California Dreaming - Who Killed Sahara Sue Doe

Episode # 39 Gwenn Story

[Shaun] 

The murder rate in Las Vegas from the early 1970s to the late 1980s was 3 to 5 times as high as it is now. Given the technology of the day and the fact that Las Vegas has always been somewhat transient with people constantly moving in and moving out, it was often difficult to identify victims.

[John] 

This week and next week, we’ll cover the cases of two teenagers who were murdered in Las Vegas during this time, reportedly as they were just passing through town on their way to California. It would be over 40 years before their identities would be known… finally providing their families with some closure

(Music - Pause for 8 seconds)

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

[Shaun] 

As we were researching the two cases for these two episodes, we realized just how many murders there were in the Las Vegas area in the late 70s and early 80s. Not all of them were Jane Does though. 

There were some murders where the victims were identified, but their murderer wasn't caught, and some were like these two, where neither the victims nor their murderer could be identified.

We have covered multiple stories of people coming to Vegas for a better life or job opportunities, but in the history of the United States, many people have also seen California as a place to go for a fresh start as well. What we know about these two young women, they were both headed to California seeking an escape or answers. 

We’ll start with the case that happened first.. do you want to tell us about the case of Sahara Sue Doe?

[John] 

Sure. On the night of August 14th, 1979 a pedestrian was walking past the former location of the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino, which was on the southwest corner of Sahara and Las Vegas Blvd. He was heading to work at the Smith’s “Food King” supermarket (that’s just Smith’s today)

The nearest Smith’s to that corner is about a 35-minute walk to the east now, but it's possible there was another location back in the day that has since closed. Vegas is notoriously hard on businesses and they are always appearing and disappearing.

But anyway, he was walking north up Las Vegas Blvd, and in the dirt lot across from the Sahara Hotel and Casino, he saw a person lying face down between some bushes and Las Vegas Blvd. She was partially disrobed, and she’d been beaten and was covered in blood. The Clark County Coroner determined her cause of death to be homicide via multiple stab wounds to the abdomen.

Just a note about that corner at Sahara and the Strip. The original hotel that was in the location where she was found was the El Rancho Vegas Hotel and Casino, which was the very first casino on the strip, opening in 1941. It was very small by today’s standards with only 110 rooms

It unfortunately caught fire in 1960 in what was understandably huge news at the time. The building was all wooden, and had no fire suppression system at all, so the fire spread quickly from the main building to the surrounding buildings. Much of it including the entire main building was a total loss, and It was never rebuilt, although there was another hotel called the El Rancho Hotel across the street eventually that closed in 1992, and was replaced by the Fountainbleu. 

See what I mean about Las Vegas being unforgiving to businesses? We’re constantly imploding and rebuilding here.

Across the street to the east was the Sahara, another one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas. It was built in 1952, but closed in 2011, reopening as the SLS in 2014. That didnt last long, and now it’s back to being the Sahara as of 2019. 

[Shaun] 

The man who found her called Las Vegas Metro who pronounced her dead at the scene. She had no identification on her, and she had only been dead a short time, only 3 or 4 hours. Since this was the 70’s the police did what you’d expect taking her fingerprints, taking photos of the scene, and trying to document things as best they could. 

This was way before DNA analysis was possible or practical, so no samples were taken for that type of analysis.

The coroner determined she was between 17 and 21, was about 5’2” tall, with sandy blond hair, and weighed around 100 pounds. 

You’d think those last two would be easy to determine and document, but we found articles that said she was as tall as 5’6” and anywhere from 95 lbs to 103 lbs. 

It’s really not clear to us how there was any question at all about those. It's the type of frustrating thing that could really prevent an identification. If someone is looking for their 95 lb daughter who is 5’2”, they might pass right over someone taller and a few pounds heavier.

She was wearing Levi’s hip-higger jeans (partially removed), and a light blue-green button-down linen shirt with a tie at the bottom. Her shirt had some floral embroidery and sequins and a label that said “Florida” leading the police to believe she might have been from Florida.

She also had on some jewelry including a plain silver ring on her right index finger, and two white gold chains, one with a pendant with a turquoise stone, and another with a clear plastic heart with a rose painted on it. 

The police described her as well-groomed, with her fingernails and toenails all painted red.

She also had no teeth, which is rare for someone her age. She had full upper and lower dentures, but the lower set was missing. She was also missing her shoes, and the coroner mentioned in his report that he thought she must have walked around barefoot a lot given the state of the soles of her feet. 

The fact that she was missing her shoes is also a little strange in Las Vegas, in August, but it was late at night so it’s possible. During the day, there’s no way she could have. The pavement can reach 215 degrees and causes burns regularly to people who fall down in the hottest weather here.

Her toxicology report also revealed that she had a blood alcohol level of .238. That’s a VERY high blood alcohol level meaning she was probably experiencing severe impairment of her motor skills at the time she died and was definitely at risk for alcohol poisoning.

She was initially called “Las Vegas Jane Doe 1979”, or more commonly “Sahara Sue Doe”

[John] 

The police asked around and found that this young woman was seen at the “Strip Liquors” liquor store, which is also now closed. 

An employee at the liquor store told the Metro officers that she was with a man who was thin and about 6 feet tall, 165 pounds andaround was around 28 years old. 

The witness also said he had a mustache that was a different color than his hair, and that he was soft-spoken. The witness, who is now deceased, at the time was able to describe the man she was with, and a sketch was produced.

Despite that lead, according to the news reports at the time, the case seemed to grow cold quickly. No match was found by the FBI or locally for her fingerprints. There are relatively few articles we could find from the local papers beyond the immediate reports of the murder. Sahara Sue’s case went cold.. and stayed cold.

We’ll take a break here to hear from Jamie Beebe from Strictly Stalking who is going to tell us about her new podcast The Last Trip. As soon as you’re done here, you should definitely go give that a listen, subscribe and follow on all the socials!

******* INSERT THE LAST TRIP TRAILER HERE *******

Thanks Jamie!

The fact that the case was growing cold doesnt mean that there was no investigation being done. 9 years later, In 1988,  Las Vegas Metro Police hired a well-known expert forensic artist named Linda Galaneer to recreate a new rendering of what Sahara Sue might have looked like when she was alive to keep the case in the public’s consciousness. Galaneer consulted regularly with anthropologists, cosmetologists, and doctors in her expert forensic art renderings. She spent 12 hours recreating Sahara Sue in what was very much the state of the art at that time.

Unfortunately, the new forensic sketch didn't get the police any answers.

In 2003, her body was exhumed, and DNA samples were taken. These samples were entered into CODIS (the combined DNA indexing system) a part of NDIS, the national DNA indexing system. 

When people talk about searching for national DNA matches, NDIS is the system they’re generally referring to.

Again, unfortunately, there was no match, but all that meant at the time though is that there was no match with anyone previously added, so that would be offenders, arrestees, missing people, unidentified remains, and volunteers. There was no genealogical comparison being done then, so that was another unsuccessful attempt.

In 2007, Sahara Sue’s profile was entered into NAMUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, which was another step in the right direction.

In 2011 her DNA was compared with the DNA of Deborah Ray Meyer, who disappeared in August of 1974 from her home in Rawlins, Wyoming. The link between the two cases was tenuous. The only thing that jumped out was that both women had full dentures and were around the same age. There was no match, so Sahara Sue remained unknown, and Deborah Ray remains missing to this day.

[Shaun] 

In 2013, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children listed her on their website in an attempt to resurface the case, then in 2016, there was a little bit of a flurry of activity. The Las Vegas Metro Police got a tip that she might have lived in a nearby trailer park, and might have worked in a nearby holiday inn or other motel near where she was found on the strip. 

They also announced that she might have gone by the name “Shauna”. This comes from a Merto Police Facebook post, and it's unclear where they got this information. They didn't share that part of it. 

NCMEC (the  National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) selected her case again for review around that same time, and the case was assigned to the Las Vegas Metro Homicide Cold Case Division

Also in 2016, they did some interesting work in the field of forensic Palynology, which is the study of pollen and spores, and its application to solve homicide cases. In this case, they analyzed Sahara Sue’s clothing and found that she might have been in the Napa Valley, or in the Central Valley of California before her death based on the samples.

In 2022 with a grant from the Las Vegas Justice League started by Justin Woo, Las Vegas Metro Police got in touch with Othram Labs in Woodlands Texas, the same lab that was able to solve Stephanie Isaacson’s case which we recently covered.

They submitted Sahara Sue Doe’s DNA for analysis in September of 2022, and just over a year later, on November 15th, 2023, they were able to identify her.

Sahara Sue Doe was identified as 19-year-old Gwenn Marie Buffington Story, born February 23rd, 1960 in the Colerain Township outside of Cincinnati Ohio. She and two male friends left Cincinnati in the summer of 1979 searching for her biological father in California. (which is interesting given that the forensic palynology analysis indicated she’d been in California recently, but of course, we can't confirm that).

Her two friends returned to Cincinnati in August, the same month she was murdered, and told her family that they left her in Las Vegas. Obviously, her family never heard from her again and had been wondering what happened to her for 44 years.

Police are interested in speaking with the two male friends, although they have not indicated that they are suspects, but they do think they could learn important details about who might have murdered Gwenn.

[John] 

Gwenn’s family released a statement saying “We are looking for some closure on this case. Our family just wants some answers. We would really appreciate the help” and “our family would also like to thank all the many detectives who have worked this case over the years at the LVMPD.. If it wasn't for you we would still be wondering where Gwenn is”

It's heartbreaking to learn that Gwenn’s mother came to Las Vegas many times over the 44 years she was missing. She died not knowing her daughter was here, buried in a coroner’s cemetery plot in Woodlawn Cemetary

She’s still in the Woodlawn cemetery here in Las Vegas

Gwenn has been identified, but her murder remains unsolved. If you have any information regarding Gwenn's case you are urged to contact the LVMPD's cold case section at 702-828-3521 or at homicide@lvmpd.com. Anonymous tips can be sent through Nevada's Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or at crimestoppersofnv.com. 

[Shaun]

Her case is still active, and we urge anyone with information about Gwenn or especially her two maile travel companions to contact Metro PD. If you have friends or colleagues who may have lived in Vegas around that time, please share the podcast with them. You never know who may have the tip that finally catches her murderer. 

Next week we’ll cover a strikingly similar case. There really were a shocking number of these types of cases in the 70’s and 80s here in Las Vegas, and anything we can do to help identify the people responsible is important for their families.

[John] 

Thank you for listening. If you’re enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or whatever platform you’re listening on. It helps us promote the show and get these important stories to more people, so families can have answers and justice. 

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Until next week, remember what happens here, happens everywhere.