A MURDERER AT 3893 PIONEER TRAIL ROAD?

7/14/2024

Donna Ann Lass (25)

The one thing that could change everything about the disappearance of Donna Lass on September 6th 1970 is knowing whether she drove her 1968 Chevrolet Camaro to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel in the late afternoon of September 5th 1970. Earlier that day she had been given an inspection tour of the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartment by the landlord Nick Davis and agreed to sign the rental agreement. As her shift time approached, Donna Lass had the choice of ignoring her vehicle in the parking lot of the apartments and walking the near mile journey to the casino (a journey of 17 to 20 minutes) or opting to drive to the casino, which would have taken approximately 3 minutes. We have to bear in mind she would have been finishing her shift at 2am in the morning on September 6th 1970, traveling back to her apartment in less than familiar surroundings, so using her vehicle may have been the wise choice. Because nobody saw Donna Lass leaving the casino that morning we don't know for certain whether her vehicle was parked in the grounds of the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. If it was, it completely changes the potential pool of suspects.

When the sister of Donna Lass, Mary Pilker, arrived at South Lake Tahoe after Donna's disappearance she was given access to apartment 6 at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road. This is where the locked car of Donna Lass was found after she had been reported missing. When the family returned to South Dakota they drove the Chevrolet Camaro of Donna Lass back to their home state. This means they must have located her car keys inside the apartment, suggesting that if Donna Lass had traveled by car to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on September 5th 1970, she must have arrived back at her apartment in the early morning hours of September 6th 1970, negating any idea of a stranger abduction from the Sahara Tahoe Hotel parking lot or on the way home, because her keys would be missing and not inside the apartment.

Let's ignore part of the statement used by the sinister caller to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel on either September 7th or 8th, when he made the claim that Donna had to leave the city because of an illness in her family. This could have implied a close knowledge of Donna Lass and her family circumstances, suggesting a previous interaction with the young nurse, or on the flip side, her murderer could have rang the casino and used the "out of town" illness ruse without knowing anything about her. The person who made the phone call knew that the casino wouldn't have known all of Donna Lass' family members, so claiming she had been called "out of town" for one of them wasn't really going to arouse suspicion, and does not necessarily mean he was knowledgeable to the fact they lived in South Dakota. He just said it to delay any immediate worries over her absence and buy a little extra time.

If Donna Lass was murdered in the early morning hours of September 6th 1970 at her apartment or elsewhere, why didn't the killer just distance himself from the crime scene and do nothing? Why would he wait approximately one or two days to ring the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and make a seemingly pointless excuse for her absence? If the killer only knew the limited information that she worked at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel, then he probably made the phone call to the casino immediately after murdering her, to prevent somebody coming to the apartment to check on her when she didn't turn up for work. He didn't need to know her work schedule, he just needed to quickly buy some time to remove her body from the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartment and dispose of her remains at Yuba Gap in Placer County. This means she was probably murdered on September 7th or 8th, shortly before security guard Gordon Petrovich received the phone call at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. This supports the notion that she arrived home in the early morning hours of September 6th 1970 from the casino, because her car keys were found in the apartment.

It also brings back into play the sighting of Mrs. Dorothy Cullison, who stated that she observed Donna Lass (who she recognised from a later photograph) in the company of a clean shaven, blonde haired man, traveling southbound on Pioneer Trail Road away from the Tahoe Bottle Shop at 3950 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe on September 7th 1970 at about 3pm to 4pm. Donna Lass and the mystery man would have been traveling towards the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road apartments, quite possibly hours before she died. Was he a resident of the apartment complex? If Dorothy Cullison was correct, this also supports a possible murder and phone call on either September 7th or 8th.

So who did Donna Lass engage with from the time she signed the contract for her apartment on September 5th 1970 to the time of her potential murder on September 7th or 8th, just before the phone call was received using the name of her landlord "Mr. Davis"? A friend or acquaintance who she confided in about her move, who didn't live at the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road complex, could have murdered her at the apartment or elsewhere and just left the scene, with little reason to buy time. But who had the most to lose had Donna Lass been found murdered in her apartment, who would also have known the name of her landlord when making the phone call? Somebody who lived at the apartment complex.

This wasn't a normal row of houses on a street - these apartments were in a shared space, where people could easily engage with each other. Individuals living at this apartment complex would have been some of the first people that police investigated. To alleviate this worry and move the focus away from the complex, it is possible the killer chose to not only relocate her body, but decided to bury Donna Lass 70 miles away in Yuba Gap to prevent a murder investigation. Somebody who lived at the apartment complex from September 5th 1970 when Donna rented the property, through September 6th 1970, and at least some of September 7th 1970, who engaged with her and knew where she worked, who obviously would have known the name of her landlord, who had every reason to relocate her body to deflect suspicion away from the complex, is a prime candidate for her murder. Unfortunately, by invoking the name of the landlord to add validity to the Sahara Tahoe Hotel phone call, they may have inadvertently drawn the focus back onto the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road address.

However, by piecing together the private investigator's report we can confidently establish that John Schott of Sahara Tahoe security didn't ring Nick Davis until September 11th 1970 enquiring on the whereabouts of Donna, shortly after he had reported the "family illness" story received at the casino on September 7th/8th to Sergeant Tucker of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (but no accurate record was made), who must have then contacted the Douglas County Sheriff's office and relayed this information. So when Nick Davis rang the South Lake Tahoe Police Department on September 11th 1970 and spoke with dispather Bob Morgan, he told Nick Davis that he had received a call from the Douglas County Sheriff's office about Donna Lass and the "family illness" story. This is when he informed Nick Davis. It appears that the sinister phone call had the desired effect of delaying any serious concern for Donna Lass for at least two to three days. Enough time for the killer to dispose of Donna Lass many miles away. Find the residents of the 3893 Pioneer Trail Road complex in early September 1970 (and/or their associates) and you may identify the murderer.

READ THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR'S REPORT INTO DONNA LASS

34 Comments

Joseph

7/14/2024 10:16:00 am

Finding the residents of the 3893 pioneer trail complex circa September 1970 should still be possible with public records.

Richard

7/14/2024 11:31:30 am

I've tried Joseph but those public records don't appear public to me.

Joseph

7/14/2024 12:47:20 pm

I found that the US library of congress has old telephone directories on line. I have been scanning through the collection of South Lake Tahoe from 1960-63. Still looking for 1970.

Richard

7/14/2024 02:50:30 pm

You have obviously found something on that page I can't see. Happy hunting.

Joseph

7/14/2024 03:33:11 pm

Zillow says that 3893 Pioneer Trail has 20 units was built in 1961 and recently sold in January 2024. It notes that it was the first time the property has sold in 44 years. So last sale was 1980.

Richard

7/14/2024 03:59:54 pm

Yes, it's a small pool of candidates, but any friends or associates that visited or stayed over at the complex could possibly be familiar with the landlord. Because Donna wasn't identified for 54 years, I suspect she was buried, and this effectively killed any hope of securing a conviction back in 1970. Anybody connected to 3893 Pioneer Trail Road in 1970 who frequented the area of Yuba Gap prior to her disappearance would have been my first port of call.

Richard

7/15/2024 08:40:57 am

Unfortunately Joseph I think most people have abandoned this case. If there were 20 units at the apartment complex, why do you think that the private investigator's report only featured the recollections of one tenant. If she had been alive on September 6th 1970, and part of September 7th 1970 did not one single resident of that complex ever lay eyes on her. Were they even interviewed by the private investigator. Why did the private investigator effectively recruit Raymond Jacobs to pass him any future information for 25 dollars a pop, which wasn't bad money in 1970. It appears nothing transpired from this. If he was telling the truth in his statement of seeing Lass on many occasions, this could suggest she was alive on the 5th, 6th and 7th, or he is being deceptive. Maybe the private investigator focused on him because he moved from that location shortly after her disappearance. Did the police even bother investigating him? It would be nice to see the police reports after 54 years.

Richard

7/15/2024 08:53:53 am

It's also clear that they had her dental records in 1970/71, and the DNA from her sister in 2000, yet couldn't identify the identity of the skull and jawbone in the intervening 24 years. That is beyond comprehension, with Mary Pilker consequently never knowing what happened to her sister. If they had examined and tested the skull and jawbone in the early 2000's Mary would have had some answers. It's quite shocking really.

jibberjabber

7/15/2024 09:26:20 am

I am also wondering where the investigators found Donna's nurses uniform - did they find it at her apartment or at work and does that tell us anything. The uniform was sent for testing with negative results (the report even says very negative) but does not state where exactly the uniform was recovered from. Report says the hat for the uniform was left on the dresser in the apartment and there is a comment in the report that Donna was seen at work in uniform but minus the hat.
I am thinking maybe they found the uniform at work unless why mention the hat being found in the apartment as something separate from the rest of the uniform.

Would she have usually brought her uniform home with her after the shift or would she have left it at work??

Richard

7/15/2024 10:17:48 am

She had changed out of her uniform and it was found at her workstation. Joan Bentley said she saw Donna at 1:15pm in uniform minus her hat. I found this an unusual statement until the report mentioned her hat being found at her apartment. So it's likely the private investigator asked Joan Bentley if Donna was wearing her nurses hat to establish whether she made it home or not. If Mrs Bentley had stated that Donna was wearing her hat and it was subsequently found at home, then she would definitely arrived back at the apartment on September 6th.

jibberjabber

7/15/2024 10:02:28 am

The anonymous caller to the Casino seems very well informed, even if he did just guess at the family out of town. Could Donna have been abducted and kept alive for a period of time while the abductor / killer got the information out of her? or might he even have engaged her in friendly chat and got the info that way?

Richard

7/15/2024 10:32:33 am

Both are possible by the second suggestion seems more likely. The caller addressed himself as "Mr. Davis", so what we have to do is discover the likeliest way he got this information. Either the killer lived at or had good knowledge about the Monte Verdi apartments,, he was known to Lass from the casino, or he knew her (or made her acquaintance) on either the 5th, 6th, or 7th, learnt this information and then made the call to the casino. The caller knew her landlord's name and knew she worked at the casino, so the list of potential murderers can't be that great, especially since her landlord only gave her the tour of the apartment 2 to 3 days before the phone call was made.

Richard

7/15/2024 10:45:23 am

With the private investigator interviewing Raymond Jacobs and recruiting him for information (to keep his eyes and ears open) maybe the private investigator thought the answerr lay close to those apartments.

jibberjabber

7/15/2024 10:59:29 am

The timing of the disappearance is so peculiar, her first day (or day & night) in her new apartment. The report also mentions her bank accounts being watched, I dont know if that means her credit cards were found to be missing (which maybe means her whole purse was). It does not mention anything specific about cards, keys, purse etc being in the apartment or missing annoyingly. The light was on in the bathroom - maybe forgot to switch it off on her way out, but on which day?

Richard

7/15/2024 11:22:13 am

Without the police reports, rightly or wrongly, there was no mention of missing keys (apartment or car). I remember reading that Donna's sister took possession her vehicle from the parking lot, which logically means her car keys were located. If they had been located at her apartment, the next question is did Donna drive to work on the 5th. Because if she did she must have arrived home after her shift. Maybe that's why the private investigator was enquiring about the nurses hat to establish whether she made it home in the early morning hours of the 6th. There appears to be no mention of her ID, her house keys and car keys. If she was abducted away from the apartments you could expect her ID to be missing if she kept it in her purse, and also expect her apartment keys to be missing, but none of this is mentioned in the report. If her Sahara ID and apartment keys were at the apartment, this tends to a murder at the apartment. The timing is extremely uncanny, which again may focus the attention on the apartment complex. What odds do we give to a disappearance so close to her moving into an address, where he likely killer used the name of her landlord in the days after - and for what purpose? As previously suggested, to buy time and relocate the body from an area that might tell us something.

Richard

7/15/2024 11:26:59 am

Nick Davis made no reference to missing apartment keys, so if he retrieved them from the apartment, she must have arrived home on the 6th. Wouldn't this be the obvious first question asked by the private investigator?

Richard

7/15/2024 11:56:06 am

Another telling thing is in the report. It states "No photographs of the furniture and other articles were taken. As near as could be determined, none of the investigation procedures for a supposed abduction were carried out. All evidence of value was tampered with before our office had an opportunity to evaluate". Obviously the private investigator was concerned the apartment had been compromised by people trawling through the apartment before useful evidence could be gathered, so he must have considered the apartment a potential crime scene. If her apartment keys were missing, along with her purse and nurses ID, then the private investigator may not have been unduly concerned about the apartment evidence being compromised, because the crime would likely have occurred elsewhere. Unless she was abducted from the apartment alive carrying her purse, with her ID and apartment keys inside. If she wasn't abducted the moment she opened the apartment door, why would a killer drag her body alive or dead from the apartment and then grab her purse to take with him. If he had done this, then it's likely her car keys would have been missing, which apparently they weren't.

Sandy Betts link

7/15/2024 02:48:25 pm

Donna was expecting her friend that evening is what I understood. If so, she probably left her car and keys at her apartment and walked to work. She was probably planning to ride back to her apartment with her friend. Nothing seemed disturbed at her apartment. But there was a clue with the last entry in her nurses appointment book, which had a drag mark, indicating she was grabbed from behind by her abductor. Like most females, we keep an address book in our purse. Everything her abductor needed, was in that address book! I have a hard time believing the witness who said she saw Donna walking with some blond haired guy. Donna, hadn't even slept in her apt yet, how would she already know anyone who lived there, well enough to go walking with him? I have been to Donna's nurse's station. There was a side door leading to the back parking lot, very easy for her abductor to get her out of that building at that hour. He could have used chloroform and taken her to his car. Tied her up and kept her alive for however long he wanted. If he was Zodiac, which I do believe he was. He could have told her he wasn't going to harm her, if she complied. She may have asked him to please let her boss know she wouldn't be returning to work for a couple of days. She had her street clothes with her, perhaps so she and her friend could have some fun in the casino, before going to her apartment, is what I think.

Richard

7/15/2024 04:06:11 pm

But that is the problem Sandy, not only did Jo Anne Goettsche tell Mike Morford she went to visit Donna on Sunday night (6th) or Monday night (7th), the private investigator's report also says she visited September 7th 1970. So she never visited on the night she disappeared. Jo Anne Goettsche spoke to the security officer who couldn't help her. So if Donna wasn't going to meet her friend on her last shift, she probably used her car. The only documented evidence from the time doesn't support Jo Anne Goettsche visiting her friend that morning she was last seen and neither does her own words.

In terms of the dragged pen mark, while notable, that doesn't equal abduction. That is just an interpretation but not fact. If somebody abducted Donna around 2am on September 6th then her apartment keys would have been missing (and probably her carry ID), and it would be fairly obvious the crime scene wasn't at the apartment and there wouldn't be any cofusion today. We have never received any information on the apartment keys or her ID. My best interpretation is a killer making a phone call because the location of the crime necessitated the relocation of her body. I can't see any reason to see why Zodiac would need to take her 70 miles away and possibly bury her. Or any evidence from the crime itself to suggest it was him.

Joseph

7/16/2024 07:27:02 am

I tend to believe that based on the little amount of evidence, that the abduction/murder took place at the apartment.

Richard

7/16/2024 08:33:00 am

I agree. Unless more information turns up in the future, I think this is the likeliest scenario. Even Joseph Holt bought himself time when he buried Brynn Rainey. If I was a murderer I would relocate the body if I thought the location of the murder could lead the police to my door.

Richard

7/16/2024 08:35:22 am

Or if I was connected to the victim in some capacity and wanted to delay or avoid a murder investigation.

Joseph

7/16/2024 09:07:58 am

Yes Richard, those were probably the prime reasons for the delaying phone call and for disposing of the body relatively far from the abduction/murder site.

jibberjabber

7/16/2024 09:52:39 am

One thing I am wondering is when did people get the chance to observe Donna Lass walk to or from work prior to her moving into the Monte Verde apartment. I am playing around with maps and it looks like the Lowe's address 4054 US-50 was approx 10 miles from the casino which is on the same road at 50-US 50. So Donna moves from the Lowe's to the Monte Verde apartments which is just off the same road (now on pioneer trail road) but is now only 0.8 miles from the casino and definitely within walking distance. Why would she be walking all the way from the Lowe's house to the casino before she had moved into apartment 6 at Monte Verde. on foot Google maps has that as a 3.25 hours walk, but only a 17 minute walk from 3893 pioneer trail road. No way to know but she may have been less inclined to drive to work when she had moved so much closer to the casino if up until that point she had been walking when the Lowe's lived so far away. The report has the weather at 80 degrees in the day and 70 degrees in the night over that labour day weekend and a lot of activity so it might have been a nice night for a walk. But was she really walking to the Casino from the Lowe's house if she had the car - or part public transport part walk?

Richard

7/16/2024 11:30:48 am

The information we have when she lived at the Lowe's is limited. I doubt anybody in their right mind would walk 3.25 hours to work and back. So the question is as you've stated, what public transport was available and what date did she purchase her Camaro. My guess is if she took a job that distance away, then that is when you purchase a vehicle. If she had used her vehicle for 3 months from the Lowe's, would she not just carry on using it when she relocated, despite the Sahara being only 0.8 miles from her new place. I know she stopped after hours a few times at the casino, but would a young woman want to be walking home at 2am in the morning with drunks spilling out of bars and casinos. Nothing good generally happens after midnight. Donna sounded like a sensible woman, but walking home at 2am is not a sensible choice if you have your own vehicle at your fingertips.

Richard

7/16/2024 11:35:43 am

According to Howard Davis she purchased the Camaro in San Francisco, so by all accounts had it before she moved to South Lake Tahoe.

Richard

7/16/2024 04:15:27 pm

You brought up a good point about her bank card/account being flagged Jibber, suggesting it could be missing and in the possession of her killer. She likely would have kept this in her purse (handbag) just like her driving license, in which a stop flag was issued in case it was used for identification purposes. So as you suggested her purse could be missing with both her bank cards and driving license. Would she have this over her shoulder if abducted 10 minutes before her shift end?. Or if she was abducted outside the casino or on the way home, assuming she hadn't driven to work, then this could explain missing bank cards and driving license which she probably always kept in her purse, and explain why her car keys were likely found at the apartment. But her apartment keys should then be missing and I've read no mention of missing apartment keys. If she had used her car to go to the casino on the 5th and then returned home and locked it, and was then abducted, her car keys should be missing as well. If she was killed in the apartment, I could understand her car keys and apartment keys being outside her purse (handbag), but why would her murderer relocate her body and take the purse (handbag) with him? Did he simply grab it for valuables and possibly use the bank cards and driving license to use later, but changed their mind? Or did they relocate the purse (handbag) with bank cards and driving license inside, along with the body, to give the impression she was not murdered in the apartment. This would leave her apartment keys and car keys still inside the apartment, because she likely had these in her hand when she opened the door of the apartment and just dumped them on a table top. Was this a mistake by the killer, not removing these also. Or were they missing along with the driving license and bank cards, and it has simply not been mentioned in the private investigator's report?

Richard

7/16/2024 04:21:22 pm

Because if he relocated her purse, he should have relocated her apartment keys as well, which if he had left inside the apartment would suggest she got home from the casino.

Richard

7/16/2024 04:26:32 pm

If we knew all the facts about this case, it should be easy to piece together, but I get the feeling we'll never know. I think it's probably time to call it a day on this case. Without the police reports or full information there are too many variables.

Richard

7/17/2024 02:40:55 am

Maybe the apartment keys were missing

IthinkIknow

7/17/2024 08:09:56 am

Did Donna even have a credit card? I think when they say her account was flagged, they mean that the bank was put on notice to monitor activity at the bank itself. I wasn't alive then, so I don't know for sure, but I don't think credit (or debit) cards were commonplace then.

jibberjabber

7/17/2024 08:37:16 am

The bank details are interesting, she had not drawn any money out of one account since June. But we have to remember it was all likely cash pay back then so why would anyone need to go to the bank unless it was to deposit money or make a large withdrawal. The report mentions Bank of Americard which I had a look at and it seems it was the first debit/credit card the forerunner of VISA. Bank of America might have had an office on Montgomery Street in San Francisco not too far from Belli (its a small world). Donna had a footprint in San Francisco for sure but seems to have been out in Tahoe for the weeks / months? prior to her dissapearence. I still wonder is the fact she went missing basically a day or 2 into living at her new apartment significant or not? As Richard has pointed out, it would seem to suggest a perpretator with knowledge of her recent move but DAMN that is a brazen abduction! or was it just a random abduction, or was there some amount of stalking then an abduction but independant of the change in residence? 0.8 miles from Casino to home, seems a short distance but something happened between one end and the other (or at the other). The police do not seem to have done a thorough preservation of possible evidence at the apartment as they likely never considered it a crime scene probably thinking Donna was just off somewhere. Reading that PI report there are several suspicious characters but at the same time maybe the PI is just skeptical. if there was no peek through the pines card ever sent we would likely not be having any of these good conversations, but is the card a whole lot of nothing considering some of the great info presented on this site in the last few weeks?

Richard

7/17/2024 08:48:38 am

Probably not, but the PI report said she used her card to make a purchase of 3.94 dollars.

Richard

7/17/2024 08:52:00 am

Sorry, just read Jibberjabber's post.

A MURDERER AT 3893 PIONEER TRAIL ROAD?

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