CA CA - Baker, Female UP7384, 25-65, burned body off Zzyzx Rd & I-15, Jul'10

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MOJAVE DESERT
Human remains discovered off 15 Freeway
Human remains were found Saturday in the Mojave Desert, according to the San Bernardino County coroner's office.
The bones were discovered west of the 15 Freeway near Zzyzx Road.
The coroner will examine the remains to determine the identity and cause of death.
Anyone with information can contact the San Bernardino County Sheriff
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Department 909-387-3589, or 1-800-78-CRIME.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15492289?nclick_check=1
 
That's the infamous Zzyzx road to nowhere.

I am sure that there are plenty more sets of bones out there.
 
Here is a Google map showing Zzyzx road.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=zzyzx...84,-116.118622&spn=0.326733,0.784836&t=h&z=11

As you can see, it is an extremely desolate area, and is an ideal place to exit the main highway unnoticed. It is even more so than the other nearby offramps because it is surrounded by hills that block the view of the road from highway 15, so a car exiting from the main highway is hidden from view shortly after exiting.

With other offramps in the area (e.g., Basin Rd and Cima Road), it's fairly flat (with mountains in the distance) and from the main highway, you can see miles of road heading out into the desert. Hwy 15 Northeast of Zzyzx road is where the long descent into Nevada begins. The unique name also makes it the first place to come to mind when someone is thinking of places to go to dump a body.

One can't help but think when driving Hwy 15 and seeing the sign for the Zzyzx road offramp, that there must be a lot of bodies out there.

I have mentioned on another thread that every time that I drive by the Zzyzx Rd offramp, I think that it would be a great place to take a cadaver dog for a walk :).
 
Here is a Google map showing Zzyzx road.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=zzyzx...84,-116.118622&spn=0.326733,0.784836&t=h&z=11

As you can see, it is an extremely desolate area, and is an ideal place to exit the main highway unnoticed. It is even more so than the other nearby offramps because it is surrounded by hills that block the view of the road from highway 15, so a car exiting from the main highway is hidden from view shortly after exiting.

With other offramps in the area (e.g., Basin Rd and Cima Road), it's fairly flat (with mountains in the distance) and from the main highway, you can see miles of road heading out into the desert. Hwy 15 Northeast of Zzyzx road is where the long descent into Nevada begins. The unique name also makes it the first place to come to mind when someone is thinking of places to go to dump a body.

One can't help but think when driving Hwy 15 and seeing the sign for the Zzyzx road offramp, that there must be a lot of bodies out there.

I have mentioned on another thread that every time that I drive by the Zzyzx Rd offramp, I think that it would be a great place to take a cadaver dog for a walk :).

I agree CarlK. I think about this every time I travel between Vegas and SoCal. And between Vegas and Utah. Same desolation in both directions and plenty of places to carry out an evil deed.
 
Steven Koecher is missing from Las Vegas,and there is always the possibility it could be him, so if anyone comes across any updates on this could you post. Thanks
 
Steven Koecher is missing from Las Vegas,and there is always the possibility it could be him, so if anyone comes across any updates on this could you post. Thanks

Another thing that I noticed but did not mention was that the remains were found west of the 15 freeway near Zzyzx road. That would be more suggestive of a perp coming from the southwest-bound side of the 15 (i.e., from Nevada). Anyone coming from Southern California probably (although not definitely) would have exited into the area East of the 15.
 
Hm, good thought, Carl.

Do they actually find a lot of bodies in this spot? Or does it just look like a good place?'
 
I recall reading about a couple of instances over the years, but I wouldn't be able to point to any specific cases. It does stick in the mind though because of the strange name.
 
I recall reading about a couple of instances over the years, but I wouldn't be able to point to any specific cases. It does stick in the mind though because of the strange name.

Yes, exactly :p I've only seen the one case, with the girl's head, and remembered it.

I suppose that would also make it an easy landmark for somebody from a big city to spot in the middle of the night. No mistaking the exit.
 
Another thing that I noticed but did not mention was that the remains were found west of the 15 freeway near Zzyzx road. That would be more suggestive of a perp coming from the southwest-bound side of the 15 (i.e., from Nevada). Anyone coming from Southern California probably (although not definitely) would have exited into the area East of the 15.

Not necessarily, if there is a bridge over the freeway there.

Just checked google maps, and there IS a bridge. So people may head either east or west from either direction of I-15.
 
Never wanted to mention this before, but I've often considered that SK's body could have been transported somewhere along the path to LA.
 
Thanks tatertot. So now we know it is a female.
 
Never wanted to mention this before, but I've often considered that SK's body could have been transported somewhere along the path to LA.

I think he was sent somewhere on a delivery/courier errand, and did not return. Either on purpose, or via crime.

In the UID under discussion, the charred remains were found *west* of I-15, where Zzyzx road turns into "Arrowhead Trail" and there's several unnamed dirt roads. It's probably the most barren turn-off, between Vegas and LA.
 
Thanks for the info re: the SK case. I had seen the thread before, vaguely, but I had never opened it to read. Now that I have read a fair amount, I am interested and will be following along.

It just goes to show how a certain case can be big news in one area (Utah & Las Vegas) but not even get onto the radar a couple hundred miles away (I'm in San Diego).

I hope they figure out the identity of these remains, too. At first, I was wondering if they were somehow related to the decapitated head found a couple of months ago, but apparently not since there were teeth and bridgework among the remains.
 
My family and I pulled over there on a recent trip from Vegas to Cali to change diapers and take potty breaks. I remember having a REALLY creepy feeling about it---like someone wasn't there, but there had been someone there recently. It was a really bad vibe.

I'm gonna be even more creeped out now when we pass it.



Here is a Google map showing Zzyzx road.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=zzyzx...84,-116.118622&spn=0.326733,0.784836&t=h&z=11

As you can see, it is an extremely desolate area, and is an ideal place to exit the main highway unnoticed. It is even more so than the other nearby offramps because it is surrounded by hills that block the view of the road from highway 15, so a car exiting from the main highway is hidden from view shortly after exiting.

With other offramps in the area (e.g., Basin Rd and Cima Road), it's fairly flat (with mountains in the distance) and from the main highway, you can see miles of road heading out into the desert. Hwy 15 Northeast of Zzyzx road is where the long descent into Nevada begins. The unique name also makes it the first place to come to mind when someone is thinking of places to go to dump a body.

One can't help but think when driving Hwy 15 and seeing the sign for the Zzyzx road offramp, that there must be a lot of bodies out there.

I have mentioned on another thread that every time that I drive by the Zzyzx Rd offramp, I think that it would be a great place to take a cadaver dog for a walk :).
 
How long had the bones been there? This area reminds me of the April Pitzer case I saw on ID Discovery....it's probably totally unrelated, but I thought I'd throw it out there. She was missing a lot of teeth as well and had dental implants....

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/pitzer_april.html

I'm sure this has been considered...right?

ETA: sorry, when I saw the full report it didn't have rule outs listed...it looked so promising too :(
the list of rule outs is here
https://identifyus.org/cases/7384
 

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