Cold case grave mystery solved decades after millionaire’s killer convicted
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A woman whose remains were found more than 40 years ago in a shallow grave in California’s Riverside County has been identified as a multimillionaire real estate investor who disappeared in 1981.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Medical Examiner’s Office said advances in genetic genealogy research as well as dental records confirmed the victim was Thelma Gaston, 80, whose disappearance sparked a high-profile murder investigation in Los Angeles.
The case began on November 28, 1981, when people searching for firewood near Sugar Loaf Mountain discovered skeletal remains from a shallow grave.
Riverside County sheriff’s investigators found the remains the next day near Highway 74, but the body was so extensively decomposed that authorities were unable to identify the victim despite extensive investigative efforts.
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Map showing the Sugar Loaf Mountain area in Riverside County, California; It was discovered there in 1981 before investigators identified the victim through forensic DNA. (Google Earth)
For decades, the woman was known only as an unidentified murder victim.
According to UPI archivesGaston, an 80-year-old wealthy real estate investor whose estate was estimated to be worth approximately $20 million, disappeared on June 28, 1981. A note was found on the door of his house stating that he went out to look for a missing cat, but he never returned.
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He emphasizes state prison security measures by surrounding the California Institution for Men in Chino with barbed wire. (Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty Images)
Prosecutors later accused Lawrence Remsen, then 39, of killing Gaston to gain control of his multimillion-dollar estate. Police described Remsen as Gaston’s “sometime traveling companion.”
He pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, forgery, grand larceny and attempted grand larceny after authorities claimed his business partners had received forged letters stating that Gaston was the man who would control his fortune.
The Los Angeles Police Department identified Remsen as a suspect after determining that he falsely represented Gaston’s disappearance, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office.
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The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office later successfully prosecuted the case, and Remsen was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Although the murder investigation has long been solved, what happened to Gaston’s body remained a mystery.
This changed after the Riverside County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office received funding through the Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Grant; This gave investigators the opportunity to re-examine long-unsolved cases of unidentified remains with modern forensic technology.
Investigators revisited the case in November 2024, exhuming the remains for additional forensic testing. DNA samples were then sent to Othram, a forensics laboratory in The Woodlands, Texas; here, scientists developed a comprehensive DNA profile using the company’s Forensic Grade Genome Sequencing technology.
A guard walks outside the California Institution for Men in Chino, a state prison. (Photo: Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty Images)
The identification was made through a joint effort involving the Riverside Sheriff’s Medical Examiner’s Office, the Riverside Cold Case Homicide Team and Othram.
“This identification allows Ms. Gaston’s name and story to be returned to her,” the Riverside County Sheriff’s Medical Examiner’s Office said in announcing the discovery. he said.
California prison records show Remsen, now 83, is serving a life sentence at the California Institution for Men in Chino. He was denied parole in July 2025 and his next parole eligibility hearing is scheduled for July 2028.
The case is the 85th publicly reported case in California in which forensic DNA technology has helped identify an unknown person, Othram said.
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The case underscores how advances in investigative genetic genealogy continue to unravel decades-old mysteries once thought unsolvable, helping investigators identify victims who have gone unnamed for years.
Fox News Digital has contacted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Office, Othram, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles Police Department for additional information.
