Killing of Marilee Bruszer

Marilee Lee Bruszer went missing on August 22, 1978, from Long Beach, California. Authorities at the time had few details about her disappearance, though they believed she had been murdered and classified her as "endangered missing." She was declared legally dead on August 22, 1983.

On September 3, 1978, three women fishing near the Yuba Dam discovered the naked remains of a woman near the Yuba Lake campground in Juab County, Utah. The victim was estimated to be white, five feet two to three inches tall, and around 110 pounds, with light blond hair reported at eleven inches long (though some sources described the hair as brown, strawberry blond, or sandy blond). These physical estimates were inconsistent with Bruszer's actual height (five feet five inches) and weight (145 to 150 pounds). A double-hooped earring and a white barrette were found with the body, and the victim had dental crowding causing one crooked front tooth. Investigators at the time believed the woman was between eighteen and twenty-two years old and had been strangled several months to three years before discovery. These age and time-of-death estimates were later found to be inaccurate; Bruszer was actually thirty-three when she disappeared, only a month before her remains were found.

Henry Lee Lucas confessed to the victim's murder, though most of his admissions are now considered to have been coerced or otherwise unreliable.

Early in the investigation, authorities speculated the unidentified victim might be one of four missing women from the area: Nancy Wilcox, Susan Curtis, Debra Kent, or Nancy Baird. These women were eventually ruled out after comparing X-rays of the Jane Doe's teeth to their dental records. Baird, Curtis, and Wilcox remain missing and have never been located.

In 2013, a detective reviewing evidence in the Davis County Sheriff's Office evidence locker found hair samples marked "Hair from Yuba Lake body." This evidence had reportedly been misplaced by a retired Davis County Sheriff's Captain who had also worked at the state medical examiner's office. The detective forwarded the hair to Juab County. The Juab County Sheriff's Office then sent the evidence to Texas for testing in 2014, where a DNA profile was generated and entered into a national database of missing persons. This produced a familial match with two of Bruszer's relatives who had previously submitted their own DNA hoping to help locate her. On August 22, 2015, Long Beach Police informed the family that Bruszer had been formally identified, 37 years after her remains were first discovered.

The exact circumstances of her death remain unknown, and no individual has been charged in connection with her killing. <parameter name="timeline">[{"date": "1978-08-22", "event": "Marilee Bruszer goes missing from Long Beach, California."}, {"date": "1978-09-03", "event": "Unidentified woman's remains found near Yuba Lake campground, Juab County, Utah."}, {"date": "1983-08-22", "event": "Bruszer declared legally dead."}, {"date": "2013", "event": "Detective discovers misplaced hair evidence marked 'Hair from Yuba Lake body' in Davis County Sheriff's Office evidence locker."}, {"date": "2014", "event": "Juab County Sheriff's Office sends hair evidence to Texas for DNA testing."}, {"date": "2015-08-22", "event": "Long Beach Police inform Bruszer's relatives that she has been formally identified."}]