These two cases (the murder of Babara Nantais in 1978 and Claire Hough in 1984) have always bothered me. Could two murders bear so many similarities but not be connected? A couple of things have happened recently to shift the investigation back in favour of a link.

San Diego criminalist Kevin Brown was linked to the Hough murder through his semen being found on a forensic swab. However, the risk of contamination is very high as he worked in the same lab where the test was conducted (and air-dried, believe it or not). He had also provided the same lab with semen samples to use in testing/control experiments. In February this year his widowed wife received $6 million in damages for the treatment of her husband, who was driven to suicide over the investigation. https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/crime/jury-6-million-to-widow-of-sdpd-crime-lab-worker-accused-in-cold-case-homicide/509-677109c7-c9d3-40de-93e7-c62b6a0ceadb

Even though San Diego PD closed the file, the FBI don’t seem to have done. They released a VICAP report in 2014 that showed they were still investigating links between these two murders and other, similar attacks that might be connected. Given that San Diego PD were investigated for corruption through the 80’s and 90’s (see The Murder of Donna Gentile for a run down on what was going on) , one has to think whether Kevin Brown was made a scapegoat.

San Diego police released their report into the Barbara Nantais murder, which gives us another angle that is rarely spoken about. It appears that Nantais’ blood was found in the female rest rooms by the beach (the ‘red substance’ is confirmed as her blood later in the report). It is very likely this came from the attacker(s) washing blood from their hands after the attack… and it strikes me that a male attacker would use the male toilets out of habit. Are we looking at a female accomplice? Both male and female unidentified DNA was found at the scene so it remains a strong possibility: