On December 17th 1977 the strangled and naked body of Melinda Beardsley (30) was found in a snowbank at Emigrant Gap by a man and woman walking a dog, extremely close to the location of Donna Lass' skull found in 1986. The Roseville Press-Tribune newspaper on March 11th 1990 under the headline "Jane Doe still has no name after 13 years", reported that a witness came forward claiming they saw two white men driving a Toyota Celica unload something heavy from the back seat of the vehicle, parked at the location her body was ultimately found. The timing of this sighting was calculated to be only 3 hours before her body was discovered.
The last address (in 1976) we have for Melinda Beardsley is documented in a police report as 3312 E. U.S. HIGHWAY 50, CARSON CITY, UNDER THE PROFESSION OF WAITRESS, which was the Desert Air Motel before it was demolished in the 1990s. Whether she was a waitress at this motel, or her profession was separate (but dependent) on this location is yet unknown. However, this address could prove pertinent to her murder. According to Inspector Johnnie Smith, who had worked the case from the outset, neither Ted Bundy or the Hillside Strangler were found to be responsible for this crime. He went on to say that her fingerprints were not in the system, despite physical evidence that she may have been a prostitute. His visits to nearly every brothel in Nevada using a photograph of the murdered woman, failed to identify Melinda Beardsley. That wasn't achieved until 2026 through a DNA match to family members.
The last address (in 1976) we have for Melinda Beardsley is documented in a police report as 3312 E. U.S. HIGHWAY 50, CARSON CITY, UNDER THE PROFESSION OF WAITRESS, which was the Desert Air Motel before it was demolished in the 1990s. Whether she was a waitress at this motel, or her profession was separate (but dependent) on this location is yet unknown. However, this address could prove pertinent to her murder. According to Inspector Johnnie Smith, who had worked the case from the outset, neither Ted Bundy or the Hillside Strangler were found to be responsible for this crime. He went on to say that her fingerprints were not in the system, despite physical evidence that she may have been a prostitute. His visits to nearly every brothel in Nevada using a photograph of the murdered woman, failed to identify Melinda Beardsley. That wasn't achieved until 2026 through a DNA match to family members.
MELINDA BEARDSLEY Although the sighting of two men being spotted "attempting to drag something heavy out of the back seat" appears conclusive, we must remember that this testimony was given subsequent to the body being discovered. Eyewitnesses can often interject themselves into investigations due to fabrication, or what they thought they saw. The first-generation Celica (1970–1977) was manufactured exclusively as a two-door coupe. Whether Melinda Beardsley "operated" out of the Desert Air Motel and offered this as her residence has yet to be established, but this location is 75 miles from Emigrant Gap. If she was murdered at or close to the Desert Air Motel, the perpetrator (or perpetrators) made the effort to dispose of her body by driving 75 miles westwards, to possibly deflect attention away from this location. The skull of Donna Lass was found 73 miles from her apartment at 3893 Pioneer Trail Road, south of Lake Tahoe, where she was most probably murdered [1].
The Desert Air Motel was at 3312 Hwy 50 E, east of Carson City. It was about a mile and a half outside of town, near the intersection of Airport Road. When it was built, before 1954, it was practically all by itself. Carson City hadn't expanded that far yet. But the town soon caught up to it, and by the 1960s it was surrounded. It survived until the 1990s when it was torn down and a Long's Drug built on the site.
Thanks to Jibberjabber for sending me this newspaper cutting from The Press-Tribune.
ADDITIONAL READING: FOUR BODIES DUMPED AT EMIGRANT GAP?
The Desert Air Motel was at 3312 Hwy 50 E, east of Carson City. It was about a mile and a half outside of town, near the intersection of Airport Road. When it was built, before 1954, it was practically all by itself. Carson City hadn't expanded that far yet. But the town soon caught up to it, and by the 1960s it was surrounded. It survived until the 1990s when it was torn down and a Long's Drug built on the site.
Thanks to Jibberjabber for sending me this newspaper cutting from The Press-Tribune.
ADDITIONAL READING: FOUR BODIES DUMPED AT EMIGRANT GAP?
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