Chain of Custody & The Westlake Village Culvert Discovery
On July 18, 1980, maintenance workers clearing vegetation along a drainage culvert adjacent to Westlake Boulevard near Triunfo Canyon Road in Westlake Village, Ventura County, California, discovered human skeletal remains concealed in overgrown brush.
Ventura County Sheriff's deputies and the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office processed the scene. The body was completely skeletonized, with taphonomic weathering and clothing degradation indicating the decedent had been interred or deposited in the drainage ditch for several months prior to recovery.
Forensic Pathological & Anthropological Assessment
Forensic anthropologists examined the skeletal remains, determining the victim was a young Hispanic female, aged between 17 and 24 years old, standing approximately 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 4 inches in height.
The cause of death was definitively ruled homicide due to multiple traumatic blunt force skull fractures. Personal effects found at the scene included a distinctive red woven sweater, dark pants, and silver hoop earrings, but no identification or purse was present. She was entered into NamUs as UP11249 and into the California Department of Justice missing persons clearinghouse.
Bi-National Genetic Genealogy Resolution
In 2022, the Ventura County Sheriff's Cold Case Unit, in collaboration with the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office, submitted skeletal samples to the DNA Doe Project. Extracting genomic DNA from forty-year-old degraded bone presented severe technical hurdles, but advanced sequencing successfully generated a viable SNP profile.
Genealogists encountered complex ancestral lineages bridging the United States and Mexico, specifically originating from Jalisco and Zacatecas. By methodically constructing cross-border family trees, genealogists linked the decedent to a family branch in Southern California. In May 2023, DNA testing formally confirmed the decedent was 20-year-old Maricela Rocha Parga, who had vanished from East Los Angeles in early 1980.