CA CA - Kristen Modafferi, 18, San Francisco, 23 June 1997

[austinhazel]

Thinking out loud, I wonder if the torn diary was Jill Lampo's payback against Onuma?

I don't know. Something about her story doesn't quite sound right. As I said before, if she knows the diary contained stuff that incriminated him, why didn't she reveal what it was? It was her diary! Secondly, would a manipulative boyfriend/killer, tear out incriminating pages of his girlfriend's diary, or would he just dispose of the diary?

After Onuma implicated Jill Lampo in Kristen's disappearance, she might have deliberately torn pages out of her diary from when Kristen disappeared and blamed it on Onuma in revenge, notwithstanding the guilt of either party.

You make a good point, I've never seen anyone mention this possibility. I don't know how long JL was in JO's life but with everything he did to her we it's possible she could do something like that as payback. With how violent Onuma is though she would be putting herself in a possible hostile situation. But if she did do this to get payback, it would not be surprising. Or it could of been an attempt to get him arrested and she could finally have freedom from him.

 

[austinhazel]

Yes, I completely agree that JO's call to the news station in 1997, JL's later incriminating comments to her uncle, and someone ripping out the pages of the diary from 6/23 & 6/24 were all extremely suspicious. But, again - even though it's possible/probable?! something horrible happened here, that doesn't mean that KM was involved.



If KM did meet with foul play (and if the culprit wasn't JO/JL) then it's possible it was completely random & had nothing to do with personal ads, someone seeing her & making contact with her in the mall where she worked, etc.

Maybe it happened after she left the mall when she was sight-seeing somewhere, etc. IIRC KM typically went places alone (again, she was new to the area and didn't know many people), and she also didn't have a car - so relied on public transportation (bus, street-car, possibly BART, etc.). So, it's entirely possible that she attracted the unwanted attention of a random criminal somewhere & her disappearance had nothing to do with the possible leads that are currently being discussed.

That's one thing that wouldn't shock me with this case either. It's possible she did get on the bus to Land's end and perhaps had met with someone who is responsible with whatever may have happened to her. I wonder how hard LE searched the area and witnesses surrounding the mall and local areas.

 

[blmxxx]

Thinking out loud, I wonder if the torn diary was Jill Lampo's payback against Onuma?

I don't know. Something about her story doesn't quite sound right. As I said before, if she knows the diary contained stuff that incriminated him, why didn't she reveal what it was? It was her diary! Secondly, would a manipulative boyfriend/killer, tear out incriminating pages of his girlfriend's diary, or would he just dispose of the diary?

After Onuma implicated Jill Lampo in Kristen's disappearance, she might have deliberately torn pages out of her diary from when Kristen disappeared and blamed it on Onuma in revenge, notwithstanding the guilt of either party.

He might dispose of the diary ... if it was a boyfriend.

I've followed cold cases for some years and have noticed a pattern. In each there was always the proverbial "chair out of place" that, had it been recognized, would have put the investigation on the right track. By this I mean that there is some piece of evidence for which no simple explanation presents. Only by coming up with a more complex narrative, albeit the simplest one possible, do we clearly see what most likely happened. Of course, it isn't definitive, just most likely, which means 'here' is where we should put our resources. This wasn't done here either.
In this case the chair out of place is the 2 pages torn from the diary for dates after her disappearance. So, I asked, what's most likely here?
1. That the perpetrator abducted Kristen, then broke into her house, tore 2 pages out of the diary that are presumably blank, then inexplicably left the diary there OR
2. That Kristen inexplicably and like a soothsayer removes two presumably blank pages from here own diary OR
3. That someone - not a boyfriend but someone who would ultimately be held to account for the presence of the diary - chose the least inculpatory solution of tearing out 2 pages of the diary that would have shown she was alive and at her home after she 'disappeared'?
And who had access to the diary? The roommates. I think it was 3 or 4 of them?
From what I've read (from the Dennis guy) it seems the roommates were more intelligent than average, that they handled their public response as best as could be done, that they correctly chose to remove the 2 pages showing her alive but left the diary (otherwise everyone knows they tampered with Kristin's belongings) behind. Their explanation that they didn't call her family because they didn't want to rat her out is clever but less than likely. It seems most likely that one of the roommates could be charged with involuntary manslaughter and that all the others could be charged with accessory to the same.
And I think, like the others, this is why it hasn't been solved.

I'm new here and haven't read ultra deep into this case, so please let me know if I missed something or have the facts mixed up. Thanks

 

[Sonny Crockett]

1. That the perpetrator abducted Kristen, then broke into to her house, tore 2 pages out of the diary that are presumably blank, then inexplicably left the diary there OR
2. That Kristen inexplicably and like a soothsayer removes two presumably blank pages from here own diary OR
3. That someone - not a boyfriend but someone who would ultimately be held to account for the presence of the diary - chose the least problematic solution of tearing out 2 pages of the diary that would have shown she was alive and at her home after she 'disappeared'?

I'm new here and haven't read ultra deep into this case, so please let me know if I missed something or have the facts mixed up. Thanks

The diary being discussed was Jill Lampo's, not Kristen Modafferi's. Someone tore out some pages of JL's diary, which people have speculated may have some connection to KM's disappearance.

As far as we know, KM didn't have a diary - or if she did, it hasn't been mentioned in connection with this case.

 

[blmxxx]

The diary being discussed was Jill Lampo's, not Kristen Modafferi's. Someone tore out some pages of JL's diary, which people have speculated may have some connection to KM's disappearance.

As far as we know, KM didn't have a diary - or if she did, it hasn't been mentioned in connection with this case.

Oh ok, got it. Thanks

 

[ekardh]

I'm new here and haven't read ultra deep into this case, so please let me know if I missed something or have the facts mixed up. Thanks

Hello blmxxx, welcome to the thread.

Yeah, there's some slight confusion there. The torn pages weren't from Kristen's diary, they were from Jill Lampo. She was the girlfriend of Jon Onuma, a suspect in Kristen's disappearance. She claimed he tore pages out of her diary from around the time that Kristen vanished, and once threatened that the same thing that happened to Kristen would happen to her. Police investigated Onuma, he passed a polygraph, and they never had any evidence to charge him.

 

[fblee27]

Do people still think Onuma / Lampo / Luque were involved?

I think this is probably a white rabbit that people have been following. Or at the very least, people have neglected to seek other POI and the possibility of a random abduction on the way or at the bus. I was a kid in 97 so I’m not very sure as to what they used to track locations and movements other than witness statements. I know DM keeps saying it had to be someone she knew, what if it wasn’t though. She mostly kept to herself it seems.

 

[austinhazel]

I think this is probably a white rabbit that people have been following. Or at the very least, people have neglected to seek other POI and the possibility of a random abduction on the way or at the bus. I was a kid in 97 so I’m not very sure as to what they used to track locations and movements other than witness statements. I know DM keeps saying it had to be someone she knew, what if it wasn’t though. She mostly kept to herself it seems.

The only other theory that's not JO or the roommates as to who could be involved is the halfway house that was used to house parole violators. KM had a habit of coming home late so it's possible that someone in that house could of gotten her on her way home. DM is going off the FBI statistic that 99% of people who fall victim to foul play know who did it, after all stranger on stranger crime is pretty rare so I don't blame him for going off that but I would assume he is also aware that anything is possible. She could of fallen into the ocean or it could be someone totally random that hasn't shown up on the radar. I have no idea what LE knows when it comes to JO but for him to remain a POI to this very moment they must have something on him that isn't public knowledge for him to remain a POI.

 

[kemo]

The problem with this case is that investigators were confronted with a fork in road: the Jon Onuma phone call. If he is a valid suspect, the Onuma rabbit hole goes in so many intricate directions. If he isn’t a valid lead, they had nothing tangible to follow. It is possible that Onuma is totally uninvolved and the resources diverted in chasing his connection caused them to fail to find the blonde lady. Who knows.

Lampo seems to have been the weak link in Onuma life. I’m inclined to think had he been involved, she would have given it up pretty fast. My guess is that she was offered a deal and she didn’t take it. I really don’t know what to make of things she may have said later.

If Onuma is uninvolved, there is pretty much nothing left to go on. Some cases are never solved.

 

[austinhazel]

The problem with this case is that investigators were confronted with a fork in road: the Jon Onuma phone call. If he is a valid suspect, the Onuma rabbit hole goes in so many intricate directions. If he isn’t a valid lead, they had nothing tangible to follow. It is possible that Onuma is totally uninvolved and the resources diverted in chasing his connection caused them to fail to find the blonde lady. Who knows.

Lampo seems to have been the weak link in Onuma life. I’m inclined to think had he been involved, she would have given it up pretty fast. My guess is that she was offered a deal and she didn’t take it. I really don’t know what to make of things she may have said later.

If Onuma is uninvolved, there is pretty much nothing left to go on. Some cases are never solved.

One of the biggest difficulties LE has been dealt with is connecting KM and JO together as so far, as we publicly know there isn't anything that shows the two ever met or even interacted. LE knows they were both active in personal ads and that's why it has been presumed possible this is how they could have met if they did. JL has been up and down when it comes to her statements in this case, in 2012 she made a confession to a family member on how she helped a controlling man assist in a "unspeakable kidnap and murder". Now of course she didn't name KM or JO but as far as anyone knows this is the only missing persons case they are tied to. Also in 2017 either the local news station in SF or NC did a 20 year update on KM and they actually talked to JL about the case and she said she could see JO being involved in something like this but she also said she couldn't prove it. This is just me guessing but if JO and JL are involved I feel like she hasn't come forward because she still fears him, he put her through hell big time so I really wouldn't be shocked if just even the sight of him and what he has done to her puts her in a state of fear.

 

[ekardh]

I suspect the identity of the blonde woman would be the key to cracking this case wide open.

It's so frustrating that this woman is out there sitting on potentially vital information. That's assuming she hasn't passed away in the past 24 years or has a good reason for keeping a low profile.

 

[VeryVeritas]

I suspect the identity of the blonde woman would be the key to cracking this case wide open.

It's so frustrating that this woman is out there sitting on potentially vital information. That's assuming she hasn't passed away in the past 24 years or has a good reason for keeping a low profile.

1) I agree, IF the blonde "woman" was real and not a red herring / distraction.
2) The blonde "woman" may not have been a woman, it may have been a disguise (which has been suggested many times over the years).
3) If the blonde woman was real and indeed a woman, was she the perp? Or was she working for/with the perp? Was the blonde woman JL?
4) If there was no blonde "woman" then that would point back to the person who told the story as part of a cover up.
5) Its within the realm of possibility that it wasn't Kristin, but I totally discount that. I think the blonde woman was real or the entire story was made up to deflect.

The reason that I think the blonde "woman" story is real, is that this was the only time that Kristin never clocked out.
She left work, under what circumstances we do not know (a lot depends on how much you believe her co-workers, and one of them was connected to JL who was JO's gf)
To me it appears that she either was forced to leave from work involuntarily OR went on a break or to make a bank drop(no one has ever investigated that to my knowledge). And during that break or bank drop she was approached and coerced into leaving with said blonde "woman".
If Kristin left work temporarily and voluntarily, I fully believe she had every intention of returning and would have clocked out like every other day.

Personally, I would like the bank drop scenario ruled out. Back during that time, I managed restaurants in malls similar to the Galleria in another part of CA.
It was a periodic thing during the day and evening to send an employee to discretely make bank drops so that there would not be a lot of cash in the store in the event of a robbery. Typically, the zippered bank bag full of cash was placed in a paper fast food type of sack to make it look like food to avoid drawing attention.
One of my theories had been that insiders knew of these bank drops and there was some kind of plot to intercept one.
Obviously if the insiders were involved in the plot, they would cover in various ways... but they need not be directly involved.
Anyone with a brain would know that bank drops would be made, but would have to watch to figure out when and how it was done.
Back in those days, things were much more cash based so a drop could easily have been several thousands of dollars.
Now in that scenario why not just threaten her, take the bag and leave? Perhaps at that moment she recognized who it was and maybe said their name...
oops... now it's not a random robbery, now you have a witness... and maybe that's why they walked her out of there, never to be seen again.

If that bank drop / robbery theory was ruled out, then the abduction would have had a far more sinister motive.
Either way it's kidnapping and murder, but if the plot was to abduct and murder her from the start, the legal consequences might have been a little different (had anyone ever been caught and convicted). See, even though the co-worker connection to JL and then JO (who called in a different red herring report to LE) is really fishy... if JO wanted to rape Kristin or sell her into slavery, it would not make sense to abduct her at the mall. That group likely could have arranged for less public circumstances. Not that I am ruling out their involvement... it's just that the mall abduction makes more sense as a botched robbery than a targeted abduction. Although if the person were crazy enough, nothing would make sense.

 

[ekardh]

1) I agree, IF the blonde "woman" was real and not a red herring / distraction.
2) The blonde "woman" may not have been a woman, it may have been a disguise (which has been suggested many times over the years).
3) If the blonde woman was real and indeed a woman, was she the perp? Or was she working for/with the perp? Was the blonde woman JL?
4) If there was no blonde "woman" then that would point back to the person who told the story as part of a cover up.
5) Its within the realm of possibility that it wasn't Kristin, but I totally discount that. I think the blonde woman was real or the entire story was made up to deflect.

The reason that I think the blonde "woman" story is real, is that this was the only time that Kristin never clocked out.
She left work, under what circumstances we do not know (a lot depends on how much you believe her co-workers, and one of them was connected to JL who was JO's gf)
To me it appears that she either was forced to leave from work involuntarily OR went on a break or to make a bank drop(no one has ever investigated that to my knowledge). And during that break or bank drop she was approached and coerced into leaving with said blonde "woman".
If Kristin left work temporarily and voluntarily, I fully believe she had every intention of returning and would have clocked out like every other day.

Personally, I would like the bank drop scenario ruled out. Back during that time, I managed restaurants in malls similar to the Galleria in another part of CA.
It was a periodic thing during the day and evening to send an employee to discretely make bank drops so that there would not be a lot of cash in the store in the event of a robbery. Typically, the zippered bank bag full of cash was placed in a paper fast food type of sack to make it look like food to avoid drawing attention.
One of my theories had been that insiders knew of these bank drops and there was some kind of plot to intercept one.
Obviously if the insiders were involved in the plot, they would cover in various ways... but they need not be directly involved.
Anyone with a brain would know that bank drops would be made, but would have to watch to figure out when and how it was done.
Back in those days, things were much more cash based so a drop could easily have been several thousands of dollars.
Now in that scenario why not just threaten her, take the bag and leave? Perhaps at that moment she recognized who it was and maybe said their name...
oops... now it's not a random robbery, now you have a witness... and maybe that's why they walked her out of there, never to be seen again.

If that bank drop / robbery theory was ruled out, then the abduction would have had a far more sinister motive.
Either way it's kidnapping and murder, but if the plot was to abduct and murder her from the start, the legal consequences might have been a little different (had anyone ever been caught and convicted). See, even though the co-worker connection to JL and then JO (who called in a different red herring report to LE) is really fishy... if JO wanted to rape Kristin or sell her into slavery, it would not make sense to abduct her at the mall. That group likely could have arranged for less public circumstances. Not that I am ruling out their involvement... it's just that the mall abduction makes more sense as a botched robbery than a targeted abduction. Although if the person were crazy enough, nothing would make sense.

I never knew the detail about Kristen's co-worker having ties to JL. Interesting.

I'm not sure if the bank drop scenario is a goer either. Wouldn't Spinelli's have been able to verify if Kristen was making the drop that day?

Wasn't Kristen captured alone on surveillance making a withdrawal after the alleged sighting with the blonde woman? Clearly at one point she was separated from her would-be abductors. Also, the witness said that Kristen and the blonde woman looked quite pally together. That doesn't give the impression that she was being held against her will.

I'm sure mallgoers at the time didn't twice about two women hanging out together, but the lack of a corroborated sighting does leave room for doubt.

If Jon Onuma turns out to be a red herring, there is no evidence of foul play. I still have not ruled out an accidental drowning at Lands End. She might have been trying to take a photograph and slipped into the water. People from the area have confirmed it's a treacherous place and people have been swept away before.

 

[Megnut]

How much was that withdrawal? Errhaos it was under duress...

I didn't recall that.

JMO

 

[austinhazel]

I never knew the detail about Kristen's co-worker having ties to JL. Interesting.

I'm not sure if the bank drop scenario is a goer either. Wouldn't Spinelli's have been able to verify if Kristen was making the drop that day?

Wasn't Kristen captured alone on surveillance making a withdrawal after the alleged sighting with the blonde woman? Clearly at one point she was separated from her would-be abductors. Also, the witness said that Kristen and the blonde woman looked quite pally together. That doesn't give the impression that she was being held against her will.

I'm sure mallgoers at the time didn't twice about two women hanging out together, but the lack of a corroborated sighting does leave room for doubt.

If Jon Onuma turns out to be a red herring, there is no evidence of foul play. I still have not ruled out an accidental drowning at Lands End. She might have been trying to take a photograph and slipped into the water. People from the area have confirmed it's a treacherous place and people have been swept away before.

Listening to the podcast that Dennis Mahon has done on the KM case not once has he ever mentioned KM doing any type of money drop nor have I seen this on anything related to the KM case online so I doubt that happened.

Also in one of the interviews done with a PI working on KM's case they mentioned there was never any activity on her bank account the day she disappeared so where was she seen on surveillance making a withdrawal? That may be a mistake by early reports.

I personally am iffy on the Lands end theory but it's possible, it's surprising that nobody would of seen anything if she did fall in then again some people just have luck go against them in the worst moment.

Ask for Kristen's coworker having a tie to JO it's Matthew Luque who was close friends with Kelly Strathman. Matthew did not start working at Spineli's till a month after Kristen vanished. But Kelly did work alongside Kristen. Most of us already know that Matthew use to date Jill Lampo, but then she left Matthew to start dating Jon. So that Kelly to Matthew to Jill to Jon connection has had many people believing that this opens the possibility for Kristen to have crossed paths with Jon.

 

[austinhazel]

1) I agree, IF the blonde "woman" was real and not a red herring / distraction.
2) The blonde "woman" may not have been a woman, it may have been a disguise (which has been suggested many times over the years).
3) If the blonde woman was real and indeed a woman, was she the perp? Or was she working for/with the perp? Was the blonde woman JL?
4) If there was no blonde "woman" then that would point back to the person who told the story as part of a cover up.
5) Its within the realm of possibility that it wasn't Kristin, but I totally discount that. I think the blonde woman was real or the entire story was made up to deflect.

The reason that I think the blonde "woman" story is real, is that this was the only time that Kristin never clocked out.
She left work, under what circumstances we do not know (a lot depends on how much you believe her co-workers, and one of them was connected to JL who was JO's gf)
To me it appears that she either was forced to leave from work involuntarily OR went on a break or to make a bank drop(no one has ever investigated that to my knowledge). And during that break or bank drop she was approached and coerced into leaving with said blonde "woman".
If Kristin left work temporarily and voluntarily, I fully believe she had every intention of returning and would have clocked out like every other day.

Personally, I would like the bank drop scenario ruled out. Back during that time, I managed restaurants in malls similar to the Galleria in another part of CA.
It was a periodic thing during the day and evening to send an employee to discretely make bank drops so that there would not be a lot of cash in the store in the event of a robbery. Typically, the zippered bank bag full of cash was placed in a paper fast food type of sack to make it look like food to avoid drawing attention.
One of my theories had been that insiders knew of these bank drops and there was some kind of plot to intercept one.
Obviously if the insiders were involved in the plot, they would cover in various ways... but they need not be directly involved.
Anyone with a brain would know that bank drops would be made, but would have to watch to figure out when and how it was done.
Back in those days, things were much more cash based so a drop could easily have been several thousands of dollars.
Now in that scenario why not just threaten her, take the bag and leave? Perhaps at that moment she recognized who it was and maybe said their name...
oops... now it's not a random robbery, now you have a witness... and maybe that's why they walked her out of there, never to be seen again.

If that bank drop / robbery theory was ruled out, then the abduction would have had a far more sinister motive.
Either way it's kidnapping and murder, but if the plot was to abduct and murder her from the start, the legal consequences might have been a little different (had anyone ever been caught and convicted). See, even though the co-worker connection to JL and then JO (who called in a different red herring report to LE) is really fishy... if JO wanted to rape Kristin or sell her into slavery, it would not make sense to abduct her at the mall. That group likely could have arranged for less public circumstances. Not that I am ruling out their involvement... it's just that the mall abduction makes more sense as a botched robbery than a targeted abduction. Although if the person were crazy enough, nothing would make sense.

So at the mall where KM worked at her store was on the first floor and and she and this blond woman were seen at the second floor level, the second floor level has been described very easy to see and recognize someone you know even standing on the first floor. So with this I imagine it would be very hard for the coworkers to misidentify seeing Kristen.

As for the blond woman the coworkers said that Kristen and the blond woman were walking side by side, shoulder to shoulder but not engaged in any type of conversation. But makes you wonder if they really did know each other or not because if they did not then why walk so close to each other when you are total strangers? One of the early private investigators on the case believes it was just a coincidence that they were seen together.

As for the blond woman being JL which has been discussed before, I doubt it as the blond woman was described as being Caucasian and Jill is biracial with a tan complexion. So I doubt it is her but of course I could be wrong.

 

[ekardh]

Also in one of the interviews done with a PI working on KM's case they mentioned there was never any activity on her bank account the day she disappeared so where was she seen on surveillance making a withdrawal? That may be a mistake by early reports. .

Here's the link to the video: The Kristen Modafferi Mystery: 20 years later, private investigators shed light on cold case

I'm wondering now if Kristen did make a withdrawal or whether she was just spotted on the ATM camera.

 

[dotr]

Oct 2020

 

[austinhazel]

Here's the link to the video: The Kristen Modafferi Mystery: 20 years later, private investigators shed light on cold case

I'm wondering now if Kristen did make a withdrawal or whether she was just spotted on the ATM camera.

I think maybe she was just spotted on the ATM, I have never once heard the Oakland PD or the private eyes mention her making a withdrawal on the day she vanished. Or maybe they are withholding this?

I wonder how many places they looked at for surveillance as the bus stop she would have to go was only two blocks away from the mall.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

I think the alleged ATM sighting may be a red herring. There's no definitive proof it was KM. And, even if she was seen near/at the ATM & even if she did make a withdrawal, that still doesn't mean much in & of itself.

Typically cameras at ATM's don't have clear footage that will enable you to definitively identify someone anyway.