There have been a few articles written about unsolved Napa County homicides.
This one is more recent:
http://napavalley.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/39-napa-county-and-city-cold-cases
with a follow-up giving more drilldown into 9 of them:
Here’s PART of a 2001 article:
Police to give a new look at 10 unsolved murders
Register Staff Writer Napa Valley Register
June 18, 2001 12:00 am • By JAY GOETTING
Ten of these have been entered into the computer on Napa Police Detective Ed Knutsen’s desk as part of a new program to crack some of these old mysteries.
The earliest is the infamous murder of five-year-old Doreen Heskett, whose disappearance March 25, 1963 set off a massive search.The little girl’s remains were found weeks later on the Stewart Ranch south of the city of Napa, but no suspects have ever been identified.
As part of the new policy of dusting off old cases, police now consider the 1974 Anita Andrews murder as open but with the prime suspect deceased.That suspect, Oklahoman Liston Beal, died in 1997 at the age of 63, making him 40 years old at the time of the crime. That age fits the description of a possible suspect in the bar the night of the murder.
1974 – Robert Turchin was found naked and stabbed to death in the trunk of his car. A California Highway Patrolman made the discovery when blood was found on the vehicle, which was parked near Second and Juarez. There are no known suspects in the case.
1975 – Macel Maxine Brewer, 43, was found in the Napa River in November of this year. The Napa divorcee was a housekeeper and cook and had been bound and suffered a massive chest wound prior to being dumped in the river.
1979 – Pamela King of Vallejo was also found in the Napa River. She had been listed by Vallejo police as a missing person. There were few details surrounding the incident, but authorities said she associated with violent elements of society.
1980 – Thelma Kuhse lived in a trailer in southern Napa County. Her male roommate disappeared after her beating death.
1980 – Charles Slack, 65, was discovered slain with a hatchet which was still at the scene at his El Dorado Street home. Firefighters found Slack when they responded to a blaze that had apparently been set to cover up the deed. No motive was ever established.
1991 – Marty Davis, 35, was found shot three times at close range in his Rio Vista Drive home. Police said Davis had been dead for several days before his body was discovered. There were several search warrants issued and several suspects were identified but no arrests were made.
1992 – Michael Norris, 39, was found floating in Napa Creek off China Point. He died from a blow to the head received during an altercation. Again, there were several suspects, but no arrests were made following his December murder.
1997 – Edwin Njuguna, a 24-year-old native of Kenya was stabbed to death outside a party on Marin Street when he and his companions stopped their car. The September 12 killing may have been racially motivated. While there were numerous party-goers at the scene, police have narrowed the field of suspects to about a half dozen, according to investigators. Knutsen is actively working that case. "I hope to get that solved this year," he commented.Unsolved Homicides in unincorporated Napa County
Probably the most infamous murders in decades were perpetrated by the Zodiac Killer. At least one of the cryptic killer’s slayings took place in Napa County when Cecilia Shepard was killed near Lake Berryessa in September, 1969. The young woman and her boyfriend, Bryan Hartnell, were approached by a hooded assailant who then killed Shepard and critically injured Hartnell. Hartnell survived the attack and is now an attorney in Southern California.Several investigators now believe that Arthur Leigh Allen, a Vallejo man who died in 1992, was the Zodiac Killer and police may have finally agreed to use DNA testing in an attempt to eliminate him from suspicion or confirm he is the killerTom Voigt who operates a website devoted to the Zodiac mysteries at http://www.zodiackiller.com , noted the composite drawing of the suspect in those cases bears a striking resemblance to the composite of the possible perpetrator in the Anita Andrews murder.Within Napa County, there are a number of other unsolved murder mysteries.
1976 – A married couple, Alvin and Ferry Maddux were bound and left to die off Monticello Road. There were no suspects in that double murder case.
1981 – The body of Lloyd Johnson was found near a dumpsite at the McDonald’s restaurant on Imola Avenue, which was then in the unincorporated area of the county. At least two suspects were identified but there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute.
1985 – Farmworker Ramon Martinez was killed at the Oaks Bar on Monticello Road.
1987 – Linda Quinones’ remains were found near Lake Berryessa. The killing was possibly the work of the I-5 killer, Randall Woodfield, who was already in custody. He was believed to be involved in more than 40 killings. He was not convicted in the Napa County case but is serving a life term in prison.
1987 – Benny Smith, a transient, was found shot in the chest. His body had been dumped into a culvert pipe near the quarry off American Canyon Road. There were several suspects but not enough evidence to prosecute.
1988 – An unidentified teen-age girl was discovered murdered just inside the Napa County line in Napa Square, a housing subdivision in American Canyon. There were suspects in the case, but no arrests were made.
1990 – James Adams, a transient registered sex offender, was found beaten to death in a metal barn off Highway 29 near the Napa County Airport. There were no suspects in that case.
1991 – Peggy Swartz was found beaten to death on Mount St. Helena. There was a suspect in the case, but authorities said the suspect died of old age in Oakland before charges could be brought.
1992 – Kim Po Ko, a clerk at Denny’s Market in American Canyon, was killed in an armed robbery incident. Her daughter witnessed the incident and family members believe they know the perpetrator, but no solid identification could be made.
2000 – Sharonda Parker’s body was found dumped off North Kelly Road. The Vallejo teen’s death remains a mystery.
Napa County Sheriff’s Captain Mike Loughran stressed the term "unsolved" can be misleading. He said that any crime in which there is no conviction could be considered unsolved, even if there are strong suspects but not enough evidence available to bring them to trial.Loughran said most cases remain in an almost inactive status unless new evidence surfaces. "Someone may recall a detail or decide to become a witness," he said. "They sometimes have a change of heart."Jay Goetting can be reached at 256-2220 or by e-mail at jgoetting@napanews.com.
One of the listed unsolved Napa County homicides was Deborah Beltz of Napa who died on a gunshot wound to the head on April 8, 1974.
Note the .22 caliber weapon found and her body was found at EdgeWATER
Vallejo Times Herald April 8, 1974:
Vallejo Times Herald April 9, 1974. I assume since the case is unsolved, their suspect (her boyfriend?) was cleared:
Funeral Announcement from the VTH, April 11, 1974:
I’ve searched for more details on Alvin and Faye Maddux, as listed above, but one of the more recent links has more details than I’ve found in the single newspaper article:
Alvin and Faye Maddux: The bodies of the couple, both aged 72, were found murdered inside their residence in the 1000 block of Monticello Road on Feb. 15, 1976. They had been deceased for several days. There were no signs of forced entry to the home. The cause of death has not been released.
From the Oxnard Press Courier, Feb 16, 1976:
