Murders of Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble

Kerry Ann Graham, 15, and Francine Marie Trimble, 14, were next-door neighbors and inseparable friends living in Forestville, California. On December 16, 1978, the two left their homes, with Graham telling her mother she intended to shop for Christmas gifts at the Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa. Neither girl was heard from again. Trimble's mother reported her missing within 24 hours; Graham was reported missing on Christmas Eve. Investigators found no signs of a struggle at either home, and personal items, including Graham's post-surgical antibiotics, were left behind, fueling family fears of abduction. Initial investigators leaned toward a runaway theory, and the case went cold by mid-1979.

On July 8, 1979, two tourists driving to Fort Bragg discovered a human skull in a heavily overgrown embankment beside Highway 20 in Mendocino County, roughly 12 miles from Willits and 80 miles from the girls' homes. A subsequent search recovered the skeletal remains of two individuals who had been bound with duct tape, wrapped in plastic, and buried in a shallow grave, with some remains scattered by animal activity. Investigators concluded the victims had been killed elsewhere and buried at the site, likely at night. A single shell earring later linked to Trimble was recovered at the scene.

Due to the advanced decomposition of the remains, cause of death was never conclusively determined, though the deaths were treated as homicides and strangulation could not be excluded. A significant error occurred during the original autopsy: one victim, later identified as Graham, was misclassified as male, and both victims were initially believed to be biologically related siblings. Further dental and mitochondrial DNA analysis conducted between 2000 and 2001 disproved the sibling theory. Because Graham's remains had long been catalogued as male, she and Trimble were not considered candidates in comparisons against missing-persons cases for decades.

Forensic facial reconstructions of the unidentified victims were created beginning in the 1990s and updated using digital and CT-scan techniques, including a 2012 rendering released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in connection with a BBC America documentary series. That renewed publicity prompted a sibling of Kerry Graham to contact authorities, leading to DNA sample collection from both families. In November 2015, DNA comparisons confirmed the remains were those of Graham and Trimble, a identification publicly announced at a February 2016 joint press conference by the Mendocino and Sonoma County Sheriff's Offices. The girls' remains were released to their families that same month.

The investigation remains open. Mendocino County authorities have said no official suspects have been identified, though the case has been described by investigators as highly active following the identification. A 2000 false confession from a New Jersey inmate led to an early exhumation of the remains but was ruled out after investigators determined he was about twelve years old at the time of the murders and had never left New Jersey. Convicted serial killers Rodney Alcala and Gerald and Charlene Gallego have been named as persons of interest by commentators examining the case, alongside speculation of a possible connection to the unsolved Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders of the 1970s, though no definitive suspects have been officially named.