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The original was posted on /r/unresolvedmysteries by /u/watchfulsun484 on 2023-12-28 01:27:25+00:00.
In 1970, Donna Lass was 25 years old and worked as a nurse at the Sahara Hotel Casino in South Lake Tahoe, California. On September 6,1970, Donna went to work and her last logbook entry was at 1:45 PM. Later that day her car was found in the parking lot of her Stateline, Nevada apartment. Nobody saw her leave the casino. In her apartment they found her all her personal items inside except for her purse and the clothes she wore that day.
The next day an unidentified man called Donna’s landlord and her work and told them Donna would be gone due to a family emergency. The call was a hoax and the caller was never identified.
On March 22,1971, a postcard was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle supposedly from the Zodiac Killer who terrorized California from 1968 to 1969. The letter implied that he killed Donna Lass. The Zodiac Killer was known to write letters alluding to other murders and confessed to killing up to 37 people. But his March 1971 letter did not have any evidence linking him to Lass’s murder and she didn’t fit his victim type. No evidence has ever definitely linked the Zodiac Killer to Donna Lass’s case. On Christmas Day 1974, Donna Lass’s sister who lived in North Dakota received a Christmas card of trees covered in snow that was signed “best wishes, St. Donna & Guardian of the pines”.
On August 5,1986, Donna’s skull was found in a drainage ditch near interstate 80 and state route 20 in Placer County, California. No additional remains were recovered at the scene. On December 27,2023, it was announced that the skull was identified as Donna Lass.
The investigation into her death is ongoing.