Donna Lass

• Earlier on September 5th, Donna had moved into a new apartment located in South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, California. She had been living with a couple named the Lowes during the summer. Donna had been a nurse with Mrs. Lowe in Santa Barbara, and she had recommended the casino job to Donna. Monday the 7th was Labor Day, and Donna’s former roommate in San Francisco, Joanne, arrived to spend the day with Donna per their previous plans. When Joanne got to the apartment, she found Donna’s Camaro in the parking lot, but Donna did not answer her door. Joanne went to the casino to look for her, but she wasn’t there. Eventually, Joanne drove back to San Francisco on the 8th without making contact with Donna.

• At some point, likely either Thursday the 10th, or Friday the 11th, a security officer at the casino, John Schott called the South Lake Tahoe PD, and spoke with Sgt. Tucker. Donna had missed work, and Schott had discovered that nobody had seen or heard from her in days. Schott asked Tucker to help him locate Donna, and confirm that she was safe. Tucker made no report of the call, and took no action on it. 

• On Friday the 11th, Mr. Davis, the manager of Donna’s apartment building received a call from Schott asking him to check on Donna. Davis entered Donna’s apartment, and found it empty and undisturbed. Davis called South Lake Tahoe PD, and spoke to dispatcher Morgan who told him that the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (the location of the casino) had told him that Donna had gone home due to a family illness. Mr. Davis called back to Schott at the casino security office, but got Mr. Petrovich, and left a message relaying the information provided to him by dispatcher Morgan. 

• On Friday the 18th, Schott called Donna’s mother to confirm her whereabouts. At that point, Schott learned that there was no family illness, and nobody had heard from Donna since she left work early on the morning of the 6th. Two of Donna’s sisters immediately flew to Lake Tahoe, and arrived on Saturday the 19th, only to discover that the miscommunication between the Douglas Sheriff's Office and South Lake Tahoe PD meant that Donna had been missing for two weeks with nobody investigating or looking for her. 

• Those short media stories were followed a couple of days later with more information, and photos of Donna, and her sisters who had arrived from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

• The possible connection to the kidnapping and murder of Judith Hakari months earlier was noted as soon as Donna’s disappearance became public. Both women left their nursing jobs, parked their cars at home, and never made it inside. Only the women and their purses were missing.

• Donna Lass was incredibly loved and missed by her family. Two of her sisters left their own families in SD, flew to Tahoe, and stayed until all leads had been exhausted. They eventually packed up Donna’s belongings into her car, and drove it home to SD. 

• They hired a top private investigator, and offered a reward, but it was far too late. South Lake Tahoe PD had let weeks pass with no investigation, and had failed to preserve or examine her apartment and car. 

• Donna had moved from SF to Tahoe a few months before she disappeared, and the San Francisco Examiner picked up the story:

• The tone of that article is a snapshot of law enforcement and the press’ attitude towards women in 1970. Only good girls were worthy of an investigation and public sympathy. 

• Although it had taken three weeks to get the word out about Donna’s disappearance, it appeared that investigators had been working hard, and were moving forward in the right direction. 

• However, on the 28th, the case took an all too predictable turn:

• Some of the most valuable information covered by the press was published in Donna’s home town of Sioux Fall, SD. This article covered details the CA and NV press had not—Donna’s uniform was found at work, so she was wearing a blue pants suit, and her purse and checkbook were missing. 

• Back in the Sacramento Press, the coverage carried some new debunked misinformation, and failed to give details about her clothing and purse:

• South Lake Tahoe PD was pushing this narrative because it shielded them from criticism that they failed to act on the original missing person reports, and eliminated a stranger abduction that the citizens and tourists would expect them to investigate and solve. 

• Donna’s disappearance took a hard turn when Zodiac appeared to take credit for killing her:

• The story of Donna’s disappearance went global, with massive coverage in hundreds of newspapers—for one day—March 26, 1971.

• There was little discussion about whether or not the postcard was an authentic Zodiac writing, because it was confirmed by the case’s handwriting expert, Sherwood Morrill. 

• Donna Lass was the only matching missing person or homicide victim in the area, so that led to one of two possible conclusions: either Zodiac was taking credit for a crime he didn’t commit; or, he kidnapped and killed Donna. 

• The connection between Judith Hakari and Donna seemed sound, so that placed Zodiac in Sacramento and Placer County in March of 1970. As noted in P.I. Miller’s Report and news stories at the time:

• Since Judith Harkari had been found in Weimar, Placer County,  that case was being investigated by PCSO. 

• The Placer Sheriff assumed that the postcard meant that Zodiac had also placed Donna Lass’ body somewhere in Placer—likely in the Donner Pass area of the Sierras near Lake Tahoe, as seemingly indicated on the postcard. That is confirmed by the following statements:

• Something that didn’t seem to get news coverage in relation to Donna Lass was the postcard that Zodiac sent on October 5, 1970. That was a month after Donna disappeared, and shortly after her story finally got news coverage on September 22, 1970. 

• The October card referenced the same “body” count as the March, 1971 card, with 13 holes punched out—one for each claimed victim. 

• There is no way to know how to interpret the victim count in relation to Donna Lass’ disappearance. The Tahoe postcard says “sought victim 12” and that was assumed to refer to Donna, but a month later Zodiac claimed 13 victims. Was there another person killed between September 6th and October 5th?

• Placer County has so many sets of unidentified female remains that could be from victims in 1970, that it is impossible to guess who they are, when they died, or if they are connected to Donna Lass, Zodiac, or other homicides in the area. 

Unidentified Remains Discovered - August 1, 1986 - Drum Canal, Placer County

• On Friday, August 1, 1986, two PG&E employees—Zellner and James—were surveying property boundaries and found a human skull in a seasonal drainage area next to the Drum Canal.

• PCSO Deputy Lowell Carlton responded at 12:00 pm on Monday, August 4, 1986 after being called by PG&E supervisor Nelson Money. Carlton described his route to the scene:

• The skull (with upper teeth) was lying under some branches. It was sun bleached and stained from dirt and water, with some lichen attached to it. The immediate area was steep, with dense brush, and a search team was called in to assist.

• At 1:00 pm on Tuesday the 5th, the skull was delivered to medical examiner Dr. Henrikson.

• On Wednesday the 6th at 8:15 am, Forensic Odontologist Nordstrom was called to the morgue to examine the teeth, and prepare a dental chart for the victim. The chart was immediately transported to CalDOJ for comparison and identification with known missing persons.

• Several distinctive dental features were noted:  the 3rd molars were impacted; there was a malrotation of the 2nd right bicuspid; there was a portion of a deciduous (baby) tooth lateral and posterior to 2nd right bicuspid; there were no restorations; and, very little occlusal wear on the molars.

• Dr. Henrikson examined the skull and teeth at 1:45 pm with the assistance of Dr. Cunha, and the remains were secured at the morgue.

• On Saturday the 9th,  PCSO and trained civilian searchers returned to the scene looking for additional remains. Dog handler Vicki Jones and tracker Harold Hall found a human arm bone 150 east of the location of the skull. No other remains or items of evidence were recovered from the scene.

• Determined to be a white female, mid-teens to early 20s. Unknown time since death, several months to more than a year was the estimate.

• Skull fracture in the left occipital area, and multiple hairline fractures of the arm. 

• Case investigation moved to “Inactive” on March 10, 1987, per Investigator Phillips, and Inspector Smith. PCSO Case # 13226-86 (Former NamUs #UP17570)

There is nothing in the file to explain how these remains were not suspected as being those of Donna Lass:

• Donna Lass was the most famous missing person in Northern California;

• Her remains were found just one county away from her home, in the same state;

• The remains found were in one of the same areas PCSO had originally been searching for Donna;

• Donna was described as having “good teeth,” (no restorations) the same description of the teeth found with the skull;

• Donna’s dental records were available for comparison;

• DNA testing became available to law enforcement in the US in 1987. In the 1990s, the US Armed Forces DNA Lab started using DNA from bones and teeth to identify remains of service members from past war zones. This technology was also used on bone fragments from the 9/11 sites in 2001;

• Donna’s sister provided a DNA sample in the early 2000s, which was uploaded to the missing person section of CODIS—the match to Donna wasn't made until Placer finally tested the remains in 2023;

• Placer County has at least a dozen other sets of modern (since 1970) unidentified human remains sitting in boxes, or buried in pauper’s graves, and another dozen known unsolved stranger homicides from 1970-1993:

• It is impossible to solve homicides cases if you haven’t identified the victim, yet Placer County has never used any of the numerous state and federal grants they’ve received for cold case investigation, and DNA testing to try to identify the remains of these victims; and,

• Although the remains that have been identified as Donna’s were found in Placer County, and the 1986 homicide investigation was supervised by Johnnie Smith at PCSO, somehow the case has now ended up back in the hands of South Lake Tahoe PD.

• After reading hundreds of pages of Joseph DeAngelo’s Auburn PD handwritten police reports, it is difficult to look at any Zodiac writing objectively, because the both sets look and feel like the same author. 

• One of DeAngelo’s most consistent handwriting glitches is the way he writes “vehicle.” Given the nature of his patrol work with Auburn PD, it’s in almost all of his reports, and it is always written “vehicLe.” It’s also a perfect match to the word “Chronicle” on Zodiac’s Lake Tahoe postcard. 

• Since Zodiac left no forensic evidence on his letters, stamps, or envelopes, it was always assumed that he disguised his handwriting, and intentionally misspelled words as false clues. The Lake Tahoe postcard is interesting because it was carefully constructed using newspaper cutouts and a hole punch to create a border, and “peek” hole through the Zodiac symbol. However, at the last minute, a handwritten note to Paul Avery was added to the address line—and it looks exactly like DeAngelo’s “vehicLe.” 

• DeAngelo was certainly in the area when Donna Lass was killed in September of 1970. 

• His mother and step-father still lived on Burgard Lane in Auburn, and DeAngelo was working at Sierra Crane in Newcastle, and as a commercial SCUBA diver for PG&E. 

• In June of 1970, DeAngelo had just completed his A.A. program in police studies at Sierra College, Auburn; He started his B.A. program at Sacramento State on September 21, 1970.  

• There is no known information that would eliminate him as a suspect.