PITTSBURG — Frustrated over trying to learn a difficult dance step, Lisa Diane Norrell left a late-night quinceañera rehearsal at the IDES Hall in Antioch, black heels and dark blue velvet dress in hand, and walked down a dark stretch of the Pittsburg-Antioch Highway, presumably to her home four miles away.
But the 15-year-old Pittsburg High sophomore never made it. Her asphyxiated body, hands clenched into fists, was found face down eight days later, on Nov. 14, 1998, near a Pittsburg landscaping business on the same highway.
Lisa was the first of four of young women killed within two months in Pittsburg in late 1998, early 1999. The killings not only devastated the small, close-knit community but also rocked the surrounding cities, setting off fear that a serial killer might be living in their midst.
Today, 20 years later, Pittsburg police Lt. Jacob Stage is trying to reignite interest in the killings, hoping someone will remember something that might help investigators solve these cases, which have never been closed. Stage also has sent back the forensic evidence to the lab, hoping new technology will reveal something that was not evident before.
“Because we are on the 20-year anniversary of these series of homicides, I really wanted to do a big push to see if we could get more information from the public,” said Stage, who has been posting the victims’ stories on the police Facebook page. “I think somebody knows or can lead us in the right direction just on their hunch.”
Within two months, police found the bodies of Jessica L. Frederick, 24, and Rachael Cruise, 32, both in Pittsburg; and Valerie Dawn “China” Schultz, 27, nearby in Bay Point. Michael Tan, 29, also was found bludgeoned and drowned in Pittsburg, on Nov. 9, 1998. A Concord resident, he was the only man and non-local person in the string of killings.
It was a time that former Contra Costa County District Attorney Inspector Paul Holes remembers well. Famous for his work in catching the suspected Golden State Killer, Holes said these killings were his highest priority during his career with the DA and sheriff’s offices. He remains confident that one person was responsible for at least some of the killings.
“I’m convinced that you have at least one serial killer who was at work that killed some of these women, but I can’t say that one person killed all of them,” Holes said. “It’s sad to think it’s the 20th anniversary. … I know there has been a lot of effort put in to solve that case and unfortunately it hasn’t panned out just yet.”
Stage, Pittsburg’s lead homicide detective, is hoping that this time, with advances in DNA technology, the department will get a hit like Antioch police did last year that helped solve the case of Suzanne Bombardier, a 14-year-old Antioch girl who was kidnapped and murdered 37 years earlier.
“Maybe that minuscule amount that wasn’t detected before is going to be detected this time,” Stage said. “DNA testing has increased so much over the last 20 years that I am hoping we find something that was overlooked.”
Stage was assigned the cold cases six months ago, and has been poring over the files ever since. Lisa’s is the largest — nearly 10 times the size of a regular homicide file — and Stage has checked back on nearly every lead that came in 20 years ago.
Although the Pittsburg detective said all unsolved cases are important, Lisa’s case stands out because of the circumstances and her young age.
“Any case that I get assigned is important to me, but this one does have special meaning because this poor 15-year-old girl was killed walking home and her mom never got to see her again,” Stage said. “All those other women had children and they didn’t get to see them grow up. They’re all horrible.”
Since Lisa disappeared in Antioch, police there originally handled her case, handing it over to Pittsburg later when evidence was found there.
“I tip my hat to the Antioch police department; they went all out,” Stage said. “The day after she was missing, they already had bloodhounds out from the Alameda and search-and-rescue out looking for her. They took this very, very seriously. They went from zero to 100 miles an hour.”
Lisa had no history as a runaway, and early on was listed as a missing person, he said, noting, in an unusual move, the FBI got involved almost immediately.
“They were contacted right away and it was a huge, huge effort to try to find her,” he said. “I don’t think there were any circumstances at the time that immediately red flags were going off. They just took it upon themselves to make the proper calls.”
Everyone had assumed someone had given Lisa a ride home, so it wasn’t until 3 a.m. when her mother Minnie Norrell awoke to find her missing, that a report was filed and police swung into action, Stage said.
Bloodhounds the next day led police along the Pittsburg/Antioch Highway where her garment bag with her quinceañera gown and dress shoes were found.
“One of the bloodhounds went very close to Nav-Land where her body was later found, but there were dogs barking in the area and the handler thought that maybe he was keying in on those dogs,” Stage said, noting she would be found alongside a back building of the landscaping business during a second search a week later.
Police did not say whether she was sexually assaulted, but her death was ruled as asphyxiation. No DNA was initially recovered, Stage said.
“Most people would have been spooked out by the long walk, but it’s very doable for a young person. You are very brave when you are 15,” Stage said. “You’ll take on the world. She (Lisa) was a fighter, a strong-willed young lady.”
Two months later Garry Lee Walton, 39, and David Michael Heneby, 24, who both had extensive criminal records, were arrested on suspicion of killing Lisa, but they were later released. What evidence, if any, was found during search warrants at their homes remains sealed, but Stage said he doesn’t believe they are the killers.
Whoever is responsible, Lisa’s aunt, Kathy Russo, is hoping he is caught. Her sister-in-law, Minnie Norrell, died five years ago and never got any closure on her only child’s death. She had adopted Lisa, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, when she was just a baby.
“Lisa really deserves some justice,” Russo said. “Everything was going right for her. She had been babysitting, and she had made enough money to buy a computer. … She was so proud of herself. She was becoming such a lovely young woman.”
Russo sad the quinceañera, a Mexican coming-of-age ceremony, was for one of Lisa’s best friends. Her decision to leave was abrupt.
“Someone was making fun of her dancing,” Russo said of that fateful night. “It was just a silly, stupid mistake on her part. Minnie dropped her off and the mother said they would bring her home. Lisa got upset, took her shoes and dress and walked out the door and nobody went after her.”
Although Russo said her sister-in-law was devastated, she “was a kind soul and didn’t blame anyone.”
“It was overwhelming, but so many people in Pittsburg were so kind,” Russo said. “There was overwhelming support. … Minnie talked about her all the time. She missed her daughter every day. It broker her heart.”
Only two days after Lisa’s disappearance, the body of Michael Tan was found along North Parkside Drive on Nov. 9. He was found face down in a ditch and had been beaten and drowned. His Concord apartment had been burglarized the day before, and police believe he was killed and later dumped in Pittsburg.
Less than a month later, on Dec. 5, Jessica Frederick, 24, was found dead in an industrial area near an auto wrecking yard on Harbor Street and Industry Road in Pittsburg. Her body had been dumped alongside a road used mostly by trucks and employees of wrecking yards and salvage businesses. She had been beaten and stabbed to death. Frederick’s boyfriend, Mohammed Niaz, was charged with murdering her, but the charges were dismissed in 2001 and he is no longer considered a suspect.
Nine days later, Rachael Cruise, a 32-year-old mother of two who battled drug addiction and lived near an area known for prostitution, was found strangled in a ditch off California Avenue near Antioch Building Materials. That same day, a 38-year-old woman with a record of prostitution was found badly beaten in a portable toilet in Bay Point. At the time, she was only able to provide a limited description of her attacker: a Hispanic male driving a dark Monte Carlo. The victim never regained “fully capacity” and has since died, Stage said.
On Jan. 6, 1999, the body of Valerie Dawn “China” Schultz, 27, who had a history of prostitution, was discovered in a ditch along a desolate stretch of Willow Pass Road near the Pittsburg-Bay Point border.
Holes said some of the killings had similarities that pointed toward a single perpetrator, but refused to get into specifics.
“I have to remain very vague,” Holes said. “We’re aware there are some unique aspects in what was done to these women that we don’t want released to the public.”
Peter Vronsky, a historian and author with a focus on serial killings, said killers often change their methods. He said geographical profiling is one of the more reliable ways to pinpoint a killer’s residence.
“Geographic patterns can indicate where the perpetrator feels comfortable operating,” Vronsky said. “Usually that will be an area he’s familiar with.”
Over the years police have looked into area parolees and registered sex offenders, as well as known criminals such as Phillip Garrido who lived just doors down from a relative of Lisa’s, and Mitchell Lynn Bacom, who last year was charged in a 37-year-old Antioch case. No connections were made, however.
Stage has gone back and interviewed prostitutes who frequented the areas where most of the bodies were dumped and even talked with some who knew the victims.
“I think those women (who were killed) were so street smart that they weren’t going to fall victim to that (a killer),” Stage said. “It’s sad because most were so street smart. Maybe he was a previous customer?”
In Lisa’s case, the killer might have just mistaken her age and situation in the dark, but by the time he picked her up, it was too late, Stage said.
“The area where these women were found were common places where prostitution activities occurred,” he said. “It could have been someone who used their services at some point and maybe later decided he wants to go sideways or it could be four individual people — you have got to keep your options open.”
The Pittsburg detective is hoping that someone who saw something or has a hunch about a person but never said anything before will step up this time. It’s never too late and no tip is too silly to pass on, he said.
“People that were traveling down the Antioch/Pittsburg Highway at the time might have seen something, any suspicious vehicles at the time,” he said. “I do believe there is someone out there who always thought it was that weird coworker or that black sheep of the family, but maybe held back on calling because they didn’t want to bother the police department back then.”
Anyone with information on this cold case homicide is encouraged to contact Detective Stage 925-252-6972.
