Thanks to Misty Johansen (Tahoe27) for bringing this breaking news to my attention.
Melinda Beardsley (30) The possibility of a serial killer using Emigrant Gap in Placer County as a dumping ground has to be considered after the breaking news (on March 18th 2026) that the body of Melinda Beardsley (30) has been identified after nearly half a century. Her strangled and naked body was found in a snowbank at Emigrant Gap on December 17th 1977, just next to Interstate 80 and slightly west of the intersection with State Route 20. This area is next to Chubb Lake Road, Forty Niner Way and Gonelson Canyon Road, which terminates close to where a jawbone was found on December 31st 1985 by a local fisherman, Melvin Bennett. Always on the move, she was last known to be living in Carson City, Nevada, and was last confirmed to be alive in 1976, after a DUI charge in Reno. This is when contact with her family ceased. Carson City is located on the eastern side of Lake Tahoe, about 25 miles by road (16 miles by crow) from where Donna Lass went missing from on September 6th 1970 (Sahara Tahoe Hotel & Casino).
If the reporting of the Sacramento Bee was accurate in 1977, the body of Melinda Beardsley must have been found somewhere by the red circle shown below, as this is the only location that Interstate 80 crosses Highway 20 at Emigrant Gap. This is approximately 500 meters from where a jawbone (maxilla) was found on December 31st 1985 (not Melinda's), and very close to where a skull was found in Yuba Gap on January 19th 1986. Further west of the intersection would place her body closer to the Drum Canal crossing.
The skull of Donna Lass (according to the death certificate) was found on July 31st 1986, about 3 miles northwest of these locations, to the west of Lake Spaulding. The death certificate read "State Route 20, 3.5 miles north of Interstate 80 near Drum Canal Crossing, Emigrant Gap"..If the skull of Donna Lass (25) was found closer to State Route 20 and Interstate 80, nearer to the Drum Canal crossing (due to an inaccurate description) and the police report of Deputy Lowell Carlton on August 4th 1986, it would actually place her remains closer to the other skull, jawbone, and body of Melinda Beardsley. See here for explanation. Either way, we have the presence of "three skulls" in an approximate 3 mile radius of one another, including a jawbone. This opens up the possibility that four bodies have been dumped in the area of Emigrant Gap and Lake Spaulding over the years. All these individuals were potentially murdered prior to 1985 - and all may have been at the hand of one individual, who kept returning to this location, having eluded detection during previous visits. A killer will often revisit the same location (somewhere they are familiar with) to dispose of murder victims, if this has proved successful in the past.
If the reporting of the Sacramento Bee was accurate in 1977, the body of Melinda Beardsley must have been found somewhere by the red circle shown below, as this is the only location that Interstate 80 crosses Highway 20 at Emigrant Gap. This is approximately 500 meters from where a jawbone (maxilla) was found on December 31st 1985 (not Melinda's), and very close to where a skull was found in Yuba Gap on January 19th 1986. Further west of the intersection would place her body closer to the Drum Canal crossing.
The skull of Donna Lass (according to the death certificate) was found on July 31st 1986, about 3 miles northwest of these locations, to the west of Lake Spaulding. The death certificate read "State Route 20, 3.5 miles north of Interstate 80 near Drum Canal Crossing, Emigrant Gap"..If the skull of Donna Lass (25) was found closer to State Route 20 and Interstate 80, nearer to the Drum Canal crossing (due to an inaccurate description) and the police report of Deputy Lowell Carlton on August 4th 1986, it would actually place her remains closer to the other skull, jawbone, and body of Melinda Beardsley. See here for explanation. Either way, we have the presence of "three skulls" in an approximate 3 mile radius of one another, including a jawbone. This opens up the possibility that four bodies have been dumped in the area of Emigrant Gap and Lake Spaulding over the years. All these individuals were potentially murdered prior to 1985 - and all may have been at the hand of one individual, who kept returning to this location, having eluded detection during previous visits. A killer will often revisit the same location (somewhere they are familiar with) to dispose of murder victims, if this has proved successful in the past.
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THE ADDRESS LISTED ON THE BOOKING REPORT IS 3312 E. U.S. HIGHWAY 50, CARSON CITY, UNDER THE PROFESSION OF WAITRESS. SINCE DEMOLISHED.
We have the bodies of Melinda Beardsley and Donna Lass (skull) found in close proximity to one another at Emigrant Gap, likely murdered in 1970 and 1977. The unknown skull, jawbone and body of Melinda Beardsley are likely grouped in a 650 meter radius of one another. Little is currently known about the life of Melinda Beardsley (who apparently worked as a waitress in 1976 according to the police report), one year before her body was ultimately found on December 17th 1977, which is frustrating from the standpoint of trying to forge any potential links between the two murdered women. Had she crossed paths with her killer through her profession as a waitress in a casino or drinking establishment? The movements of Melinda in her final days and hours could have been extremely useful and enlightening, to see if any connection could be established pertaining to her killer - and maybe that of Donna Lass.
ADDITIONAL READING: TWO SKULLS WEST OF THE SIERRA CLUB
ADDITIONAL READING: TWO SKULLS WEST OF THE SIERRA CLUB
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