Claire Hough was a 14-year-old girl in the situation when she was killed in 1984. High-stakes showdown between Dominion and Fox News set to begin in Delaware court, U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich appears in Russian court on spy charges, U.S. diplomatic convoy fired on in Sudan as intense fighting continues, Charges filed against homeowner in shooting of Black teen, Mexico president slams U.S. "spying" after 28 cartel members charged, Oklahoma officials accused of speaking of killing journalists, using racist language, U.S. border officials records 25% jump in migrant crossings in March, Poll: Most say congressional GOP should let Trump probes run their course, Ron DeSantis unveils legislative move targeting Disney. It might simply be a coincidence. Somebody could just walk right up and by you without you even knowing they were there, Kim said. Verify and try again. Her murder in August of 1984 became one of the countys most troubling unsolved homicides, brutal in its details and frightening in its location: scenic Torrey . Friends who got into arguments would often ask her to adjudicate. Others would say he was driven to it by the scrutiny from law enforcement. Read More: Barbara Nantais Murder: How Did She Die? She didnt believe him at first, but later went to the authorities with what hed said. Now, like a week later, they were saying the two cases werent related. Wally Wheeler had been the San Diego Police Departments most promising suspect, but with his death, the quest to discover who killed Claire Hough hit a roadblock and there were very few credible leads for almost two decades. Its a rite of passage. Barbara Nantais, far right, with her sisters Sue, Lorraine and mother Judy. On the night of August 24, 1984, she was on one of her similar night adventures, visiting the local Circle K to buy cigarettes, as testified by the store clerk later on. Choice. Others point out mutilation of the breasts is nauseatingly common in sexual assaults, not necessarily the hallmark of a single attacker. He was briefly investigated, but ruled out as a suspect because his injuries had been so severe and life threatening. In a big city, it might be the dark confines of a seldom-used alley, a park only dimly lit after dark, or a friends basement, provided parents dont poke their heads in too often. Considering the similarity of the two crimes, it was a theory that, in hindsight, seems perfectly logical. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. Evidence collected at the time was analyzed through new DNA techniques in 2012. Rebecca describes Kevin as gentle, soft spoken, nervous, shy, and one of the "good guys.". Eighty four Claire her brother and her friend Kim We went to Claires Grandparents House who lived just blocks from Torrey Pines. Following his death, his wife, Rebecca, sued the San Diego Police Department, and a court awarded her $6 million in February 2020. primary detective on Kevins case, to pay $. Claire's parents, Penny and Sam Hough, say their daughter had an innate sense of justice and she was known as the class mediator. Despite the brutal attack, there was little evidence and the case eventually went cold. She "had a lot of potential. Somebody killed her first. Claire Penelope Hough was born on September 30, 1969, in Cranston, Rhode Island, to Samuel and Penelope Hough. In late October, Kevin Brown drove to the couples lake cabin and loaded a white plastic deck chair into the back of his truck. His friends went back to the beach and found Barbara a short distance away, dead on the sand behind Lifeguard Tower 7. He was 62 years old. Although police are sure that they have identified the killers, they are still asking anyone with information to contact the homicide unit or San Diego County Crime Stoppers (888 580-8477). Thomas Fuller wrote Even doubtful accusations leave a stain behind them.. He presented Kevin Brown a photo of Ronald Tatro and claimed the police officer made a note on the back of the FI card. (Rutgers, 2008), Swat Madness and the Militarization of the American Police: A National Dilemma (Praeger, 2010), Thomas J. Byrnes: The Father of the Third Degree, The Laquanta Chapman Chainsaw Murder Case. "We grew up looking for treasures. Was there a serial killer targeting young women? The blood spots on Claire Houghs blue jeans contained the DNA of a suspect who seemed to be a likely perpetrator. Claire loved the beach, and the duo stayed in Del Mar Heights with Claires grandparents, which was about a 15-minute walk from Torrey Pines State Beach. Make sure that the file is a photo. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. And did not share those facts with the judge. [] I was sure from the color of her flesh that she was dead.. Claire Hough, who was found murdered on Torrey Pines Beach in 1984. Brown had been a criminalist in the San Diego Police Department lab before retiring in 2002. In the 1980s, they were not testing and amplifying DNA like we do today. Egged on by the Houghs, the police interrogated Wallace but dismissed him after finding he was schizophrenic and too delusional to commit such a heinous crime. Try again later. The San Diego Police Department never found their killers and they don't know if the cases are linked, but they hope to crack the cold cases by running new tests on evidence gathered at the crime scenes. Investigation Discoverys People Magazine Investigates: Blood in the Sand follows the investigation process of the homicide of 14-year-old Claire Hough in San Diego, California, in August 1984. Her murder in August of 1984 became one of the countys most troubling unsolved homicides, brutal in its details and frightening in its location: scenic Torrey Pines State Beach, visited by thousands of people annually. Menu. We lived in a constant state of fear that cops would knock on our door at any minute, to search our house or arrest him for a murder he didnt commit.. In every time and every culture, there are secluded places, locations undisclosed to adults, where young people go for privacy places where they go to smoke cigarettes, maybe more, take a nip out of a bottle stolen from Dads liquor cabinet, or to meet up with a love interest, out of range of the prying eyes of parents. They questioned whether a judge would have issued a search warrant for the Browns property if the judge had known contamination was a possibility, despite claims to the contrary. Well I didnt, Brown said. They asked him if he knew Ronald Tatro and he said, No.. In a story by CBS news in 2018, Kim said she got a little panicky on the beach that night. You can always change this later in your Account settings. I thought you might like to see a memorial for Claire Penelope Hough I found on Findagrave.com. The teenager had been staying with her grandparents who lived near the beach. Claire's body was found in the early morning hours at Torrey Pines State Beach. He just. Claire Penelope Hough's body was found at Torrey Pines State Beach in 1984. Claire Hough was actually from Rhode Island, but she spent a lot of time at Torrey Pines. Ronald Clyde Tatro (Photo: San Diego Police Department). The brutal 1984 killing of a teenager at Torrey Pines State Beach has apparently been solved through DNA and an extensive investigation, the San Diego Police Department announced Thursday. And he had not met her on the beach, but at a hotel get-together among friends, with Mike and another woman. When she was found by police. Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. He was paroled in 1982 and decided he needed a change of scenery. There will be people who answer this jurys decision with I support law enforcement. And there will be others who believe all police are inherently bad, and that this is just one more example. Jamer says she had a very bad feeling on the beach at night two days before Claire was killed and had warned her friend not to go there after dark. According to police reports, Ronald had prior convictions involving raping a woman at knifepoint in Arkansas in 1974 and endeavoring to abduct a teen in La Mesa in 1985 using a stun gun. They had no idea that Barbara and Jim had gone to the beach to camp. She was mutilated on her left breast and also her genitalia, and the investigators were left with some question about whether she had actually been raped. In May of 2017, a US District Judge ruled they were not entitled to qualified immunity for wrongful death and violating Kevin and Rebecca Browns civil rights. Although the medical examiner ruled his death an accident, the TWRA report concluded Tatros death may not have been. For example, Jim Stam, Kevin Browns former boss in the SDPD Crime Lab said, at the time, the criminalists working in the lab did not wear masks, and the choice of whether to wear gloves was up to the individual examiners. Learn more about managing a memorial . It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Samuel Hough (Warwick, Rhode Island), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who passed away on March 4, 2019, leaving to mourn family and friends. In 1975, he kidnapped a woman in Arkansas, threw her in the trunk of his car, drove her to a remote spot in the country and raped her at knife point. She was visiting her grandparents in San Diego but lived with her parents Samuel and Penelope Hough in Cranston, Rhode Island. Claire Hough's best friend, Kim Jamer, had spent a few days with Claire in California but had returned to Rhode Island before the murder. The weather was great. Feature Image by Wendy Wei via Pexels.com. They werent fully forthcoming, however. They used to walk there daily with towels, bathe in the sun, and listen to the portable radio they brought with them. We have no control over the content of these sites. Advertisement Part III: They are not going to get away with this. A widows quest delivers a dramatic courtroom twist. Kevin Brown was a college student in Sacramento, ten hours away. SVP of Engineering: 2012: 2013: He was locked up in 1975 and paroled in 1982. You can be for law enforcement, and also for civil liberties. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled, her breast mutilated with a knife, her body dragged and left behind the lifeguard tower in a lewd position to shock whomever might find her. Still another reported that Brown had watched a pornographic movie with a mutual co-worker at work, although that co-worker later claimed it never happened. I dont believe for a second that you thought she was 14. Intriguing, right? He could barely stand and he did not know where Barbara was. The San Diego Police Department processed the scene in accordance with the standard procedures of 1978 and collected the evidence, including the sleeping bags, bloody rocks used to bludgeon the victims, and Barbaras clothing and jewelry. The quotes also touch on the subjects of craft, creativity, publishing, and the writing life. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Evidence collected at the time was analyzed through new DNA techniques in 2012. Ill talk to you again in two weeks. This account has been disabled. The girls had arranged to stay at Hough's grandparents' house. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Claire Hough was just 14 years old when she was found dead on the beach after being strangled to death and having one of her breasts severed. The lab where Kevin Brown worked was known as Criminalist Row at the old San Diego Police Headquarters near Seaport Village and has been described as a big open room, about the size of a double stall garage, lined by long tables. The next day the San Diego police returned to his house for another round of questions and Kevin Brown still did not summon his attorney. The teen girl, Claire Hough, was found at Torrey Pines State Beach brutally beaten, mutilated and strangled to death. With repeated advancements in the technology of DNA over the years, though, more sophisticated techniques allowed investigators to develop DNA profiles with smaller blood and tissue samples, and even to recover DNA from objects a killer had simply touched where no blood or tissue was visibleso-called Touch DNA. Using the evidence stored in the crime lab evidence locker, police were able to recover DNA profiles that would previously have been impossible. Her father, Samuel Hough, reminisced how she often stood for people being bullied and was finding her way in life. Claire Hough is the Chief Technology Officer at Carbon Health. On Aug. 12, 1978, 15-year-old Barbara Nantais, pictured, and her boyfriend, Jim Alt, decided to go camping and surfing at the beach. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Reasonable people, when they hear the story, accept that Tatro, a violent convicted rapist, was almost certainly Claires murderer. He volunteered that he had dated a woman in the mid-80s named Claire, and had sex with her. Ronald Clyde Tatro was the kind of heavy youd see in a moviesquare jaw, weathered, leathery skin, with slicked-back hair. According to a report by CBS News, the San Diego Police revamped their website with a list of cold cases in 2008, and for the first time they publicly admitted Barbara Nantais and Claire Hough might have been murdered by the same person. Early the next morning, a man found her strangled and mutilated body on the beach. It didnt prove to be very useful to prosecutors in that case, partly because the technology was in its infancy. When it was run through the police databases, the investigators finally found a match the concerned profile belonged to a felon named Ronald Tatro. Claire Candy Hough is a two-time #1 Amazon international bestselling author, Radio/TV Host, creator of Angel Healing House . Barbara Nantais and Jim Alt had been introduced by Barbara's sister, Sue. A two-thousand dollar reward was offered. Jim Alt was so severely beaten he could not be considered a suspect in Barbaras murder. The entire case became very famous and successful, and it took the police nearly three decades to solve the entire possibility of the . And he was a convicted rapist. Jim Alt regained consciousness the following morning, freezing and wet. Tatros ex-wife told investigators he was a violent man who used to regularly tie her up and rape her, and that he had once confessed to raping and murdering a woman on his way home from Fort Lewis, Washington. It was a question investigators were forced to confront because Kevin Brown worked in the same lab where Claire Houghs evidence had been processed. SVP of Engineering: Jul 2015: Jul 2018: Tapjoy . His letters to them were odd, rambling notes. He managed to crawl, stagger his way back to the parking lot where his friends had parked their car, and knocked on the window. 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