CA VENTURA COUNTY JANE DOE & UNBORN CHILD: HF, 10-30, found in a high school parking lot in Westlake Village, CA - 18 July 1980 *MARICELA ROCHA PARGA*

1020UFCA

Artistic renderings of the victim. To view post mortem photographs of the victim, please click photo 1 and photo 2 (Please note, the second image was taken after the body was embalmed).

Date of Discovery: July 18, 1980
Location of Discovery: Weslake, Ventura County, California
Estimated Date of Death: 12 hours prior.
State of Remains: Recognizable face.
Cause of Death: Homicide by stabbing; victim was also strangled.

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 18-30 years old
Race: White and/or Hispanic or Native American.
Gender: Female
Height: 5'1" to 5'3"
Weight: 110 to 115 pounds lbs.
Hair Color: Black, shoulder-length with bleached tips
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Four-to-five months pregnant with a boy; evidence of prior pregnancies. Scar on right buttock. Mole on right hand. Two vaccination scars were on the left upper arm. Small ovoid scarring was on the left knee. Episotomy scar. Pierced ears. Shaved eyebrows with penciled brows. Some moles/freckles on face.

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. Extensive dental work. Teeth #24 and #25 mesial lingual rotation.
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: Sample submitted - Tests complete

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: White pullover short sleeve shirt, black bra, underwear, red corduroy pants. Black high-heeled open toe shoes were found near the body.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Discovery
A Westlake High School employee found the body of a pregnant woman in the school parking lot at 100 Lakeview Canyon Road. The woman had been raped, strangled and stabbed to death. Evidence suggests she was killed at another location.

Investigators believe she may have been from Kern County or the San Fernando Valley.

In 2015, DNA results from scrapings of her fingernails and clothing linked the woman and 59UFCA (discovered in Kern County) to Wilson Chouest, a 63-year-old, who was already in prison. He did not apparently know the victims. He was charged with the murders of the adult victims and this victim's unborn son.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Ventura County Sheriff's Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 805-384-4735
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 80-12246

Agency Name: Ventura County County Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Janelle Payne
Agency Phone Number: 805-641-4400 or 805-641-4400
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 0780-80

NCIC Case Number: Not entered
NamUs Case Number: 11249
Former Hot Case Number: 859

Information Source(s)
NamUs
Thousand Oaks Acorn
KTLA 5 News
NBC Los Angeles
ABC 23 News
Kern Golden Empire
Daily News of Los Angeles News Archive
ABC News Archive

Admin Notes
/
Added: 7/27/13; Last Updated: 8/28/17

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

PM photo in link!

#UP11249
Female, Hispanic / Latino
Date Body Found July 18, 1980
Location Found Westlake, California
Estimated Age Range 10-30 Years


Case Information

Case Numbers
NCMEC Number--
ME/C Case Number 0780-80

Demographics
Sex Female
Race / Ethnicity Hispanic / Latino
Possible First Name --
Possible Middle Name--
Possible Last Name--
Possible Nickname--
Estimated Age Group Adult - Pre 30
Estimated Age Range (Years) 10-30
Estimated Year of Death--
Estimated PMI Hours
Height 5' 2"(62 inches) , Measured
Weight 110 lbs, Estimated

Circumstances
Type Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found July 18, 1980
NamUs Case Created April 25, 2013
ME/C QA Reviewed--

Location Found Map
Location Westlake, California 91362
County Ventura County
GPS Coordinates (Not Mapped)--
Circumstances of Recovery This unidentified female was found in a high school parking lot.

Details of Recovery
Inventory of Remains All parts recovered
Condition of Remains Recognizable face

Physical Description
Hair Color Black
Head Hair Description Black with lighter dyed ends.
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye Color Brown
Right Eye Color Brown
Eye Description--

Distinctive Physical Features
Item
Description
Piercing
The ears were pierced.

Scar/mark
Two vaccination scars were on the left upper arm. Small ovoid scarring was on the left knee. An old episiotomy scar was present.


Clothing and Accessories
Item
Description
Accessories
Black heeled sandals were found near the body.
Near the Body

Clothing
White pullover shirt, black bra, underwear, red pants.
On the Body

Ventura Co Jane Doe | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

Ventura Co Jane Doe
Active Cases

Description
On July 18, 1980, at 12:40 PM, Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a report and found a young woman dead in the parking lot of Westlake High School. Evidence at the scene suggested that the victim may have been killed elsewhere and her body moved to the parking lot. An autopsy determined the victim died as a result of multiple stab wounds, but she had also been raped and strangled. A forensic anthropologist determined the young female was Hispanic and/or Native American, age 15 – 25 years, 5′ 2, 110 – 115 lbs, brown eyes, and black shoulder length hair with bleached tips. She had extensive dental work and was 4 months pregnant with evidence of prior pregnancy(s). She wore white pullover short sleeve top, black bra, red corduroy pants, and black high heeled open toed shoes. In 2015, DNA results from scrapings of Venture Jane Doe’s fingernails was used to convict serial killer Wilson Chouest of her murder, but not her unborn son.

Agency of Jurisdiction
Ventura County Sheriff’s Office-Major Crimes Investigations
Kevin Bernzott, Detective
805-383-8704

Links to More Information
1020UFCA
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Cold Case Homicide, Dead Body Located | The Fillmore Gazette
Wilson Chouest - Wikipedia

DDP Status
Research in progress. Samples of Ventura Jane Doe and her fetus have completed DNA extraction and sequencing. We are starting with the mother.

Links to Ventura Jane Doe Articles

Posted on October 14, 2018

#JaneDoe was pregnant when she was found murdered in a high school parking lot in Westlake Village, CA - 18 July 1980

Date of Discovery: July 18, 1980 Location of Discovery: Weslake, Ventura County, California Estimated Date of Death: 12 hours prior. State of Remains: Recognizable face. Cause of Death: Homicide by stabbing; victim was also strangled.

www.crimewatchers.net

 

[The Coffeenator]

http://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMU/1214298

• NCMEC: 1214298 - NCIC: 1214298 - NamUS: UP 11249

Jane Doe1980

• • Date Found
  • Jul 18, 1980
• • Location Found
  • Westlake, CA
• • Estimated Age
  • 16-30
• • Sex
  • Female
• • Race
  • Hispanic
• • Hair Color
  • Black
• • Eye Color
  • Brown
• • Estimated Height
  • 5'2" to 5'3"
• • Estimated Weight
  • 100 to 110 lbs

On July 18, 1980, the body of an unidentified Hispanic female was found in the parking lot of Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks, California (Ventura County). She had only been deceased a few hours. The Jane Doe is believed to have been between 16 and 30 years of age. She was approximately 5'2" and 110 lbs. She had black hair that had been bleached on the ends. Her ears were pierced and it is noted she was wearing heavy mascara. She had artificial brown eyebrows approximately 1/4 of an inch above her natural eyebrows, which had been shaved. Her fingernails and toenails were painted red. Two vaccination scars were noted on her left upper arm and she had a small brown mole on the back of the left hand below the base of the left pointer finger. Small superficial ovoid scarring was observed on her left knee. The Jane Doe was 4-5 months pregnant at the time of her death. She was found wearing a white pull over blouse, a black bra, white underwear and red corduroy pants. Black open toed high heeled shoes were also recovered. Anyone with information should contact the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office reference case number 0780-80 or the Ventura County Sheriff's Office - Major Crimes Investigations, reference case number 80-12246.

• 
• Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office (California) 1-805-641-4400 or Ventura County Sheriff's Office (California) 1-805-654-9511 r

 

[Windstorm]

Ventura County Jane Doe 1980 was added to Gedmatch by the DNA Doe Project. As of February 22, 2021, she had over 1,500 DNA matches. Her highest match was 104.5 cM - this is not a substantial match. She is on the Google Drive spreadsheet at:

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Updated drawing from Carl.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

This year, efforts facilitated by the DNA Doe Project resulted in identification of the unborn baby’s father. The father was found to be a Honduran immigrant who is known to be associated with the Central American community located in #Koreatown, Los Angeles. Despite this recent development, the victim remains unidentified.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/calif-police-killer-cold-case-21940656.php

Calif. woman murdered in high school parking lot finally identified​

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday it had solved the cold case mystery of Jane Doe of Ventura County.

In July 1980, a woman was found dead in the parking lot of Westlake High School by a maintenance worker. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed in the chest and was partially clothed in a white top, red pants and black high-heeled sandals, according to local reports.


For decades, police were unable to confirm her identity or her killer’s. But in 2011, DNA technology had advanced to the point that the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office was able to use evidence preserved from the scene to develop a profile of the woman’s killer. Two years later, the department found a match in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, where it identified Wilson Chouest as a suspect in her killing.

In the summer of 1980, days after Chouest was paroled in a sexual assault case, he started a violent spree, first attacking and killing a woman in Kern County before the fatal attack in Ventura County. In Tulare County, he was finally arrested after kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman. After law enforcement identified Chouest as the suspect in the two killings, he went to trial and was convicted in 2018 for the rape and murder of Ventura County Jane Doe and Kern County Jane Doe. He was sentenced to consecutive life sentences without parole, on top of the life sentence he was already serving.


Rebecca Somerhalder, the director of volunteers and education at the DNA Doe Project, said the Ventura County identification took nearly eight years and was one of the most difficult cases they have worked on.

“Our team had to build family trees many generations back in time, to connect distant DNA matches, ultimately assembling a tree containing 125,000 individuals, and this is over the course of seven years,” Somerhalder told reporters. The researchers were able to “zero in” on the woman’s identity by finding “a couple born in the late 1800s in the Mexican state of Zacatecas” who were the woman’s great grandparents, Somerhalder said.

Somerhalder said after identifying this couple, they started to look for descendants and eventually found the couple’s great-grandson. When police contacted him, he told them his sister had been missing since 1980.

In a press conference on Monday, Ventura County Sheriff James Fryhoff told reporters that after nearly 50 years, the department can confirm the identity of “Jane Doe Ventura County” as Maricela Rocha Parga.

Parga was a waitress working in downtown Los Angeles and studying to become a nurse when she disappeared in 1980. Her family was alarmed when she was supposed to arrive at her 10-year-old sister’s birthday party with a cake and never showed up to the party, according to Nasarenko. At the time of her death, Parga was five months pregnant and left behind a 2-year-old daughter.

When asked why Parga was not identified in 1980 despite being reported as a missing person, Fryoff said the team was “fortunate” that previous law enforcement personnel preserved evidence that could still be used decades later.

“Remember, 45 years ago, there was no internet,” Fryoff said. “The communication between agencies was not as robust as it is now.”

Fryoff said the lead investigator on the case had done “painstaking” research for five years in order to find Parga’s identity and contact her family.

“We hope that today brings some measure of closure and comfort knowing that she was never forgotten, and that her name, her story and her life matter,” Fryoff said.

Wilson Chouest, now 74, remains incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison.

 

[Kimster]

She was a beautiful woman! I feel so bad that the family was waiting for her to come with the cake and then she just disappeared. Rest in peace, Maricela!