Artist rendition by forensic artist Samantha Steinberg; map. To view a postmortem photograph, please click here.
Artist rendition by forensic artist Samantha Steinberg; map. To view a postmortem photograph, please click here.
Date of Discovery: July 11, 1978
Location of Discovery: Guadalupe County, New Mexico
Estimated Date of Death: Days prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot
Estimated Age: 17-25 years old
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Hair Color: Blond
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Left ear pierced three times, right pierced twice.
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Dark brown moccasins, blue denim cut-offs, and white and navy-blue vest/halter top type shirt.
Jewelry: None.
Additional Personal Items: She was carrying a guitar, coin purse carrying $1.50, and her birth certificate, according to her killers.
The victim was discovered by a NM highway foreman beside Highway 219 at the junction of the I-40 and US-84. She had been shot two times with .22 shells present at the scene. Her murder was connected to serial killer duo Ronald Lanphear and Diana Geisinger. Lanphear escaped prison in South Dakota on July 8-9, 1978 and went on a trip with Geisinger, who was seven months pregnant at the time, to Texas and planned to get married in Las Vegas.
During the trip, they robbed a gas station on the night of July 9-10, 1978 and killed an attendant. After escaping, they picked this victim up near a hotel in Perry, Oklahoma and drove to New Mexico. The victim told them along the way that she was going to see her mother in California and she was seventeen. The victim also bragged about the money she spent on a guitar she was carrying with her. At this time, she was also carrying her birth certificate and a coin purse.
At some point, they stopped at a coffee shop and then a bar and the victim asked if they could stop so that she could call her mother on her (the victim's) birthday. She was let out of the car on the side of the highway and then was shot in the back of the head by Lanphear and then shot a second time. Lanphear and Geisinger rolled the body off a cliff after taking the victim's belongings. They disposed of the birth certificate and kept the guitar and coin purse.
Lanphear and Geisinger reached Las Vegas on July 13, 1978 and after a night at the casinos drove down to San Bernardino, California where they killed Robert Unger on July 14 after he picked them up when their car broke down. Geisinger and Lanphear were arrested for the murders on October 14 and October 18, 1978, respectively. Lanphear was tried with Geisinger as the prosecution's star witness and sentenced to death.
Agency Name: Office of Chief Medical Examiner of New Mexico
Agency Contact Person: Wendy Honeyfield or Kurt Nolte
Agency Phone Number: 505-272-3053
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1978-02998
Agency Name: New Mexico State Police
Agency Contact Person: Captain Nic Aragon
Agency Phone Number: 505-827-9604
Agency E-Mail: nmsp.pio(at)state.nm.us
Agency Case Number: 1978-02998
NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 17089
Added: 6/29/19; Last Updated: 10/31/22
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information may be estimated.
Return Home