DONNA ANN LASS (25) Once again we have the death certificate of Donna Lass doing the rounds, stating that her skull was found on July 31st 1986 by State Route 20, 3.5 miles north of Interstate 80, near the Drum Canal crossing by Emigrant Gap (which I have examined below on Google Maps). It has been argued that an upper jawbone (maxilla) was found near Chubb Lake on December 31st 1985 by a fisherman traveling towards Yuba Gap and Lake Valley Reservoir, followed by a skull discovered in the region of Emigrant Gap seven months later, which was identified through DNA as belonging to Donna Lass, with the two finds not necessarily related. On The Doe Network it states that the date of discovery of the skull in a drainage ditch was August 5th 1986 rather than July 31st 1986, but who's quibbling over a few days. The Agency Case Number: 13226-86 on this page matches the case number on the certificate of death, so it must be case closed - the skull of Donna Lass was found in a drainage ditch near the Drum Canal crossing by Emigrant Gap in July or August of 1986. The eastern edge of Drum Canal sits approximately 3/4 mile west of Lake Spaulding Campground (see map below).
There were newspaper reports in 1986 of a skull being found in a drainage ditch:between July 31st and August 5th 1986, like so: "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". Drum Canal joins PG&E Road near the Blue Canyon (Pacific Gas & Electric Company). However, this skull wasn't found by the sheriff's search party headed by Deputy Lowell Carlton, who used scent dogs to look for further remains in the Yuba Gap area after the jawbone was discovered on December 31st 1985. It was found by PG&E workers (two men) seven months later, slightly west of Lake Spaulding near Emigrant Gap. After the jawbone was found near Chubb Lake (Yuba Gap) on December 31st 1985, a belated search of the "immediate area" (hampered by bad weather) was undertaken by Deputy Lowell Carlton, who found a skull on January 19th 1986 in close proximity to the jawbone. Sheriff Donald Nunez said in January 1986 after the discovery of the skull, that a jawbone was "also found along the road TO the Lake Valley Reservoir". Both skull and jawbone were found alongside Lake Valley Road, which is a county road running from Chubb Lake to Lake Valley Reservoir.
There were newspaper reports in 1986 of a skull being found in a drainage ditch:between July 31st and August 5th 1986, like so: "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". Drum Canal joins PG&E Road near the Blue Canyon (Pacific Gas & Electric Company). However, this skull wasn't found by the sheriff's search party headed by Deputy Lowell Carlton, who used scent dogs to look for further remains in the Yuba Gap area after the jawbone was discovered on December 31st 1985. It was found by PG&E workers (two men) seven months later, slightly west of Lake Spaulding near Emigrant Gap. After the jawbone was found near Chubb Lake (Yuba Gap) on December 31st 1985, a belated search of the "immediate area" (hampered by bad weather) was undertaken by Deputy Lowell Carlton, who found a skull on January 19th 1986 in close proximity to the jawbone. Sheriff Donald Nunez said in January 1986 after the discovery of the skull, that a jawbone was "also found along the road TO the Lake Valley Reservoir". Both skull and jawbone were found alongside Lake Valley Road, which is a county road running from Chubb Lake to Lake Valley Reservoir.
AUBURN JOURNAL, JANUARY 24TH 1986
CLICK IMAGE TO ENTER MAPCARTA.COM
Lake Spaulding Campground is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range near Soda Springs, California. The lake is surrounded by giant granite boulders and thick pine forest. Lake Spaulding offers a range of water activities including all types of boating and there is a boat ramp which allows for easy access. Walk-in tent sites and a limited amount of overflow parking spots in the boat launch parking area are available. RV's and trailers longer than 30 feet are NOT recommended for sites in the campground loops. Drinking water, vault toilets and picnic areas are provided. Lake Spaulding Campground is included in the recreation area managed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in Northern California. Lake Spaulding Dam is a dam in Nevada County, California. Owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric for hydroelectric power generation, the 275-foot (84 m)-high dam was designed by John R. Freeman and completed in 1913. Fuller Lake is a 70-acre reservoir located in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Nevada City, California, that is owned and operated by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) as part of its Drum-Spaulding hydroelectric system. The lake is located 3.5 miles north of Emigrant Gap and Interstate 80 (where Drum Canal crosses State Route 20), and can be accessed by Bowman Lake Road. Fuller Lake is a Day Use area just like the murder site at Lake Berryessa.
FROM THE CERTIFICATE OF DEATH
The NamUs page of unidentified persons in 2018 correctly identified the jawbone (maxilla) found by fisherman Melvin Bennett on December 31st 1985, but failed to mention anything about a skull being found in the "immediate area", by stating "head not recovered". One could be forgiven in believing the jawbone and skull, both found alongside Lake Valley Road, were very likely from the same individual, unless we make the argument that two separate victims were the product of one killer and one dumping ground. On The Doe Network, the skull found in Placer County in late July or early August 1986 in a drainage ditch by two PG&E workers, has been given an estimated time of death of 2 to 3 years (and was partial skeletal), meaning 1983 or 1984. The website states "The decedent's skull was discovered in a drainage ditch near Interstate 80 and State Highway 20". Realistically, Donna Lass was murdered in September 1970, at least thirteen years earlier than this estimate. If this was the case, she would have been fully skeletonized like the skull found at Yuba Gap.
When the news broke that Donna Lass had been identified in 2023 through DNA from the skull, many newspapers reported the following: [1] 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". [2] SACRAMENTO BEE "In 1986 the Placer County Sheriff's office found a skull near Highway 20, not far from Interstate 80, in the Camp Spaulding area". [3] 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. [4] FOX KTVU: "Placer County Sheriff's deputies later found an unidentified skull in 1986 and held on to it until there were more advancements in forensic technology, KCRA3 reported". These articles are but a small sample (I could have added many more) The Donna Ann Lass "Find a Grave" page states "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 result was that the skull was identified as being that of Donna Lass, finally providing the evidence to prove that Donna was actually deceased". That "sheriff's deputy" was Lowell Carlton, who found a skull on January 19th 1986 at Yuba Gap in close proximity to the jawbone, not the PG&E workers who found a different skull slightly west of Lake Spaulding in July or August.
When the news broke that Donna Lass had been identified in 2023 through DNA from the skull, many newspapers reported the following: [1] 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". [2] SACRAMENTO BEE "In 1986 the Placer County Sheriff's office found a skull near Highway 20, not far from Interstate 80, in the Camp Spaulding area". [3] 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. [4] FOX KTVU: "Placer County Sheriff's deputies later found an unidentified skull in 1986 and held on to it until there were more advancements in forensic technology, KCRA3 reported". These articles are but a small sample (I could have added many more) The Donna Ann Lass "Find a Grave" page states "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 result was that the skull was identified as being that of Donna Lass, finally providing the evidence to prove that Donna was actually deceased". That "sheriff's deputy" was Lowell Carlton, who found a skull on January 19th 1986 at Yuba Gap in close proximity to the jawbone, not the PG&E workers who found a different skull slightly west of Lake Spaulding in July or August.
I am assuming these newspaper outlets were given this information by Placer County law enforcement, who linked the skull found by Deputy Sheriff Lowell Carlton and his scent dogs, to the DNA identifying Donna Lass in 2023. Otherwise they should have mentioned the PG&E workers, which they didn't. I believe the death certificate and The Doe Network case numbers have been incorrectly linked together, but without any further information about the DNA from the jawbone, I will let you decide whether the skull of Donna Lass was found alongside Lake Valley Road in Yuba Gap, or somewhere north of the Drum Canal crossing by Emigrant Gap, west of Lake Spaulding. I am open to being wrong, as pointed out by Travis Miller, who successfully acquired the FBI files of Donna Lass through some excellent research. Either way, we have two skulls by Interstate 80 in close proximity to one another.
The murderer of Donna Lass, if he had after hours drinks with her at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel or another bar on September 6th 1970, had every reason to make a phone call on September 7th 1970 claiming she had been called out of town for a family illness - and to conceal the body many miles from her residence (70 miles). An immediate investigation into her absence from work (or immediate discovery of her body) would have meant police interviewing anybody in the company of Donna Lass after she was last seen at around 2:00 am at the casino. This would have been their prime focus and required interviewing any potential eyewitnesses to her movements that morning, whose memories and recollections would have been much more reliable after only a few hours and days, rather than weeks. The longer the perpetrator could delay the investigation into her disappearance (and murder), the better it was for him. The killer, if seen with Donna in the hours after her shift ended, needed to confuse the time of her death and make the timeline widen, had her body been found in the near future. This tactic worked, because the police investigation into her disappeaance was badly delayed and hampered. A random killer, with no backstory regarding Donna, who just entered her apartment on September 6th 1970 and was not present in her company in the previous few hours, had absolutely no reason to phone the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and concoct a fake story about her absence from work. This phone call had purpose. To widen the parameters of any future investigation, and to reduce the focus on the immediate few hours after 2:00 am on September 6th 1970. It appears that her murderer knew the importance of those few hours.
A KILLER FROM THE CASINO [PART ONE] A KILLER FROM THE CASINO [PART TWO]
The murderer of Donna Lass, if he had after hours drinks with her at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel or another bar on September 6th 1970, had every reason to make a phone call on September 7th 1970 claiming she had been called out of town for a family illness - and to conceal the body many miles from her residence (70 miles). An immediate investigation into her absence from work (or immediate discovery of her body) would have meant police interviewing anybody in the company of Donna Lass after she was last seen at around 2:00 am at the casino. This would have been their prime focus and required interviewing any potential eyewitnesses to her movements that morning, whose memories and recollections would have been much more reliable after only a few hours and days, rather than weeks. The longer the perpetrator could delay the investigation into her disappearance (and murder), the better it was for him. The killer, if seen with Donna in the hours after her shift ended, needed to confuse the time of her death and make the timeline widen, had her body been found in the near future. This tactic worked, because the police investigation into her disappeaance was badly delayed and hampered. A random killer, with no backstory regarding Donna, who just entered her apartment on September 6th 1970 and was not present in her company in the previous few hours, had absolutely no reason to phone the Sahara Tahoe Hotel and concoct a fake story about her absence from work. This phone call had purpose. To widen the parameters of any future investigation, and to reduce the focus on the immediate few hours after 2:00 am on September 6th 1970. It appears that her murderer knew the importance of those few hours.
A KILLER FROM THE CASINO [PART ONE] A KILLER FROM THE CASINO [PART TWO]
VISIT LAWRENCE KANE AT WORDPRESS FOR MORE INFORMATION
RSS Feed
