March 3, 2026

Chapter 133: Cold Case Breakthrough-The Murders of The Kern and Ventura County Jane Does

Chapter 133: Cold Case Breakthrough-The Murders of The Kern and Ventura County Jane Does
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In 1980, two unidentified women were found murdered in California, one in Ventura County and the other in Kern County. For decades, they were known only as Jane Does, their names and stories erased by time. Their killer, Wilson Chouest, was identified years ago, but the identities of his victims remained a mystery.

Now, through advances in forensic genealogy and relentless investigative work, both women have finally been identified, restoring their names after more than 40 years. In this episode, I revisited a chapter from the earliest days of The Book of the Dead, examine how Chouest was linked to the crimes, and explore how modern DNA technology is rewriting the endings of cold cases once thought unsolvable.This is a story of delayed justice, the power of identification, and why names matter.

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Cramer, M. (2022, April 10). Official describes brutal injuries to Colleen Ritzer. BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/30/philip-chism-murder-trial-resumes/zwhZsJ0PUd0olRg3vA9QZK/story.html (Original work published 2015)Crime, P. C. (2022, April 24). Who Is the Ventura County Jane Doe? - Pop Culture Crime. Medium. https://popculturecrime.medium.com/who-is-the-ventura-county-jane-doe-9f3858d6d397Diskin, M. V. C. S. (2018a, May 19). Criminal nature stems from childhood discord, man on trial for 1980 slayings says. Ventura. https://eu.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/conejo-valley/2018/05/18/thousand-oaks-murder-trial-childhood-discord-triggered-crime/624546002/Diskin, M. V. C. S. (2018b, May 24). Past victims testify in felon’s trial over 1980 killings in Ventura, Kern counties. Ventura. https://eu.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/conejo-valley/2018/05/23/wilson-chouest-trial-victim-testifies-murder-trial/638521002/Diskin, M. V. C. S. (2018c, July 12). Man sentenced in 1980 rape, murder of women found in Ventura, Kern counties. Ventura. https://eu.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/conejo-valley/2018/07/12/man-sentenced-1980-murder-women-ventura-kern-counties/765029002/DNA DOE Project IDs Murdered woman in “Toughest case yet.” (2026, February 23). https://www.forensicmag.com/3594-All-News/624259-DNA-Doe-Project-IDs-Murdered-Woman-in-Toughest-Case-Yet/Farr, L. (2021, December 27). She Has a Name. Alta Online. https://www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a38378086/jane-doe-ventura-steve-rhods-wilson-chouest/Gayle, L. (2026, February 24). Pregnant woman found dead in high school parking lot 46 years ago is finally identified. People. https://people.com/pregnant-woman-found-dead-calif-high-school-parking-lot-1980-identified-11912793Kettler, S. (2022, April 12). Shirley Ann Soosay: Indigenous Murder Victim Went Unnamed for Decades, Until DNA Restored Her Identity. A+E Networks EMEA. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.aenetworks.tv/KGET. (2021, April 23). How ‘Kern County Jane Doe’ was identified as Shirley Soosay. KGET. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/how-kern-county-jane-doe-was-identified-as-shirley-soosay/LaVoice, O. (2018, October 24). Kern County and Ventura County Jane Doe may be closer than ever to being identified. KGET. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/kern-county-and-ventura-county-jane-doe-may-be-closer-than-ever-to-being-identified/1547382038/Mohney, G. (2026, February 26). Calif. woman murdered in high school parking lot finally identified. SFGate. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/calif-police-killer-cold-case-21940656.phpMoore, H., & Stewart, C. (2021, May 4). California ‘Jane Doe’ identified as missing Cree woman. ICT. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/california-jane-doe-identified-as-missing-cree-womanPregnant Jane Doe killed in 1980 identified using DNA. (2026, February 25). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pregnant-jane-doe-killed-1980-identified-using-dna-rcna260402Shirley Soosay. (n.d.). Unidentified Wiki. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Shirley_SoosayThe Canadian Press. (2022, May 27). ‘Always hope’: Remains of Cree woman sent home to Alberta decades after disappearance. North Island Gazette. https://www.northislandgazette.com/news/always-hope-remains-of-cree-woman-sent-home-to-alberta-decades-after-disappearance/Unsolved, S. O. T. (2021, August 13). Ventura County Jane Doe. Stories of the Unsolved. https://storiesoftheunsolved.com/2021/08/12/ventura-county-jane-doe/Ventura Co Jane Doe. (2021, November 19). DNA Doe Project Cases. https://dnadoeproject.org/case/ventura-co-jane-doe/Whitnall, B. B., & Staff, A. (2026, February 26). District Attorney identifies 1980 cold case victim. The Acorn - Serving Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Oak Park & Westlake Village. https://www.theacorn.com/articles/district-attorney-identifies-1980-cold-case-victim/Worley, D. (2026, February 24). Pregnant woman found stabbed to death in high school parking lot identified 46 years later. https://www.kfyrtv.com. https://www.kfyrtv.com/2026/02/24/pregnant-woman-found-stabbed-death-high-school-parking-lot-identified-46-years-later/

If you enjoyed the episode, consider leaving a review or rating! It helps more than you know! 
If you have a case suggestion, or want attention brought to a loved one's case, email me at bookofthedeadpod@gmail.com with Case Suggestion in the subject line.

Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant.

WEBVTT

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Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending.

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In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay

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the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,

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waiting to be heard and have their stories told. This

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is the Book of the Dead, a true crime podcast

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where we remember forgotten victims of heinous crimes, reopen cold cases,

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re visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath

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the years of silence. I'm your host, Courtney Liso, and

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every week we turn to another chapter, one victim, one mystery,

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one step Closer to Justice. Brought to you by Darkast

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It's Tuesday and you're listening to Murder on Script. My

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name's ed. For the past two decades, I've been producing

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true crime content for some of your favorite networks like Hulu,

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Oxygen and of course, Investigation Discovery.

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And I'm Melissa ads Vesti and Walking Talking True Crime Database.

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We've combined my behind the scenes insight with Melissa's morbid

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curiosity to bring you a podcast that immerses you in

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the true crime genre like never before. We highlight victims,

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cases and bring you exclusive insight from the people who

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lived through them, with a touch of humor to lightening

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the darkest stories. This is Murdered unscripted dun Dundon.

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Hello, Hello, Welcome to the next chapter in the Book

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of the Dead. In the summer of nineteen eighty, the

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bodies of two women were found in California, four days

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and less than one hundred miles apart. These women's deaths

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were near identical, violent deaths. Their bodies left abandoned in

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an orchard and a parking lot. The similarities did not

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end there. Though both women were relatively close in age,

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there was a clear resemblance between the two, and both

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women had given birth prior to their deaths. These women

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also waited decades to be identified. When I first covered

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this story almost three and a half years ago, I

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could only give you one of their names. Today, I

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am revisiting their case, as finally, almost fifty years after her,

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the second victim was finally identified. These are the murders

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of the Kern and Ventura County Jane Does. On July fourteenth,

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nineteen eighty, in Dolano, California, which is part of Kern County,

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a maintenance worker was horrified to discover the body of

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a woman lying in an almond orchard just off of

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Highway ninety nine. The woman was very well dressed, clearly

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ready to go out, and she had been brutally attacked.

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It would ultimately be determined that this woman had been

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stabbed thirty times since she had been raped. Collected during

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the autopsy were scrapings of DNA from under her fingernails,

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indicating that she had fought hard against her killer, as

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well as the semen sample. While investigators hoped that they

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would be able to identify her killer with this DNA evidence,

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the technology needed to properly process this evidence was still

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a long way off from being used as part of

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regular protocol. Also collected with the intention of using them

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to identify this woman's killer were bottles of liquor found

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near the body, which were analyzed for fingerprints in saliva.

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While police knew they had to find her killer, they

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also needed to identify the victim. There was nothing found

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with her body that identified her by name, and she

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would eventually be called the Kern County Jane Doe for

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where she had been found. The Kern County Dough was

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determined to be between the ages of twenty and forty five,

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approximately five foot, and of either Hispanic or Indigenous descent.

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It was determined that she had likely given birth. She

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had a scar on her abdomen, possibly from the cesarean,

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a scar on her left bodock, and she had surgery

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on her leg where screws and metal rods were implanted,

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though there was no serial number found that could be

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used to identify her. She also had some tattoos, including

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ones that said I love you Shirley Seattle and one

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on her arm that said mom, I Love you. She

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was also missing her upper denture, and it was theorized

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that it had possibly been lost during the attack. Toxicology

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reports also revealed that her blood alcohol level was point

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three at the time of her death, indicating that she

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was likely very disoriented or not fully cognizant of what

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was happening at the time she was attacked. Investigators also

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believed that the Kern County doe was possibly from Washington State.

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Investigators did call on the media to help them identify

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the victim, and a description of her was released to

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the public, asking any one to come forward that can

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name her. One of the calls they received came from

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a woman who said someone matching Jane Doe's description worked

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at a bar and her name was Rebecca Ocha. However,

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when investigators went to the bar and asked about her,

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no one by that name or matching Kern County Doe's

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description was employed. There. Hitting a dead end, investigators focused

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on her tattoos, hoping that one of the local shops

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in the area had had her as a client. They

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went to a shop in Bakersfield, and while the artists

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they spoke to didn't recognize her or the tattoos, they

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pointed police towards a different shop in Los Angeles that

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specialized in the style of tattoos she had and was

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also situated in an area where most of their clients

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help were indigenous. The artist they spoke to there was

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unable to identify her either, and police weren't getting a

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hit on missing persons reported in Washington State. At some point,

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investigators had reason to believe that she had been at

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a bar called Rubies, located in Lamour, and the speculation

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was that she had been abducted from there or alert

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away from this establishment. While police are actively working to

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identify the current County dough as well as her killer.

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This Jane Doe was not the only unidentified victim found

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in July of nineteen eighty. On July eighteenth, four days

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acts after the body of the Kern County Jane Doe

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was found, the body of another woman was found in

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the parking lot of Westlake High School in Westlake Village,

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which is in Ventura County, California. The school's janitor had

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been the one to find her body, and as with

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the Kerrent County Jane Doe, this woman had also been

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killed mere hours before she had been discovered. The similarities

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did not end there, though. This woman had also been raped,

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and she had been stabbed nineteen times. Like the Kern

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County Dough, this woman had also likely given birth, as

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evidence of an episiotomy scar had been found, and at

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the time of her death, she was also five months pregnant.

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This victim was five foot two, approximately one hundred and

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fifteen pounds, of Hispanic or Indigenous descent, and between the

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ages of fifteen and thirty. Her hair was brown with

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the endstyde blonde, and her eyebrests had been shaved and

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penciled back on. Also, like the Kern County Dough, investigators

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were having trouble identifying this victim. Evidence of the scene

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suggested she had not been killed in the parking lot

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where she had been found. Blood spatter found indicated that

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she had likely been dragged to that location after her death,

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and it was determined that she had most likely been

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abducted while trying to hitchhike near the Visalia College of

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the Sequoias, which is eighty miles from Bakersfield, the area

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where the Kern County dough had been found. Once again,

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investigators were tasked with identifying both a victim and her killer,

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and it was proving to be impossible. While they collected

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fingerprints in DNA, no match was found in any database,

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and the DNA from her unborn son was also not

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a match to any mail in the system. Missing persons

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reported in the area also did not match her description,

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and while fingernail scrapings and seamen were collected from her body,

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they were unable to identify her killer. While there were

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undeniable similarities between the two cases, both women had similar

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physical characteristics, both women had given birth, and both women

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had been murdered in the same way. Because they had

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been found so far from each other, no connection was

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made between them. As the days and weeks turned into

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months and years, their cases grew cold, and it was

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a waiting game to see if one day a match

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should be found that would tell investigators who these women

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were or who their killer was. That weight finally ended

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twenty eight years after the current Inventura County Jane Doe's

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bodies were found. In two thousand and eight, the Department

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of Justice contacted the Kerrent County Police Department to let

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them know that they had gotten a DNA match in

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one of the Kerr County coal cases. The DNA matched

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a sample taken from the body of the Kern County

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Jane Doe and was from a man named Wilson Choosed.

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Of course, this match is a huge deal, but it's

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not enough for a conviction. They don't have any other evidence. Luckily, though,

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investigators have more than enough time to gather more evidence

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and build a case against him. Because Louisiana native Wilson

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Choost was currently incarcerated and serving a life sentence for

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a string of crimes that had occurred between the years

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nineteen seventy seven and nineteen eighty. He was also not

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eligible for parole until twenty seventeen, so police had ample

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time to look into him, and look into him they did.

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According to an article for the Ventura County Star, on

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October twelfth, nineteen seventy seven, an unnamed woman accepted a

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ride from Choost because he told her he would take

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her to Tepanga County. When she got in the car,

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she immediately noticed that the passenger side window crank as

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well as the handle was missing. Choose then exposed himself

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to her and demanded to perform sex exellent on him.

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She said, quote, I wanted to get out of the

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car and I couldn't. He then taped her arms behind

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her back, and when he threatened her with a knife,

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she tried to appease him by promising to do whatever

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he asked, but only if he got rid of the knife.

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So he did. He drove her to a remote hillside,

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forced her out of the car, and proceeded to rape

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and strangle her. A few hours later, she awoke in

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the dark, and thankfully she survived the attack. She did

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go to the police and she pressed charges. However, he

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made a plea deal and he ended up being charged

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with robbery and kidnapping, for which he served around two

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and a half years, being released on June fifteenth, nineteen eighty,

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to nobody's surprise, since he didn't receive any sort of

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real punishment the first time Wilson choose to would go on

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to attack another woman. Weeks later, in August of nineteen eighty,

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a second victim was approached by Wilson Shoost as she

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was leaving her night class at the Visalia College of

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the Sequoias. Unfortunately for Wilson, he did pick the wrong

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woman to mess with. He approached the sun named woman

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and threatened her with a knife to get into his vehicle.

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This woman told him no. Wilson then attempted to rob her,

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demanding her purse, to which she also refused, though she

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did tell him she would give him the money in

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her wallet likely to make him go away, which he did.

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As I said the first time I covered this case,

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this woman was incredibly fortunate that this did not go

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terribly wrong, because what she did outright, refusing to do

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what she was being asked while he was armed, is

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so dangerous. I think what really deterred him, though, was

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the fact that she was assertive and not willing to

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give in to him. And that's a scary thing for

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many people. A formidable woman is a terrifying thing to behold,

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especially when someone like Wilson Shust has an extreme lack

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of confidence of their own. Now, this woman goes home, However,

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she realizes when she gets there that when she handed

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over the money, she also gave him a receipt that

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had her name, phone number, and address printed on it.

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The very next day, she received a phone call from

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someone taunting her about stealing the money. Likely Wilson Choosed,

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and this phone call was thankfully the only one she received.

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But she did go to the police with a description

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of Choost and they were on the lookout for him. However,

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while this may have been the case, it did not

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prevent Choose from attacking yet another woman. One month later,

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in September of nineteen eighty, he attacked another student attending

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the College of the Sequoias. He approached this woman and

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offered to walk her to her car, which she agreed to. However,

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like in the last two attacks, he pulled out a

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knife and forced her into his car, demanding money from her.

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This woman gives him all the money she has on her,

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which was around ten dollars but he didn't stop there.

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He bound her hands behind her back like the first victim,

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and demanded her to perform sex ax on him. He

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then drove around before bringing her to a remote cornfield

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and forcing this woman out of the vehicle. She said quote,

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I remember thinking they're going to find my body in

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this cornfield tomorrow. She was convinced that he would kill her.

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Choose then proceeded to rape this woman as he did

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the first victim, and afterwards she told him that her

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husband would worry if she didn't come home. So he

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drove her back to her car and apologized to her,

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letting her go. This woman, after he drove off, went

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to the police station and reported the attack. Wilson Schoost

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was arrested and charged with rape, kidnapping, and robbery, and

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he was sentenced to life in prison. Who it's the

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possibility of parole in twenty seventeen. Coming back to two

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thousand and eight, Inventuria County investigator Steve Rods is attempting

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to identify the Ventura County Jane Doe and solve her murder.

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He submits the DNA evidence that he has to Cotis

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and he gets a hit the DNA from his Jane

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doe case is the same DNA found on the Kern

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County doe and they both belong to Wilson Choost. While

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this is incredible news, like in Kern County, all the

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police have is a degraded DNA sample, but Officer Rods

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sees that not only is there a match that connects

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the two cases, but the mo and the victims are similar.

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So he calls the Kern County police and asks them

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to work together to gather the evidence needed to get

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a conviction. In twenty fifteen, after almost forty years of

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waiting for justice, Wilson Choose is charged with the murders

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of the Kern and Ventura County Jane does as well

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as the Ventura County dos onborn baby, and he would

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end up going to trial in May of twenty eighteen.

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Ventura County District Attorney John Barrick did not pursue the

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death penalty in this case, even though the severity of

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it would have allowed for it to be considered a

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capital punishment trial. The reason for this was while the

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DNA evidence was a match, the samples in both cases

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were severely degraded. There were no witnesses to either murder,

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and due to both victims remaining unidentified, character witnesses could

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not be brought in to help bolster the case. So

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while there wasn't enough for a capital punishment, Barrick did

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have enough for a conviction, and his case was heavily

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based around the testimony from Choose three prior victims, who

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were all attacked in similar ways and for which he

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was already serving a life sentence for. Interestingly enough, when

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the first witness testified, she explained that during his attack

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on her, he said that he had raped other women

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and had enjoyed it, meaning she was likely not his

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first victim as previously believed, and he had been doing

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this for far longer than anyone had realized. Also brought

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in to testify was a woman that Chouse had been

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living with in nineteen eighty named Carolyn Bell. She claimed

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that her son Patrick, as well as his brother, had

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told her they had been asked by Choose to help

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him vacuum blood out of his car after he had

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allegedly hit a deer that July. Defense attorney Andrey Ninschev

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asked why she didn't mention it or go to the

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police until she was interviewed by them in regards to

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these homicides in twenty thirteen, but it was likely that

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she was taking what her son was saying at face value.

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Ninschev also argued that the DNA evidence didn't prove that

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Choose had killed the Jane Does and that any sexual

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acts were consensual. In fact, any allegations were circumstantial because

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there was a lack of injuries typically seen in instances

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of rape, even though it was confirmed by both autopsies

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that the women had indeed been raped, and it was

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confirmed that the Kerrent County doe had enough alcohol in

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her system to render her incapable of giving consent to anything.

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Her disorientation could also contribute to her not being able

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to fight back as strongly as she likely would have

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if she had been sober, which would mean a lack

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of injuries typically associated in an attack like this, according

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to the Ventura County Star. John Barrett argued against this,

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saying that Schust was more than capable of murder, was

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a known rapist, and there was enough evidence, especially combined

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with his criminal history, to show that he was responsible

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for these crimes. Lending way to this argument was the

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testimony from Officer Rodds, who said that she had seemed

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to be setting up a reason behind his criminal behavior

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to garner sympathy. Choos claimed in his interview that starting

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in his twenties, certain feelings triggered memories of his mother

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and his relationship with her. He claimed to resent her

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for cheating on his father and splitting up his family.

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Regardless of whether or not you believe that Wilson Schuste

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had issues with his mother, the jury wasn't buying his excuses.

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On May thirty one, twenty eighteen, Wilson schus was convicted

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of two counts of murder for the deaths of the

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Kerrn and Ventura County Jane Does. A conviction was not

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granted for the murder of Ventura County Does onborn child

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as in nineteen eighty, there were discrepancies on one of

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Fetus's life is considered viable. However, because they were able

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to get justice for his mother, one of the jurors

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named the baby Baby Justice to symbolize what they were

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able to do for his mom. On July twelfth, Wilson

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Chusse was sentenced to two life sentences, one for each count,

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plus an additional four years for special allegations, and these

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allegations were committing multiple murders using a knife during the

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commission of a rape. At sentencaying, Ventura County Superior Court

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Judge Ryan Jay Wright told Chuse that he doesn't ever

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enjoy sending people to prison, but he quote finds a

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tremendous amount of professional satisfaction in ordering his sentence. He

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also said, according to the Ventura County Star, quote, your

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last breath is going to be taken in state prison,

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exactly where you deserve to be, and that's on my order.

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Judge Wright also acknowledged the strength it took for the

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prior victims to come forward and assured them that the

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fear of receiving a phone call about his parole would

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now never come because parole was not an option for

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him anymore. While Wilson Choo's victims had finally received justice

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for their murders, they were still unidentified. However, that would

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change for at least one of them two years later.

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In July twenty according to kget dot com, Kern County

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Coroner Don Radcliffe reached out to the DNA Doe Project,

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an organization that works to identify John and Jane Does,

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specifically to ask for help in identifying the Kern County dough. Unfortunately,

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due to her ethnicity being critically underrepresented in most DNA databases,

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it was proving incredibly difficult to find a match. However,

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this changed when they created a Facebook post highlighting the

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Kern County Does story, her identifying features, a composite of

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what she may have looked like, and a plea for

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readers to submit their DNA to jeed match, and someone did.

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In February of twenty twenty, a woman named Violets Susy

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saw a post about the Kern County Dough on the

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DNA Doe Project Facebook page. Specifically, this post was looking

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for a genetic match for a Jane doe that they

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identified as being Cree from the areas of Alberta, Saskatchewan,

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and Manitoba, Canada. According to an article for Indian Country

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Today dot com, the team leader for DNA Doe Project,

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Gina Wrath, said of the Kern County Dough quote, when

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we first uploaded her, she had zero matches in the database.

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In September twenty nineteen, we had a new upload to

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jed match who turned out to be a half second cousin,

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meaning they shared one great grandparent. By tracing the lineage

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from this match, they were able to determine that there

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was an Indigenous great grandparent in this family line. In

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twenty twenty, they put out this post about the Kern

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County doe and a plea for anyone recognizing her to

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submit their DNA violets. Susy submitted her DNA to jed

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match and she was found to be a direct familial

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match to the Kern County dough Violet Tousay's unidentified family

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member was her aunt, Shirley Anne Soussi. Shirley Anne Sussey

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was born in nineteen forty five on the Samson Cre

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Nation Reservation in Alberta, Canada. She was one of seven children,

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and they were all incredibly close. When Shirley was fourteen,

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her father passed away, leaving the family struggling to keep

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the ranch they owned up and running, and the family

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ended up dealing with tremendous financial hardships. When Shirley was

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in her twenties, having no luck finding substantial work in

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her area to help her family, she headed off to

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Edmonton to find a job. After working for a time

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in Edmonton, she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and she

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would go on to meet her husband and start a family,

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giving birth to two boys. Unfortunately, Shirley and her husband

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would go on to divorce and she would lose custody

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of her children, the boys ending up in foster care.

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Shirley was profoundly impacted by the loss of her children,

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and she struggled with a substance use disorder as a result.

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Then it appeared that she had also at some point

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lost her home. In nineteen seventy seven, Shirley returned to

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the reservation to attend her brother's funeral, and while well there,

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her family begged her to come home to Alberta, where

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she could be surrounded by her family and get the

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support she needed, but Shirley declined. Vallet herself told Indian

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Country Today that she had asked her aunt if she

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would be coming home, and she was told by Shirley

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that she was going to return to Vancouver before heading

385
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to Seattle to visit someone. Shirley's mother had serious reservations

386
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about her daughter going to Seattle. Call it a mother's intuition,

387
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but she really believed something bad would happen, and she

388
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urged Shirley to get identifying tattoos in the event that

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something happened, because no one in Washington State would know her,

390
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and Shirley said that she would think about it. The

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important thing to note about Shirley was that after she

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had originally left Alberta, she kept in constant contact with

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her mother. She sent letters and cards almost daily and

394
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always made sure to send something for holidays and birthdays. However,

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in nineteen seventy nine, the letters that had been so

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consistent suddenly stopped. Vilet said, quote my grandmother her mother

397
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used to receive birthday and Christmas cards from her, and

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they just stopped. My grandmother knew something had happened. So

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Violet promised her grandmother that she would look for Shirley,

400
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and she wouldn't stop looking until she had been found.

401
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Violet and her Auntie Bell looked everywhere they could think

402
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of for Shirley, but there were many obstacles in their way,

403
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mainly due to privacy restrictions. Violet spent decades traveling around

404
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Canada and following whatever lead she could to try and

405
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find Shirley. Bound and determined to keep her promise. One

406
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of the things that made Shirley so difficult to find, though,

407
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which was only made clear after the call from the

408
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DNA DO Project about the match, was that Shirley was

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never suspected to be in California, as she had no

410
00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:56.000
reason to be there. Regardless of how Shirley ended up there,

411
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a question her family has not been able to get

412
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an answer to. Able to keep that long ago made

413
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promise to her grandmother, she said, quote, when an elder

414
00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:07.920
asked you to do something for them, you have to

415
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do your best to live up to it. Now we

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can put Shirley to rest in our proper ceremonial world,

417
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in our colonial ways, and insure her spirit is not

418
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stuck in this place. That alone is a huge relief.

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Shirley Anne Sussay was to be buried in Samson Cree

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Reservation following an escort from California to her final resting place.

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Before her body was to be transported, the Toul River

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Tribe held a ceremony to honor her life and her death.

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In the case of the Ventura County dough At the

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time Shirley an Susy was identified, the DNA DOE Project

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00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.920
had been able to determine that she was sixty percent

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00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:45.920
need of American, and they believed that her father was

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00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:50.839
likely part Hispanic. Volunteer genealogists had also successfully identified a

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00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:54.839
third cousin, but at the time they had been unable

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00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.640
to find a closer familial match in order to aid

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00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:03.400
in her identification. That is until now. Last week, it

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00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:06.720
was announced that the Ventura County Jane Doe had finally

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00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:12.440
been identified, almost fifty years after her murder. According to

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00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:15.720
the director of Volunteers in Education a DNA DOE project,

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00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:19.559
the Ventura County Dell identification was one of the most

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00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:24.680
difficult cases they had worked on, spanning over eight years.

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00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:28.119
She told SFGate quote, our team had to build family trees,

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00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:32.160
many generations back in time to connect distant DNA matches,

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00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:36.160
ultimately assembling a tree containing one hundred and twenty five

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00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:40.759
thousand individuals, and that is over the course of seven years.

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00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:45.200
After identifying a couple from the Mexican state of Zacatecas

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00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:47.920
born in the eighteen hundreds, who they believed to be

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00:27:48.039 --> 00:27:51.799
her great grandparents, they were able to narrow down descendants

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00:27:51.880 --> 00:27:57.319
until they found this couple's great grandson. Police contacted him

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00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:00.359
and he told police that his sister had had been

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00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:04.440
missing since nineteen eighty. At a press conference on February

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00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:08.720
twenty fourth, twenty twenty six, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff

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00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:12.200
announced that the Ventura County Jane Doe had been identified

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00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:17.079
as twenty two year old Matisella Rocha Parga. At the

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00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:19.839
time of her murder, Matiseella was a waitress in downtown

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00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:23.680
LA and a nursing student. She was also a mother

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00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.000
to a two year old a little girl, and when

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00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.079
she died, she was supposed to attend her sister Almah's

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00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:33.240
tenth birthday party, tasked with bringing the cake. When she

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00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:36.680
failed to show up, her family, panicked, reported her missing.

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00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:41.359
Matiseella was born in Monterey, Mexico, in nineteen fifty eight,

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00:28:41.519 --> 00:28:46.359
later moving with her family to Los Angeles. After her disappearance,

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00:28:46.440 --> 00:28:50.359
her siblings spent decades looking for her, her oldest sister

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00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:52.839
refusing to move out of the family home in case

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00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:55.960
she returned one day, but they found no trace of

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00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.119
where she could be. When they were contacted by police

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00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:02.319
back in December, two of her siblings immediately booked flights

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00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:06.799
to California and gave DNA samples, and these samples, according

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00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:09.920
to an article for Forensics MAC were crucial in giving

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00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:14.440
Mattiseilla back her name. At the press conference announcing her identity,

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00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.920
Alma and their brother Rinaldo told reporters that they remembered

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00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:21.480
Matiicilla as being quote a joyful soul and a very

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00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:25.759
loving sister. Alma said of Madiicella failing to show up

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00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:28.599
to her birthday party all those years ago, quote, I

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00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:32.000
knew there was something wrong, and she felt from the

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00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:34.960
very start that her sister would never come back home.

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00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.359
Alma also spoke of how emotional the years had been,

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00:29:38.599 --> 00:29:42.559
especially in the weeks leading up to the identification. She said,

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00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.200
according to NBC, quote, my experience has been totally a

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00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:49.119
journey because you find out details and things that maybe

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00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:51.960
you don't want to know. The horrible way she passed.

476
00:29:52.839 --> 00:29:55.440
You keep playing that movie in your head over and

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00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:59.759
over of the last minutes and last seconds of her life.

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00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:02.640
And Rinaldo spoke of how their mother endured so much

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00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:06.759
pain after Madeceella disappeared. Quote, we knew how much it

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00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:10.119
was hurting her up until the last day. We have closure.

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00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:13.880
Now we can start the healing process now. After the

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00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:17.400
official announcement, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department posted on social

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00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:22.200
media Mattcella's name, saying quote, this case represents more than

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00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:26.279
a conviction. It represents restoring a name, honoring a life,

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00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:31.799
and bringing a long awaited answer to a family. As

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00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:33.799
for why it had taken so long to identify her,

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00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:37.799
even though she had been reported missing. This was mostly

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00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:39.880
due to the time period in which she had been killed.

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00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:44.119
There was significantly less communication between departments at that time,

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00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:48.000
but due to the meticulous care in taking evidence and

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00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:51.640
preserving it, it made her future identification possible when it

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00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:55.519
otherwise might not have been. This is one of those

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00:30:55.559 --> 00:30:58.599
cases that I've covered that I have consistently gone back

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00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:02.000
to and looked for updates on, and I am so

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00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:06.160
thrilled that after decades, Mattie Sella has her name back,

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00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:10.039
just like Shirley's. So say, And while her mother died

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00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:13.039
never knowing what happened to her, Maddi Sella's family has

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00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:16.480
closure now and she can be buried and honored as

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00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:21.759
she should have been. Both women got justice, Wilson Shust

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00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:25.559
is still rotting in corkor in prison, and both women

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00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:29.440
were able to be returned home to their families. This

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00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:33.839
was the best possible outcome, and I'm glad the DNA

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00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:38.200
DO project didn't give up when the task looked nearly impossible.

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00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:42.920
As always, I thank you so much for listening, and

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00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:47.359
I hope you have a wonderful week and I will

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00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:49.920
see you in the next chapter of the Book of

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00:31:49.960 --> 00:31:56.440
the Dead. Bye, guys, Another page closed. But the story

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00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:00.880
isn't over for the families left behind. The pain doesn't

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00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:04.440
end when the headline's fade. And for the victims, we

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00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:08.200
owe them more than silence for our on salt cases.

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If you have any information, please reach out to local

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00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:15.480
authorities or visit our show notes for links and resources.

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00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:21.440
Someone out there knows something, Maybe it's you. Thank you

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00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:24.160
for listening to the Book of the Dead. If this

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00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:27.119
story moved or spoke to you in some way, talk

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00:32:27.160 --> 00:32:32.680
about it, share it, keep their names alive. Until next time.

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00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:39.480
I'm Courtney Liso. Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant,

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00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:43.519
and remember the dead may be gone, but their stories

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00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:45.000
will not be forgotten.