325 Â missing persons “found” — cases resolved — in Santa Cruz County in 2013. Wow!
How?  One person, Christopher  Smith, volunteers with the Santa Cruz County  Sheriff’s office and works these cases.
Christopher Smith checks on cases 7 days a week. He  volunteers  Monday – Friday AMs  working  cases involving  missing persons and other issues.Â
When not doing  volunteer  police activity, Christopher  Smith has a Santa Cruz, CA  law practice.
https://plus.google.com/118060783060162982161/about?gl=us&hl=en
Christopher Smith  also oversees another business/ vocation,
The MysterySpot, http://www.mysteryspot.com/ where mystery abounds.
Christopher  reports that in his spare time he has taken up motor cycle  racing classes and has high hopes of  doing the Baja 1000 race.
Concerning Missing Person Reports:  All law enforcement persons must take reports and do so in a timely manner.  If you are living in the County of Santa Cruz those reports will go over Christopher Smith’s  desk.
written by DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
 http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=four+more+obama+years
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SANTA CRUZ — In a cold murder case that flummoxed investigators for two decades, Santa Cruz police this week identified a Pacifica 17-year-old as the woman known as Pogonip Jane.
Kori Joanne Lamaster, found dead in January 1994, was identified through DNA and fingerprints, said Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark.
Lamaster traveled from Pacifica to Santa Cruz and other areas of the Central Coast in late 1993, and police believe she was bludgeoned in the head with a metal pipe and partially buried in Pogonip — a wooded area between UC Santa Cruz and the Harvey West area.
“We’re really relieved to have an identity and to be able to provide some closure to the family,” Clark said Wednesday. “But our work’s not done here yet.”
Lamaster’s killer has not been identified, and police are still seeking information in the case.
Lamaster went missing in 1993.
MYSTERY DEATH
On Jan. 29, 1994, two hikers were looking for mushrooms in Pogonip when they found the body of a naked woman in the middle of a trail. Under a small tree, she was about 50 feet from a homeless camp.
“It was pretty upsetting,” hiker Lauri Duncan said of the find.
Lamaster had short brown hair, pink-painted fingernails and a small heart tattooed between her left thumb and index finger. At the camp, police later found her clothing, a Bible, camping gear and trash — although it wasn’t clear if she had been camping there.
For years, detectives could not identify her. It was a case that bothered Santa Cruz police Sgt. Loran “Butch” Baker, one of two Santa Cruz detectives killed on duty earlier this year.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office volunteer Christopher Smith also worked on the case, as did sheriff’s Sgt. Alan Burt, Santa Cruz police detective Bruce Cline and others.
Samples from the teeth of Pogonip Jane were used to determine her approximate age. Authorities believe she was killed days or weeks before she was found, based in part on the decomposition of her body.
To seek leads in the case in 2010, authorities even created a model of her head and sought the public’s help. The bust was strikingly similar to photos later found of Lamaster.
Lamaster’s family did not report her missing to Pacifica police until 2007. Clark declined to say why her family waited so long to report her missing.
MISSING WOMAN
In 2008, Lamaster’s family submitted a DNA sample to Pacifica police. It was checked against a state DNA database with thousands of DNA samples — including one taken from Pogonip Jane.
In October, the state Department of Justice laboratory told Santa Cruz police it had a match. Santa Cruz police detectives then contacted Lamaster’s family, and they reached Lamaster’s adopted sister in Washington. Lamaster’s sister happened to have a fingerprint card from Lamaster made when Lamaster was a child.
The prints matched ones taken from the body, and Santa Cruz police were assured they had a positive ID this week.
“We were extremely excited,” said Clark, the deputy police chief.
He said investigators are now looking for anyone who might have seen Lamaster while she was in Santa Cruz in 1993.
Police had picked her up in the city as a runaway a few years prior to her death, Clark said, but it was not clear how long she was in town.
Now that police have distributed photos of Lamaster in her teens, “We’re wondering if somebody’s memories might be jarred,” said Clark.
“Was she camping up there (in Pogonip)? Is there anything that would show what her daily activity was like? Who was she with? How far did she travel?” Clark asked.
Two men have been named as “persons of interest” in the case: Wayne and Greg White. Greg is Wayne’s son and is deceased, and Wayne White lives in Tennessee.
“We’re interested in talking with anyone who may have information about this father-and-son team, especially anyone who may have witnessed them traveling with Kori,” Clark said.
He said Kori Lamaster’s identification — 20 years after the crime — would have relieved detective Baker, who even visited Wayne White in Tennessee a few years ago as part of the investigation.
“It meant a great deal to us,” Clark said of the case.
“As an investigator, you always have those cases that continue to haunt you. And this is one of those that haunted Butch.”
Santa Cruz police asked that anyone with information on the case to call investigations at 831-420-5820, the anonymous tip line at 831-420-5995 or leave a tip at www.santacruzpolice.com or by the mobile application at http://m.santacruzpolice.com.
