Police statements on Wednesday revealed that a skull unearthed from the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, which dates back several decades, has been confirmed to be Donna Lass. She was reported missing in 1970.
Even though the specific details of Lass’s situation are still a mystery, the triumphant verification of her DNA effectively clarifies any doubts about what happened to her. Officials persist in their efforts to acquire more knowledge pertaining to this instance.
The skull was discovered in 1986 by a Placer County Sheriff’s deputy at the junction of Highway 20 and Interstate 80, close to South Lake Tahoe. For an unknown period of time afterward, it remained unidentified while being kept at the coroner’s office.
At 25 years old, Lass had just relocated to a South Lake Tahoe apartment and held employment as a nurse at a Stateline, Nevada casino. Despite these stable aspects of her life, she vanished without leaving any personal belongings or accessing her bank account. Exhaustive efforts by the South Lake Tahoe police failed to provide definitive leads on this baffling case.
A newly formed cold case team in Placer County was responsible for the discovery of the skull’s identity. The California Justice Department analyzed the remains and verified a DNA match with a sample previously provided by Lass’ sister five years prior. Chief David Stevenson from South Lake Tahoe Police relayed this update to KCRA, an NBC affiliate stationed in Sacramento.
Regular communication has been maintained by the South Lake Tahoe police and they have conveyed their optimism to the Lass family, anticipating that this latest information provides some sense of resolution.
The year 1971 saw the arrival of a puzzling postcard at the San Francisco Chronicle that contained symbols resembling those employed by the Zodiac Killer, as well as phrases such as “Sierra Club,” “Sought victim 12,” and “peek through the pines.” This occurrence sparked conjecture about whether there might be an association between Lass’s vanishing and this infamous murderer; however, no confirmed correlation has been made.
According to a KCRA report from 2013, officials conducted an investigation for a potential burial location related to the Zodiac case in proximity to Lake Tahoe following a lead in 2007. However, no significant evidence was discovered during the search.
It is yet to be determined what caused Lass’s death. The assumption that it may have been a homicide has prompted an ongoing investigation, as stated by Chief Stevenson in their conversation with KCRA.
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Police in South Lake Tahoe are urging individuals with any information to contact their detectives by emailing crimetips@cityofslt.us and mentioning the case number 0070-6436.
