MURDER
CASE #: 1976-9
Judy Ann Shin Gifford
Status:
Open
Date of Offense:
Date of Offense:
Jurisdiction:
Offense Location:
San Francisco, California
Summary:
Judy Shin Gifford disappeared without a trace during the summer of 1976 from San Francisco, California. A few months later, her body was found on the shore of Lake Merced. She was identified through DNA testing in 2019. Her murder remains unsolved.
Vital Statistics
Circumstances of Offense:
Judy was last seen in San Francisco, California at some point around June 24th 1976. She previously lived with her paternal aunt and uncle in New Jersey. They legally adopted her after her in 1964 after father enlisted in the United States Army and was deployed to Vietnam for training. Her aunt and uncle planned to keep Judy in their care until her father found a wife and settled down. Judy was born in South Korea in 1962, her parents divorced that same year. Judy’s father won custody of her and they moved to Hawaii in 1963. She lived in Hawaii with her father until being given to her paternal aunt. In 1969, Judy’s father remarried and had two more children by 1972. Judy still lived with her aunt and uncle by that point. However, by 1976 Judy had become troublesome. Her grades were slipping and she had gotten into trouble with the law. Afterwards her aunt sent her to California to live with her father and his new family. Judy’s half brother said the last time he heard from her was when she called her aunt and tearfully begged her to take her back. Her aunt said she refused and told her she needed to learn to love her father. After this, her half brother said he was told Judy was flying to Jew Jersey to be with them. Her aunt believed she had run away.
Additional Details:
On October 1st 1976, a man walking his dog near Lake Merced in San Francisco noticed a hand extending from the sand near the shore. Upon further investigation, a shallow grave containing the body of a young woman was found. She was described as an Asian woman between the ages of 15 and 25 years of age. She had been strangled to death and her remains were fully clothed when recovered. Investigators determined she had died within the previous few days but other accounts claim she had been dead for a few weeks. Her identity remained a mystery for over four decades. In 2017, Judy’s half brother reached out to the San Francisco Police Department to report her missing. He also gave a DNA sample that could be used to identify her in the future. It was this DNA sample that led to her identification in November of 2019. No suspects have been identified and her murder remains a mystery.
Case Last Updated:
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