|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The message hits my heart every time I read it: “Our Victims are never forgotten.”
That’s how the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office closes every social media post spotlighting the anniversary of a cold case homicide still pending for the department. Right around the winter holidays, there were four in quick succession.
“The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office believes revisiting cold cases is essential because victims deserve answers, justice, and closure. In some cases, technological advances help us relaunch cases and solve them. We never give up because we owe it to the victims and their families. We also owe the communities we serve as safe an environment as we can provide,” sheriff’s Lt. Tya Modeste told me this week.
Two from the Tri-Valley caught my eye especially.
Dec. 29 marked 37 years to the day that Dana Ramm was found dead in Sunol, her naked body left on the side of Andrade Road.
The 20-year-old woman was last seen the night before in Pleasanton outside the Chevron gas station at the corner of Valley Avenue and Santa Rita Road, according to ACSO’s cold-case anniversary post on social media.
“Dana was with acquaintances in a brown Oldsmobile that apparently had run out of gas. Dana waited in the car at the Chevron station while the two acquaintances went to get money to buy gas. Upon their return, Dana was gone,” officials said.
Ramm’s death, which remains unsolved, is ACSO case No. 86-19177.
Four days later, ACSO remembered the 45th anniversary of the brutal murder of Frances Rash inside her Tory Way house in Dublin — which was unincorporated at the time.
The 40-year-old woman had returned home unexpectedly around 9:25 a.m. on Jan. 2, 1979 to find a gun-wielding intruder inside who had already tied up her two children on the floor, authorities said.
“Frances was taken to a bedroom, where she was killed. Her children freed themselves, left the residence and had a nearby neighbor call 911,” ACSO officials stated. “Before this happened, one of the children received two phone calls from a man claiming to be associated with Gemco, who told them they were winners of a recent drawing.”
Investigators have a sketch of the suspect. He was described at the time as an Asian man 26-30 years old at 150-160 pounds with “shoulder-length hair, slightly tinted metal frame glasses, wearing an orange down jacket with a zipper, dark pants, carrying a brown attache case.” The Rash murder is case No. 79-0054.
The two other cold cases highlighted by the sheriff’s office around New Year’s occurred outside of our immediate area.
It was Jan. 4, 1983 when decomposing human remains were discovered in a creekbed near Palomares Canyon Road east of Castro Valley and Fairview. Investigators believe the woman was the victim of a murder.
Though her identity is still unconfirmed, a forensic anthropologist determined she was of Asian descent, between 23-27 years old and 5-foot-6, and had died roughly in the first half of 1981, according to ACSO. Case No. 83-00135.
The body of Samuel Canaday was found on the center divider of East 14th Street near 168th Avenue in Ashland on the evening of Jan. 4, 1998. Investigators learned the 57-year-old was seen a few hours earlier arguing outside a restaurant with an unidentified Black man.
Canaday was last seen alive leaving a 168th Avenue trailer park with a toolbox five minutes before his body was located. Case No. 98-000247.
Anyone with pertinent information about these cases can contact the sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide Unit at 510-667-3661 or the anonymous tip line at 510-667-3622.
I would be remiss not to remind too that Jan. 30 will represent the 35th anniversary of the unsolved disappearance of then-13-year-old Ilene Misheloff in Dublin.
A sad case that continues to haunt the community, Misheloff was last seen on that winter afternoon in 1989 walking home early from Wells Middle School by herself on Amador Valley Boulevard near Village Parkway. Her key fob was later found near the entrance to John Mape Park, according to Dublin Police Services.
Although the once-annual community walk and vigil no longer take place, following the death of her mother Maddi from cancer in 2020, the Misheloff case remains on the minds and in the hearts of many in Dublin this time of year. The city spotlights the case in perpetuity online with its “Ilene Misheloff Disappearance” webpage, which includes poignant videos from her father Mike and former police chief Garrett Holmes.
“The investigation into Ilene’s kidnapping continues in the hope that she will one day return home safely to her family,” city spokesperson Shari Jackman told me this week.
Anyone with information on the Misheloff case can contact Dublin police Sgt. Craig Evans at 925-833-6670. Tips can be anonymous.
After all, reigniting public awareness could be the key to finally getting these cold cases solved.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly.