On the night of June 30th 1979, Carol Andersen (16) had attended a party on Regina Road before leaving at approximately 11:30pm. Joseph Stephen Holt's residence when he murdered Brynn Rainey two years earlier was at 1390 Keller Road. This location is only 350 feet from Regina Road, so it's possible Joseph Stephen Holt attended this party, or had noticed Carol Andersen walking away from the residence and offered her a lift home. It's equally possible she could have been forced into his vehicle. All we do know for certain, is the close proximity of his 1390 Keller Road home to the last place Carol Andersen was seen alive. Through the diligent research of several individuals, it has been shown that his parents purchased the 1390 Keller Road residence in 1967. This would have given him access to this address had he visited the South Lake Tahoe region in the years prior to him moving there on a permanent basis in 1974.
But could Joseph Stephen Holt have been responsible for any other serious crimes close to the 1390 Keller Road address between 1967 and 1979, possibly involving a pistol or shotgun? He would have been aged between 20 and 32 during these years. I have found the attempted murder of two individuals sitting next to their vehicle on Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley Ski Resort in 1969, just 20 minutes walking distance from the 1390 Keller Road home (4 minutes by car), and 13 minutes on foot from Regina Road where Carol Andersen left the party. Joseph Stephen Holt would have been 22 years of age at the time of these attempted murders.
On Saturday, December 13th 1969 at 9:45pm, an unknown individual carrying a flashlight and shotgun approached a young couple, Heidi Hoffman (16) and Lenny Parsons (19), who had parked their vehicle at the end of Saddle Road by Heavenly Valley. They were sitting on nearby rocks close to their vehicle, when the gunman from about 25 yards away extinguished his flashlight and began shooting.In a completely unprovoked attack, Heidi Hoffman was struck by 40 pellets, with Lenny Parsons hit 7 times. Officers would later retrieve 12-guage shells from the road. Both victims would survive the attack, but were unable to offer a reason why they may have been targeted. The couple made no mention of hearing or seeing a vehicle belonging to the shooter, so had the assailant parked a distance away, or had he arrived to the location on foot with the shotgun concealed under his clothing. As stated above, the location of the shooting is only 20 minutes on foot from the 1390 Keller Road residence. The last 10 minutes of which can be traversed through the woods alongside Saddle Road to create cover and concealment. This would achieve an element of surprise when approaching the victims, who were sitting on rocks at the western edge of the road. Many of the properties located in this area had not been built in 1969, so the killer could have arrived by vehicle, parked up in a nearby clearing up the road and walked the remaining few hundred feet through the woods before re-emerging. View newspaper article from the Sacramento Bee on December 15th 1969.