It’s been decades of agony for a family. In July of 1980, Maricela Rocha Parga of Los Angeles disappeared. The 22-year-old nursing student and mother of a two-year-old vanished without a trace. The family had no way of knowing it would take nearly half a century for them to find the painful answer to the mystery, and that it would come in Ventura County.
"We were both very young. I was nine, and my sister was ten. I remember Maricela as a very, very loving older sister. She was just a joy," said Reynaldo Rocha. He and his sister Alma Yvonne Braden realized something was wrong when Maricela failed to show up as planned with a cake for Alma’s 10th birthday party.
"I remember seeing her smile, and her caring, and her loving self coming to give me a hug," said Braden. "I knew there was something wrong when she didn't show up with that cake. My older sister kept hope. I knew even at ten years old, Maricela wasn't going to come back."
Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months turned to years, with no sign of what had happened to Maricela.
"We held out hope she would come back to us someday," said Maricela’s younger brother, Reynaldo. "When my mom was passing away, she kept mentioning her name, and we knew how much it was hurting her, up until her last day."
The family didn’t know it at the time, but Marisela’s body was found on July 18, 1980, in a parking lot at Westlake High School. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. There was no identification on her. It was also determined she was about four months pregnant when she was murdered. Because detectives couldn't identify her, she became a Jane Doe.
At the time, Ventura County Sheriff’s detectives were unable to find a suspect, and it became a cold case.
It turned out the LA woman was the victim of a serial sexual predator.
"In the summer of 1980, within days of being paroled for kidnapping and sexual assault in another case, the defendant began a series of horrific, violent crimes spanning three different counties," said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko.
Nasarenko said the man sexually assaulted and murdered a woman in Kern County, who became known as Jane Doe Kern County. He then sexually assaulted and murdered Parga, dumping her body at the Westlake High campus.
The predator, William Chouest, then committed a third attack in Tulare County. He was caught, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison for that attack. It was in 1980. No one connected him to the two other crimes. DNA testing hadn’t been developed yet.
But cold case investigators in both Ventura and Kern Counties didn’t give up. With the advent of DNA evidence, in 2015, Chouest, who was still in prison for the Tulare County attack, was connected to the Jane Doe murders in Ventura and Kern Counties. He was convicted of both sets of crimes. But the identities of the two victims were still mysteries.
A nonprofit organization known as the DNA Doe Project stepped up to help. In 2021, they identified the Kern County victim as Shirley Soosay, a Canadian woman. But, DNA Doe Project Team Leader Rebecca Somerhalder says the Ventura County Jane Doe case was tougher to crack.
"A couple born in the late 1800's in the Mexican state of Zacatecas was identified as the likely great-grandparents of Ventura County Jane Doe," said Somerhalder. "The team and investigators began tracking down their descendants."
Somerhalder says 40 volunteers were involved in the seven-year-long effort. The team built a family tree with 125,000 people.
The DNA led them to a great-grandson of the Mexican couple last December. He told them about the 1980 disappearance of his sister. Additional DNA testing finally solved the mystery.
"Even though this has been a 45-year journey, this case was never forgotten," said Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff. "Our Major Crimes Bureau, and more recently our Cold Case Task Force, continually looked at ways of solving this case and identifying Maricela."
Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko admits it’s not a happy ending, but it is an ending. "Her life was taken violently and suddenly. But today, after more than 45 years, her name and her identity are finally being restored."
Reynaldo Rocha and Alma Yvonne Braden say that, despite the painful ending, they're grateful to finally be able to put their sister to rest.
"I don't have the proper words to say how thankful the family is," said Rocha. "Without you guys, we would have still been suffering."
"Now she can rest at peace," added Braden.
