or she could have been trailed from her workplace to the apartment complex. The sinister phone call to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino informing people of the Donna Lass family illness could be telling. The caller was not boasting of murder like the Zodiac Killer exhibited after the Blue Rock Springs and Lake Berryessa attacks, he was seemingly trying to give the impression nothing untoward had happened, which could suggest that the objective of the phone call was simply to 'buy time'. If the abductor was affording himself some extra breathing space, then the real possibility exists of a perpetrator local to the area or known to Donna Lass - and a credible argument can be made that he was either holding Donna Lass at this juncture, needed time to dispose of her body, or possibly needed to remove incriminating evidence from his home or vehicle before the police came knocking. One could argue that this was suggestive of a killer who moved in the circle of Donna Lass, such as a friend or work colleague, who are invariably the first people to be questioned in most police investigations.  1968 Chevrolet Camaro
If Donna Lass had walked to work that evening from the Monte Verdi apartments, her car had obviously never been parked outside the casino that night. If the perpetrator knew Donna Lass and the vehicle she drove, then a phone call to the casino implying she had been called out of town for a family emergency and would be away from work for some time, would be negated if her Chevrolet Camaro convertible was spotted sitting idle in the car park of the casino for any extended period. This may indicate the perpetrator knew her vehicle was parked outside the Monte Verdi Apartments, where it was less likely to attract attention from concerned casino employees.
If Donna Lass was abducted close to her shift change, just moments after changing from her nurses uniform into regular clothes, could this have indicated the perpetrator had prior knowledge regarding the location and working schedule of the young nurse? Was the killer close enough to Donna Lass to know her family lived in South Dakota and the phone call (if one was made by him) had a better chance of buying extra time under these circumstances? This person apparently stated that Donna Lass had been "called out of town" on account of a family illness, so it may indicate that the caller was aware her family did not live in South Lake Tahoe. Although not impossible, this information or knowledge is not something to be expected from a random killer. South Dakota is approximately 1,555 miles from Lake Tahoe, which would in theory buy the perpetrator a substantial amount of breathing space to complete their objective. The San Francisco Chronicle ran an extensive article on the missing Donna Lass on September 26th 1970 entitled 'Nurse Vanishes...A Tahoe Mystery.' It may have suggested the phone calls had the desired effect, stating "As the absence lengthened, hotel officials contacted the South Lake Tahoe Police, who checked her apartment and could find no clue to her whereabouts. Relatives in Sioux Falls flew here a week ago" (Mary Pliker, Donna's sister, arrived on September 19th 1970). So I suppose Zodiac's paraphrasing of The Mikado on July 26th 1970 stating "none of them will be missed". partly rang true in this instance because it bought the perpetrator a significant and measurable period of time to cover their tracks. If the author of the Pines postcard (March 22nd 1971) was the Zodiac Killer, mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle six-and-a-half months later, then it opens the door to him being resident in the area of South Lake Tahoe at the time of Donna Lass' disappearance, and by extension, having been connected to her in some way. The counter argument is that the Pines Card, similar in fashion to the 13-Hole Postcard, was designed by the real murderer (not Zodiac) of Donna Lass to deflect attention away from the South Lake Tahoe region, toward the killer of five in the Bay Area of Northern California. There is one extremely compelling argument to back up the notion of the Zodiac Killer designing the Pines card, notably his addition of the phrase "sought victim 12". The absurd claim that this victim total of twelve, being out of sequence with other known Zodiac communications, is proof of a hoaxer being responsible for the Pines card, is inherently flawed logic. It relies on the premise of a hoaxer, who meticulously and deliberately pasted five selected phrases onto a postcard, being so stupid as to not have read any of the previous newspaper articles about the Zodiac Killer and his running victim totals. The logical conclusion regarding the Pines card is that it was deliberately engineered using the word "sought", which is the past participle of seek. The suggestion being, that he had once "sought" Donna Lass as his twelfth victim. 
This makes perfect sense when we consider that the April 20th 1970 Zodiac letter claimed 10 victims, and his June 26th 1970 Zodiac letter claimed 12 victims. Any victim "sought" between these two dates could conceivably have become Zodiac's twelfth victim. Donna Lass was resident at 4122 Balboa Street, San Francisco between the dates of April 20th 1970 and the early part of June 1970, before she moved to begin her job at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino on June 6th 1970. A Zodiac Killer trailing Donna Lass before her move to South Lake Tahoe, could have unquestionably sought her as victim number twelve between these dates. By using the phrase "sought victim 12" in the Pines card, the Zodiac Killer is effectively connecting himself to Donna Lass through San Francisco and South Lake Tahoe, hopefully cementing the belief in investigators minds that he knew Donna Lass over an extended period of time. Of course, he may not have been trailing her at all and may not have been her killer, but by using the "sought victim 12" phrase, he is effectively suggesting this as a possibility to law enforcement in order to boost his credibility. The information about Donna Lass having worked at the Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio Park, close to the Zodiac's final victim of Paul Stine on October 11th 1969, was widely covered in the newspapers, along with the date she moved. Therefore, by incorporating the phrase "sought victim 12" into the Pines card, he is also bridging the gap between the murder of the taxicab driver and the disappearance of Donna Lass, both indelibly connected to the Presidio Heights district of San Francisco. This phrase wasn't a mistake, it was deliberately fashioned to plant a seed.
Sheriff's Inspector Stanley Parsons stated "If the Zodiac claims he killed the missing nurse at Lake Tahoe, and if in fact he did slay her, then there is a very good chance he also killed Miss Hakari and Miss Bennalack". Judith Hakari had just finished her shift at the Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento on March 7th 1970, when upon her return home in the late night hours (approximately 11:30 pm), she had pulled into the parking lot of the Markston Apartments, from where she was likely abducted. One and a half months later she was discovered in a shallow grave near Ponderosa Way, Weimar, Placer County. She had been savagely beaten about the face, strangled and raped. Her injuries were devastating, with her nose smashed to a pulp, her jaw broken in two places, several teeth had been knocked out and her hyoid bone fractured.
Nearly two months after the disappearance of Donna Lass, Nancy Bennallack, a court reporter, was found brutally stabbed numerous times at the Tahitian Apartments on October 25th 1970, just one block away from the Markston Apartments where Judith Hakari vanished. Recent developments through genetic genealogy in 2022 has identified the murderer of Nancy Bennallack as Richard John Davis, who lived in the same apartment complex as the victim. His apartment was situated opposite that of Bennallack's, giving him a direct line of sight over the pool. Sadly, Richard Davis (born in 1943 and aged 27 at the time of the murder) will elude justice because he died of an alcohol related illness on November 2nd 1997. A letter received by the San Francisco Chronicle on May 6th 1986 claiming to be from the Zodiac Killer would detail another crime in Sacramento, extremely close to the murders of these two young women. The letter is without doubt describing the murders of Koy Ien Saechao (48) and Choy Fow Saelee (40) alongside Highway 99, as they rested in their parked car on the hard shoulder of a Sacramento freeway. See here. 
 View South Lake Tahoe on Google Maps
Donna's Chevrolet Camaro convertible was found locked outside her Monte Verdi apartments on 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. Her flat showed no signs of disturbance or any suggestion that a violent struggle had occurred. In addition, no suspicious activity subsequent to September 6th had been noted on her credit card or savings account.
On September 6th 1970 or September 7th 1970, Jo Anne Goettsche, a former roommate and work colleague of Donna Lass at the Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco (mentioned above), had planned to visit her friend at the Lake Tahoe Casino and spend Labor Day weekend with her. However, with Donna Lass unable to be located that morning and with little help from casino security on her whereabouts, her friend returned back to San Francisco the following day none the wiser - and from here on in the mystery deepened. Does the fact that Donna Lass, having already changed from her nurses uniform into civilian clothes before her shift end, suggest a planned meeting that morning with somebody she knew? Somebody that would later murder her? On April 20th 1970, a letter was mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle containing a cipher of only 13 characters, widely known as the 'My Name Is...Letter'. Harvey Hines believed he had decoded it to reveal the name of proposed Zodiac suspect Lawrence Kane, closely aligned to the missing woman on the grounds he supposedly worked at the same South Lake Tahoe Casino as Donna Lass. In fact (according to Harvey Hines), he worked for Alan Dorfman selling Arizona real estate from his office located just down the hallway from Donna Lass' work station. Harvey Hines drew further parallels to his suspect, citing the similar writing styles of the Zodiac and Lawrence Kane. To view a video of Harvey Hines and his proposed solution to the 13-Symbol Cipher (My Name is Letter), click the banner link top right of this page. 
 Kathleen Johns. Click to enlarge photograph.
Kathleen Johns and her 10-month-old daughter Jennifer were abducted on Highway 132, near Modesto on March 22nd 1970, that became known as the Modesto Attack. This is a crime that sits on the edge of the Zodiac Killer story, with many enthusiasts feeling it has received unwarranted attention on such flimsy evidence, that basically relies on two key focal points. Firstly, the identification of her abductor from a composite drawing at the Patterson Police Station, in connection to the Paul Stine murder at Presidio Heights on October 11th 1969. And secondly, the Zodiac Killer himself claiming to be responsible for the abduction four months later in a mailed letter to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 24th 1970. Kathleen Johns was lured into the abductor's car on a ruse that the wheel of her car was coming loose, ultimately offering her a lift to the nearest service station. He would, however, take her on a two-hour mystery tour through the outskirts of Tracy, California, before she managed to escape across a field clutching her infant child. According to Harvey Hines, Kathleen Johns in the 1980s would review her ordeal that night, pinpointing Larry Kane as her likely abductor.
Also Pam Huckaby, the sister of Darlene Ferrin, who tragically died at Blue Rock Springs Park on July 4th 1969, stated that Lawrence Kane had been trailing her sister in the run up to that fateful night at the Blue Rock Springs parking lot. Unfortunately her recollections and suspicions have changed many times throughout the years, having now placed her faith in Lyndon Lafferty's claim that William Grant was the Zodiac Killer.
The Pines Card, 3.22.71 (see image below) was mailed six-and-a- half months after the disappearance of Donna Lass, falling on the first anniversary of the Modesto abduction of Kathleen Johns. The card was likely engineered by the Zodiac Killer sometime between March 19th 1971 and March 21st 1971, and mailed on the Sunday or Monday morning. The authenticity of this postcard as a Zodiac communication has divided the community ever since. It contained five phrases pasted onto a postcard, but their meaning has yet to be fully determined. It was addressed personally to Paul Avery, a reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle. To view the original undoctored Forest Pines advertisement from the March 19th 1971 San Francisco Chronicle, that Zodiac likely used to create the Pines Card, click here. We can ascertain that this (or the advertisement in the San Francisco Examiner on March 19th) was the advertisement Zodiac probably used for the Pines Card because "Peek through the pines" began with a capital letter, whereas the adverisements for "Forest Pines at Incline" displayed on other websites carries the phrase "peek through the pines" without the capital letter. The Zodiac Killer's postcard contained the capitalized version. The image below shows the portion of the advertisement the Zodiac cut from the newspaper. 
The text on the card read; [1] 'Sierra Club' [2] 'Sought Victim 12' [3] 'Peek through the pines' [4] 'pass Lake Tahoe areas' [5] 'around in the snow' (pasted upside down).
Address side of Pines card
The Pines card never made any direct reference to the missing Donna Lass, only insinuated a connection through the 'Lake Tahoe' and 'Sierra Club' references. If Donna Lass was murdered by the Zodiac Killer, then the Pines Card may hold a cryptic message - although it may be simply just another blind alley and another cruel hoax.
Parts of the June 26th 1970 Button letter and Phillips 66 map, as well as the entire July 26th 1970 Little List letter were withheld from publication by the San Francisco Chronicle to generate a reaction from the Zodiac Killer and possibly force him into a mistake. A San Francisco Chronicle article on June 30th 1970 detailed the Button letter, stating that Zodiac was now boasting 12 victims, but withheld the images and code contained within the correspondence. The Zodiac Killer certainly did not appreciate anything less than 'front page' coverage.. However, he did not bite on this occasion. On October 12th 1970 the San Francisco Chronicle finally relented and published the Little List letter, along the 13-Hole postcard, which was mailed on October 5th 1970, a week earlier. These communications displayed the Zodiac victim count at 13. Then the Halloween Card on October 27th 1970 raised the Zodiac total to 14, before his March 13th 1971 Los Angeles letter claiming 17+ victims. Despite little in the way of handwriting on the postcard, Questioned Documents Examiner Sherwood Morrill determined that the postcard was authentic Zodiac material. He was confident of recognizing Zodiac's handwriting, stating "I've got him down cold. If he were standing beside me, say, in a bank, filing out a deposit slip, I know I'd recognize that printing anywhere. Basically I identity handwriting, inks, typing, erasures, obliterations, alterations, even the paper itself. Handwriting is as individual as fingerprints. With sufficient samples of a person's handwriting or in Zodiac's case, printing - I can tell if he wrote the document in question". The two immediate communications after the Donna Lass disappearance were both mailed to the San Francisco Chronicle. As stated above, the first was the 13-Hole Postcard on October 5th 1970, and the second was the Halloween Card, on October 27th 1970 which addressed Paul Avery by name.
The search for Donna Lass would be badly affected by the inclement weather in the coming months, highlighted by Police Chief Ray Lauritzen from the outset: "We don't know where we're going to begin. There's a four or five foot pack of snow out there and it's still snowing heavily". The Pines Card made reference to the snow, but in a sinister way, by pasting the words 'around in the snow' at ground level and upside down, the author may be insinuating that Donna Lass was buried under it.
A newspaper article stated that 'the site depicted on the 'Pines Card' was from an advertisement published last Sunday by several newspapers. It was an artist's rendition of houses among the trees at a Boise Cascade Company project at Incline Village, where construction has just begun on the development. While much of the Sierra area is under several feet of snow, Incline Village has only two feet on the ground. Police went to the area to determine if a search is possible'. Chief Lauritzen added "There's no point to a search at this time. It's unlikely a victim would be uncovered before spring". The following is an excerpt from the unreleased 120-page Harvey Hines report, regarding his investigation into the missing Donna Lass. The following pictures show a unique image of the Pines Card created by Harvey Hines and a photograph of the crucifix stone formation at the Sierra Club. "After studying the card, I drove to Nordin, located on old Highway 40, north of Lake Tahoe, and found the SIERRA CLUB. I learned the club was not called the Sierra Club. It was named the Clair Tappaan Lodge and it was a private club for Sierra Club members only. I believed if I followed the directions on the postcard I would find Donna Lass' grave. I believe she was buried near the Sierra Club and most likely on the Donner Ski Ranch. I would later have the pictures of the Sierra Club developed. Then using a copy of Zodiac's card, I cut out the phrases he had pasted on his card. Using these phrases, I overpasted them on the copy of the Sierra Club picture. It was strikingly similar to the original card". http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/two-short-extracts-from-the-harvey-hines-report 
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The remains of Donna Lass were found on December 31st 1985.
Thanks to Seagull
The Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino
The Murder of Judith Hakari. Click image to read more.
Click to enlarge
Harvey Hines believed the punch-hole in the top right corner of the Pines Card may have indicated a burial site or at least revealed key information to the disappearance of Donna Lass.
An area near Clair Tappaan Lodge, Norden, California, on Sierra Club groundsi was identified, where a rock configuration of 13 stones were positioned in the form of a cross. This area had initially been discovered by Otto Fredericks while out hiking in 1976 and revealed to Hines several years later. Harvey Hines informed Zodiac expert Dave Peterson, and a limited excavation the site was undertaken, but no remains were found. Lawrence Kane, Hines' main suspect was questioned by police, however, through lack of evidence no case could be brought against him. In the August of 2000, the South Shore law agencies were presented with an 80-page report from Harvey Hines. Detective Tom O' Conner reviewed the issues it raised and although not in total agreement with its findings, it nevertheless generated enough to spike his interest. The South Lake detective took blood samples from Lass' sister Mary Pilker and using identity cards once owned by Donna Lass, created a record of DNA to cross match any present unidentified remains, or ones discovered in the future. Detective Conner said "There is the possibility that her remains have already been found and entered into the data bank". He went on to add "If we get a match at least we'll know where she was found. Hopefully that would be some kind of closure for the family". The family of Donna Lass have become disillusioned with certain aspects of the case, "I haven't heard from anyone", Mary Pilker said. "It is quite a disappointment. Conner seems to be doing as much as he can and he seems to be doing it all on his own time". Mary Pilker is convinced the Harvey Hines Hines report is the key to solving Donna's case. Harvey Hines stated "What I've wanted to do for a long time is hand my case over to some agency and let them run with it. I don't care if I don't get a dime's worth of credit as long as someone closes it out". View the Hines Report at Zodiackiller.com. 
Monte Verdi Apartments, 3893 Pioneer Trail. Click to view on Google Maps.
Donna's nurses uniform was discovered in her office and her car found was outside her residence at the Monte Verdi apartments on Pioneer Trail Road. These apartments are only 0.4 miles from the Paradice Motel.
Street view of Paradice Hotel, 953 Park Avenue 
Judith Hakari, abducted and killed March 7th 1970. Click image to read more.
Nancy Bennallack, murdered by Richard Davis on October 25th 1970
Composite of suspect in Bennallack murder, with her murderer shown below
Richard John Davis (died 1997)
Christmas card and envelope courtesy of Howard Davis
1974 Christmas Card envelope. Mrs Mary Pilker, 1609 South Grange, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
December 27th 1974 Christmas card. Click to enlarge.
On December 27th 1974, a Christmas card was mailed to Mary Pilker, Donna Lass' sister, portraying trees covered in snow. Once opened it revealed a message that was part of the card itself - 'Holiday Greetings and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year', followed by the handwriting "Best Wishes, St Donna & Guardian of the Pines"
Currier & Ives original print depicted on the Christmas card stamp. Click image to enlarge.
Pines Card mailed on March 22nd 1971. Click to enlarge.
Questioned Documents Examiner Sherwood Morrill
Clifton Calvez
Clifton Calvez, a retired Air Force colonel thought he knew where the body of Donna Lass may be found, employing the unusual approach of satellite imagery, before venturing to the area to put his theory to the test. He entered the Lake Tahoe region via Highway 89, however due to a fire in the region was abruptly halted at Emerald Bay, so proceeded another way around the lake to eventually arrive at his predetermined destination of Antelope Way, when he received that eureka moment. Placing a line through Antelope Way to the Rubicon Peaks summit, it bisected the trees [peek through the pines]. When he progressed into the woods, he found two trees had been carved into. One depicted a baboon, the other a satyr. He took photographs of the area where he believed Donna Lass' burial site could possibly be located, although after a thorough excavation of the site no remains were found. A second location was identified, but again he came up empty handed. Nevertheless he is still of the opinion that the body of Donna Lass is located somewhere in this region and remains optimistic of a resolution some day. CLAIR S. TAPPAAN Clair Sprague Tappaan (May 14, 1878 – November 30, 1932) was an American lawyer, professor and jurist who was on the faculty of the University of Southern California Law School from its formation as an official school of the university in 1904 until 1928, and served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court and California Court of Appeal from 1927 until his death in 1932. Tappaan suffered a fatal heart attack at age 54 while walking to his office in downtown Los Angeles, shortly after addressing a luncheon of the Los Angeles Bar Association. His death was ruled the result of chronic myocarditis and sclerosis of the left coronary artery. He was survived by his wife, the former Mary E. Darling, whom he married on May 12, 1906. Their only child Francis was an All-American for the USC football team in 1929. Tappaan was a longtime official of the Sierra Club, serving as its fifth president, from 1922 to 1924, and on the board of directors from 1912 until his death. At the time of Tappaan's death, Sierra Club members were organizing to build a ski lodge on Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. One Lodge founder, Lewis Clark, said in about 1989 that they named the yet-unnamed lodge after Tappaan to use his popularity to help with fundraising. The Lodge opened on Christmas Eve, 1934, according to Lodge oldtimer Frank Shoemaker. Clair Tappaan Lodge is the Sierra Club's largest and most popular lodge, known among its many supporters as the Sierra Club's "flagship lodge". Tappaan's photo hangs in the entry. Wikipedia. 
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