
Carol Beth Hilburn was found lying in weeds, 30 feet south of West Ascot Avenue and West 4th Street near Rio Linda, just 6 miles (14 minutes) north along Rio Linda Boulevard from her last known location. Investigators concluded she had been bludgeoned to death, transported to this location and dragged naked through the field for approximately 30 feet and dumped in some weeds. With only one suede boot on her feet and her panties around one knee, it clearly indicates she was murdered elsewhere and transported to this location.
Fishermen occasionally use the field where her body was discovered to park their vehicles and fish in the nearby Dry Creek. The nearest point of Dry Creek to the location her body was found is only 398 meters. The time between Carol Beth Hilburn going missing and being discovered, is 10 hours or less, leaving the perpetrator or perpetrators little time to consider where to dispose of her body. Often a murderer will choose somewhere remote and somewhere they are familiar with. Her body lay next to the 265 acre Hansen Ranch Park Site, through which the Dry Creek runs.
Add to the equation the murder of Nancy Bennallack on October 25th 1970, and we have three attractive young women murdered or abducted in eight months, within a 3-mile radius of one another. Denise Kathleen Anderson (22), who resided in Sacramento at 925 16th Street, also went missing and was last seen at 5:30 am on April 13th 1971 by her roommate. Her residence was 2.6 miles from the location Carol Beth Hilburn was last seen alive.