A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART TWO]

5/28/2024

The newspaper cutting from 1986 describing the discovery of Donna Lass' remains stated that Melvin Bennett on his way to Lake Valley Reservoir at Yuba Gap discovered the remains one mile northeast of the I-80. In other words, while traveling to Yuba Gap he discovered the remains one mile northeast of this location. Yuba Gap is situated on Interstate 80. The red arrow in the image below points to the approximate location of her remains (jawbone). The red cross in the image below is the position 14.02 miles from the "Sierra Club" of Clair Tappaan Lodge. This was the distance found in the Pines postcard between the pasted "Sierra Club" and punch-hole (body location) in the previous article. This means that the estimated location of her body, shown by measurements in the Pines postcard, was only 1,000 meters away from where the jawbone of Donna Lass was ultimately found. The remains of Donna Lass were found close to Chubb Lake Road, Forty-Niner Way and Gonelson Canyon Road, the latter of which sits approximately 500 meters from the jawbone location described in the newspaper. All accessible from Highway 20. We have to note that the description of "one mile northeast" is obviously an approximation by the newspaper. It could be, as an example, anywhere from 0.7 to 1.3 miles from the I-80 at Yuba Gap. The word "northeast" can also be interpreted to some extent. Slight changes to the angle and distance could make the location identified from the Pines card calculation slightly more accurate (or less so). Either way, the proximity is noteworthy.

Although these calculations were done with hindsight, had they been presented before the discovery and identification of the remains of Donna Lass, they would still be rejected. If I had said in 2020 that body parts of Donna Lass will eventually be found just below Chubb Lake based on calculations involving the Pines postcard - and in 2023 they were shown to have been found just 1,000 meters away from my prediction - what do you think people would have said? They would have said "coincidence" and dismissed the findings as sheer luck. This may well be correct, but what if it wasn't. It would prove that the designer of the Pines postcard created it with purpose and the full knowledge of Donna Lass' "burial site".

A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART ONE)
A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART THREE]

CLICK IMAGE TO ENTER GOOGLE MAPS

AUBURN JOURNAL, JANUARY 24TH 1986

15 Comments

theremin link

5/31/2024 12:53:03 pm

From the limited information available, I'm not sure that we can reasonably conclude that the jawbone found by Melvin Bennett belonged to Donna Lass. The NAMUS page for the jawbone (described as a Maxilla belonging to a person of indeterminate ethnicity and gender aged 15-25 - https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/17571) doesn't say anything about a skull being recovered. In my opinion, a more likely candidate for Donna is Placer County Jane Doe 1487UFCA - her NAMUS entry (WayBackMachine link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/17570/details) was deleted shortly after Donna's identification was made public. Doenetwork likewise marked her as "identified": https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1487ufca.html

Richard

5/31/2024 04:00:14 pm

I remember this being questioned when the story broke, but the NamUs page that states December 31st 1985 and maxilla being found is referencing the Melvin Bennett find, but gives a location of the find as near Iowa Hill, 19 miles southwest of Yuba Gap, which is incorrect. The two newspaper articles on January 2nd 1986 and January 23rd 1986 both mention Yuba Gap, Lake Valley reservoir and state that a skull was found where the earlier remains (ie: jawbone was found). There were remains found by the Iowa Hill Road in April 1972 but not on December 31st 1985. That deleted page had an estimated death of 1983, which is likely 13 years incorrect. I have seen many newspapers that have corroborated the Lake Spaulding, Yuba Gap, Yuba Pass location with respect to Donna Lass. If that page was deleted because they thought it was Donna Lass, I believe they've made an error. I go with the vast bulk of the evidence and two newspaper articles from January 1986 that mention a skull and jawbone within 21 days of one another, in the same area around Yuba Gap.

Richard

5/31/2024 04:19:05 pm

The Daily Mail is usually one of the best sources for crime. They posted this map. I'm sure they got their info from the Sheriff's Office.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/28/14/79403507-12906975-image-a-17_1703774883845.jpg

Richard

5/31/2024 04:40:41 pm

The NamUs page lists December 31st 1985 which is the exact date the jawbone wad found. It then states "head not recovered" which is not true based on the finding of the skull in the same area of Yuba Gap, as reported in the January 23rd 1986 article entiitled "Skull Found in Sierra".

theremin

5/31/2024 05:16:49 pm

Hi, Richard -

"(...) NamUs page that states December 31st 1985 and maxilla being found is referencing the Melvin Bennett find, but gives a location of the find as near Iowa Hill, 19 miles southwest of Yuba Gap, which is incorrect."

The location on the map corresponds to the default mapping coordinates that NamUs uses for Placer County. This simply means that the remains were recovered in an unincorporated area. If you check the NamUs entries for Placer County, you will notice that this same location is used for any case where a municipality isn't specified. Some examples: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/17572?nav; https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/17544?nav

theremin

5/31/2024 05:50:28 pm

"If that page was deleted because they thought it was Donna Lass, I believe they've made an error."

NamUs was created by the National Institute of Justice and works with law enforcement agencies directly, so this would be an egregious oversight if true. I'll concede the possibility, however. Law Enforcement is fallible, after all.

From the NamUs website: "Missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases entered into NamUs may be unpublished, published, or archived. Upon permission from the investigating agency, an unresolved case is published in NamUs and will remain published until the missing person has been located, the unidentified decedent has been identified, or next of kin has been located to facilitate a death notification and have the remains claimed for burial or cremation. Upon resolution, a case is permanently archived in NamUs, but no longer accessible for viewing to public or professional users, with the exception of the professional user(s) attached to the case as a Case Contributor."

Richard

6/1/2024 01:33:02 am

Thanks for the clarification on the location given. One would have thought it useful for a site such as this to be a little more specific when requiring the assistance of the public. The location of the body is usually important to know when you're thinking of offering assistance.

The deleted page unfortunately doesn't even go that far, just says "found on tribal land" and August 5th 1986. What I noticed is it states "Female skull found". While it is possible to look at the characteristics of a skull and notice differences exhibited by the sexes, this is not definitive and absolute. Only estimation can be given. So I don't know why they are sure it's a female unless DNA was secured. And if it was, it again begs the question why did the identification of Donna take until 2023 when Detective Tom O' Conner stated they had Mary Pilker's DNA since the turn of the century. You can usually age bones fairly accurately because of indicators on them from the freeze-thaw cycle but this estimated 3 years old, so wasn't particularly accurate. I have sent an email to the Sheriff's office in Placer County for more info, but as per usual, I'm not expecting a reply. I totally understand why you have your doubts and I'm certainly willing to delete all the recent articles I've written using measurements if compelling evidence comes in. Thanks for your thoughts.

Richard

6/1/2024 02:41:55 am

NBC NEWS: "A sheriff’s deputy found the skull in 1986 along Highway 20 and Interstate 80, 45 miles northwest of South Lake Tahoe, the Placer County Sheriff's Office said. It was preserved at the coroner's office as an unidentified person". Yuba Gap is exactly 45 miles from the south side of the lake.

SACRAMENTO BEE on the identification of Donna Lass: "In 1986 the Placer County Sheriff's office found a skull near Highway 20, not far from Interstate 80, in the Camp Spaulding area.

DAILY MAIL: Map showing Yuba Gap area

DONNA LASS FIND A GRAVE: "In 1986, a sheriff's deputy found the skull of an unidentified person along a highway in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. In December of 2023, a match was discovered between DNA taken from the skull and that taken from Donna's sister". The January 23rd 1986 article tells of Deputy Lowell Carleton and his search party finding the skull near Yuba Gap.

NEVADA APPEAL: " A skull found in 1986 off Highway 20 near Interstate 80 more than 40 miles northwest of Lake Tahoe turned out to be the key clue to Lass’ final resting place. The location doesn’t rule out her possible murder at Lake Tahoe or the involvement of the Zodiac"

MSN: "A deputy sheriff found the remains near California's Sierra Nevada mountains, along Highway 20 and Interstate 80- 45 miles northwest of South Lake Tahoe in 1986. The skull was held on to until there were more forensic technology advancements".

The question has to be, who gave these outlets the information if it wasn't the Placer County Sheriff's office? Anyway, I'll keep digging. The remains found in December and January in 1986 were in the newspaper, yet I can't find anything on August 5th 1986 other than "Aug. 4, 1986 – PG&E workers found a human skull in a drainage ditch near Highway 20 and I-80. The skull is believed to be that of a Caucasian female in her mid-teens to early 20s". But this isn't a deputy making the find..

Richard

6/1/2024 03:00:41 am

I've just added an extra newspaper clipping from January 24th 1986 into the article.

Richard Grinell

6/1/2024 03:14:33 am

I've also contacted NamUs to clarify why they took down that page.

Richard

6/3/2024 08:00:28 am

Richard,

Thank you for reaching out to us, Unfortunately, we cannot comment on cases that are not publicly viewable.

Brian Nisbet (Ret. Law Enforcement)

NamUs Cold Case Advisor

Contractor Supporting OJP/NIJ

Web: https://namus.nij.ojp.gov

Richard

6/5/2024 01:48:56 pm

I got a response today from Sergeant M. Cuevas
Crimes Against Persons Unit,
Placer County Sheriff’s Office,
530-889-7856

He stated "To answer your question, Donna Lass was located in the Yuba Gap area".

theremin

6/6/2024 05:26:16 pm

Hi, Richard -

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to PCSO. 08/05/86 Jane Doe was said to have been discovered somewhere in the vicinity of Interstate 80 and State Highway 20 (this would encompass the Yuba Pass, Yuba Gap, and Emigrant Gap areas), so unfortunately, his response doesn't really narrow it down.

Richard

6/7/2024 12:45:21 am

Sadly I cannot find any newspaper coverage in newspapers.com from August 5th 1986. Whether she was discovered on this date or Dec 85/Jan 86 is less important to me then the location from the standpoint of the article. It appears the the "Yuba Gap" area (or in that vicinity) is the best we are going to get. I am not saying the measurements on my Pines card analysis are certainly what the author intended (or that the card was definitely meant to be inverted), but I am satisfied that if these intentions were the case, the punch-hole does land over the Yuba Gap area. Bearing in mind this is the rough location of her body, it is food for thought, if not a slam dunk. I know it's all hindsight, but attempting to make sense of the card subsequent to Donna's discovery is a worthwhile pursuit for me anyway. What others believe I leave up to them.

theremin link

8/5/2024 09:34:18 am

Hi, Richard -

Per Placer County Sheriff's Office, her remains were discovered on July 31, 1986:

Good morning,

In reviewing the death certificate, the date of death shows remains to have been found on 7/31/1986.

Sergeant M. Cuevas

Crimes Against Persons Unit

Placer County Sheriff’s Office

530-889-7856

A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE PINES POSTCARD [PART TWO]

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