CA CA - Dena McHan, 18, Stockton, 6 December 1981

[SMartian]

She was wearing a thick white sweater, Jordache jeans that were three sizes too big for her, brown wool pants, nylons and open-toed heels

What a strange outfit for her to be wearing? Why would she have on jeans that were 3 sizes too big as well as brown wool pants? It looks like the Charley Project updated the clothing description in June of 2012 to say the wool pants were soiled. That is very odd to me.

 

[SMartian]

Was her 1973 yellow Toyota ever found?

No, according to her profile on The Charley Project, her car has never been found.

 

[PricklyPear]

There are two other cold cases from Lodi in 1981, Peggy Coyle who disappeared and was found in August, and Nina Wilkerson who disappeared and was found in November. Both were found days after vanishing in the Delta, at an area called Bishop Cut. Both disappeared after leaving bars late at night. Police believed the two cases were connected at the time. http://www.lodinews.com/article_4839abc3-f6cd-553a-8a97-0f339884bcdb.html?TNNoMobile

If Dena McHan was last seen in Lodi late at night, I wonder if her disappearance is connected.

 

[Fuuro]

I find it quite strange that Dena said she was fine when she was being bothered by those 2 guys. I think that she might have known them, since she it doesn't seem to me if she felt totally threatened by them if she was refusing help from other people.

 

[Steph54]

Roger Reece Kibbe (I-5 Strangler) was active during this time. He lived in Sacramento and dumped some victims in San Joaquin.

 

[scriptgirl]

I thought he only killed men.

 

[PricklyPear]

Roger Reece Kibbe (I-5 Strangler) was active during this time. He lived in Sacramento and dumped some victims in San Joaquin.

I have to admit, I did ask a local police officer I know if Kibbe was ever considered in Nina Wilkerson and Peggy Coyle's deaths -- Dena's car was never found, nor was she, but three women disappearing and two of them killed from Lodi would have been pretty unusual back then. It would be unusual now. I don't know if the three were all connected, but there is a lot about Nina and Penny's cases that sound like they were connected, and they were found just a few miles from where Stephanie Brown was found.

I know that the Speed Freak Killers were also considered in Dena McHan's disappearance, though.

I thought he only killed men.

Kibbe's victims were all women. As far as I know, he's not suspected of killing any men.

 

[scriptgirl]

Who are Nina and Penny?

 

[PricklyPear]

Who are Nina and Penny?

Two other cold cases from 1981 in Lodi (Dena McHan was last seen at a gas station between Lodi and Stockton). I put a link in post #23 on the first page of this thread.

 

[PricklyPear]

Just read about Leonard lake and Charles ng who were serial killers in California in early 80s, they have connected them to a number of victims, but say as many as 25 victims possible based on the amount of bone pieces found on the property... I wonder if she or other missing people were victims of these two?

You know, going back through this thread, this caught my eye. Lake and Ng met in 1981, and Stockton is on the highway between Wilseyville, where Lake had his property, and South San Francisco, where they visited occasionally. They even kidnapped some victims from San Francisco, if I remember correctly. And Lake at least had probably killed before he met Ng.

I wonder if they were ever considered. They're more likely than Shermantine and Herzog, at least for '81, IMO. They probably could have made Dena's car disappear, too.

 

[scriptgirl]

Eh, don't buy it.

 

[KateB]

Does anyone know the exact date of her disappearance? Namus lists December 6, 1981 and Doe network lists June 7, 1981. Even recent news stories aren't consistent. :banghead:

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https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/14872

Status Missing
First name Dena
Middle name Viola
Last name McHan
Nickname/Alias
Date last seen December 06, 1981 23:30
Date entered 05/31/2012
Age last seen 19 to years old
Age now 52 years old
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Female
Height (inches) 66.0
Weight (pounds) 130.0
Dental Status: Dental information / charting is available and entered
DNA Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete
Fingerprint Information Status: Fingerprint information is currently not available


DOJ link in post #1 has 12/6/1981 and Charley has 6/7/1981.

Today is either 33.5 years or 34 years since Dena went missing.

 

[Leprikawn]

This case got me thinking. The speed freak killers were about 15 or 16 when she went missing. That would in most cases rule them out, but she looks a lot like Chevelle Wheeler, who most thought was their first victim. But how do two teenage boys come to murder so young? I started to wonder if they had a mentor. Someone who may have exposed them to this lifestyle? Because there are a hell of a lot missing person cases in this region of California starting around 1980. I wonder if law enforcement has ever looked into this? If you look at it from that angle, and then look at how the Sheriff has gone out of his way to make sure investigations are not done, it smells of something bigger and more evil. Whatever it is, both Herzog and Shermantine are too scared to expose it. Just a thought.

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[Lavender Moon]

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/14872

Status Missing
First name Dena
Middle name Viola
Last name McHan
Nickname/Alias
Date last seen December 06, 1981 23:30
Date entered 05/31/2012
Age last seen 19 to years old
Age now 52 years old
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Female
Height (inches) 66.0
Weight (pounds) 130.0
Dental Status: Dental information / charting is available and entered
DNA Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete
Fingerprint Information Status: Fingerprint information is currently not available


DOJ link in post #1 has 12/6/1981 and Charley has 6/7/1981.

Today is either 33.5 years or 34 years since Dena went missing.

The 12-6-81 date makes more sense given the attire she was last seen wearing. Maybe she was trying to keep warm by wearing the wool pants under her jeans. Also, perhaps the wool pants were more like tights or leggings. Wearing a pair of jeans three sizes too large is very odd, though.

 

[galateasca]

One of the main reasons that this case bugs me so much is WHY in the world was Dena wearing a thick sweater and TWO pairs of pants in June??? One pair of pants was wool and the other was "a pair of Jordache jeans three sizes too large". I know others have commented on this as well.


Out of curiosity, is there much water between Stockton and Sacramento? Could Dena have crashed her car into a body of water?

 

[kemo]

There is a somewhat muddled record of this case. Was it June or December? No one wears a "hick Sweeter" in Sacramento in June so I agree probably December. Actually news articles consistently refer to her as 19, which she would have been in December but not in June. I'm pretty sure it is December 6 1981.

One site mentioned that she was wearing Jordache jeans and had a pair of soiled brown pants with her (I.e. She was not wearing them). I'll bet she was wearing brown pants and somehow soiled them so her friend in Sacramento lent her a pair that was 3 sizes too big.
This information is irrelevant to locating her now but would have mattered at the time.

From what I can tell she was said to have left her friend's apartment near Sac State between 2:00 and 3:00 pm but she was reported to have called and spoke to her sister at 11:30 pm. (There were no cellphones at the time so it must have been from a pay phone but did the sister know where?). Sacramento and Stockton are only 50 miles apart and about an hour drive. What did she do after she left or is the information just wrong?

She was reported to have been bothered by two men in a gas station "near Lodi". Does anyone know exactly where and at what time it happened? Two men bothering her sounds very ominous but it is very unusual for a sexual predator to make a car "disappear". It isn't that easy to do and doesn't serve much purpose. I can think of only one case where this happened. (A serial killer in Wyoming buried a girl's car on his property).

There is a good chance she just drove off the road into a body of water but there are no obvious spots this might have happened. The route she would have taken was Hwy 99 south from Sacramento. On the northern border of Lodi is the Mokelumne River that during winter high water a small car might have been swept away to permanently deep water. From Lodi on, it is only ten miles or so to Stockton and no significant waterway. We do not know where Dena lived but there is a port area of Stockton with deep water channels. Would Dena's route home take her near any of these bodies of water? (Or would she have had any other reason to go near one?)

There is speculation that the Speed Freak killers did this, but could 2 16 year-olds pull of that kind of abduction and make the body and the car disappear? I really doubt it. There were other women from that general area who disappeared or were found murdered in the 1980's. Except for the known victims of the SFK's, I am not aware of any clear patterns. I plan to do a little checking.

 

[STANDREID]

I thought she left at 2-3 AM. Doe just says 2.00-3.00 which usually (with just decimal) means they are on the 24 hour clock. Have I missed something?

 

[cgalgiani]

This is Cathleen Galgiani. I am Dena's younger cousin. She disappeared on December 6, 1981, not in June. She was wearing pants that were too big for her because she had gotten something dirty on her pants and had to borrow a pair from a friend. I love and miss Dena to this day, and appreciate that all of you remember her and still give attention to her case. Thank you for all you do.

 

[cgalgiani]

Dena's house in Stockton was in "Stonewood" west of I-5, off of Davis Rd, between Hammer Lane to the South, and Eight Mile Rd to the north. She left the party at 2am, not 2pm. I dont remember ever knowing she called her sister Allison that night. But she did stop at the gas station off Hwy 99. She would not have driven near water. There is water in Sacramento, but nobody drives near water coming from the Sac State area to Stockton because it's a straight shot down Hwy 99 or I-5.
Shermantine has written to me for several years. They stole cars, replaced parts and made new cars. He said they buried several cars in Calaveras County. They would roll over a car with a back how, and once it's flattened, it can easily be covered up and buried. They were construction workers -- they had access to heavy construction equipment.

 

[cgalgiani]

She borrowed pants from a guy friend because her pants got dirty and she couldnt wear them at the party. I think something was spilled on them.