Kim Jamer says Claire Hough loved 1980s rock music and had a closet full of posters and magazine clippings of Kiss, Van Halen, Journey, and Ozzy Osbourne. On the night of August 23, 1984, Hough went for a walk on Torrey Pines State Beach. When the unanimous judgment came down, it meant the detective was wrong and it was total vindication for Kevin, Rebecca tells PEOPLE. Married Penelope in 1967; children Matt, Claire. 2022-02-06 - BY JOHN WILKENS Claire Hough was nearing her 15th birthday when she traveled from Rhode Island to San Diego to visit her grandparents. He jumped from the 13th floor of an apartment building, and for anyone who still believed he had killed Claire Hough, the chance to bring him to justice was lost. Jan 24, 2023. For an investigator, that is a big moment. Highest salary at Louisiana Delta Community College in year 2022 was $224,856. In the 1980s, they were not testing and amplifying DNA like we do today. Menu. But the DNA results became more complicated than that, and more tragic. According to police reports, he had drowned during a boating accident in a river. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. The case against law enforcement exposed a number of unflattering things and painted a picture of investigators with tunnel vision. Claire Hough, who was found murdered on Torrey Pines Beach in 1984. The original autopsy, according to records, found no semen in the vaginal swab taken from the victim and no signs of rape. Jim Alt was rushed to the hospital where he had emergency surgery. 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. End Date . He was in a coma for days and barely survived. Somebody could just walk right up and by you without you even knowing they were there, Kim said. His body was found on August 25th, 2011, but investigators believed he had been in the water for a day when he was found. Fargo, ND, USA / The Mighty 790 KFGO | KFGO, I was in the habit of shining my flashlight over the beach to see if cans or anything else was in range of the light., It appeared someone was sleeping so I quickly turned my light off and moved toward her. [] I was sure from the color of her flesh that she was dead.. I had not taken many steps when I realized I had seen her exposed left hip and back, and people, with rare exceptions, do not sleep on the beach that way. Claire's parents, Penny and Sam Hough, say their daughter had an innate sense of justice and she was known as the class mediator. 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 San Diego Police department assumed a forensic investigator with no criminal record had conspired with a known rapist to assault and murder Claire Hough on the beach in 1984. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Brown suffered from depression. We have set your language to To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Title At Company . You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. . And as my later time in San Diego as a Navy recruit would teach me, those clear nights happened all the time. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Facebook gives people the power to. Oops, something didn't work. The clerk also stated she went towards the beach, which was the last time she was seen alive. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. In August 1984, she and her best friend, Kimberly Jamer, both 14, visited San Diego in the last few days of the summer vacation. She had been strangled, sexually assaulted, and mutilated. Just last week I gave away a text book on blood spatter analysis, so hit that button and follow me right now so you dont miss out. Detectives identified Brown, 62, as a suspect in the murder of Claire Hough, 14. Feature Image by Wendy Wei via Pexels.com. Very early on in the discussion, they presented a false premise, a ruse intended to show that Kevin Brown knew Ronald Tatro and that they may have murdered Claire Hough together. He suffered from an inability to control his violent urges and had even admitted himself to a psychiatric clinic once. Claire's body was found in the early morning hours at Torrey Pines State Beach. Claire spent a lot of time on the beach at Torrey Pines. a felon named Ronald Tatro. Others would say he was driven to it by the scrutiny from law enforcement. Now she have actually lived in Rhode Island with her family, but in the summer of nineteen. Later, it would become clear that Kevin Brown was mixing up his people. For more than 30 years, police sought the killer of 14-year-old Claire Hough, whose mutilated body was found by a homeless man in 1984 on . Menu. He just. Crimson Stain: The Shocking True Story of the Only Amish Man Ever Convicted of Homicide, by Jim Fisher, The GE Mound Case: The Archaeological Disaster and Criminal Persecution of Artifact Collector Art Gerber, "[A] powerful work . You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. She went to her bedroom Thursday night, August 23rd, and her grandparents assumed she had gone to bed. (Courtesy of the Hough. Transcript, recorded interview with Kevin Brown, January 9th, 2014. On the rural plains, it might be a bonfire pit in a shelter belt of trees. Feb. 6, 2022 5 AM PT Claire Hough was nearing her 15 th birthday when she traveled from Rhode Island to San Diego to visit her grandparents. thirteen year old girl named Claire Huff is in southern California, visiting her grandparents. All links, videos and images are provided by 3rd parties. It could have been the fear that a serial killer with a standard modus operandi was stalking San Diegos beach community maybe the San Diego Police were still self-conscious that they hadnt solved Barbara Nantais murder six years earlier, a killing that happened in a similar fashion and just a short distance away there were critics who said they had bungled the investigation whatever the reason, investigators went to work with diligence. According to a story by James Vlahos published in The Atlantic in 2015, Tatro spoke with a psychiatrist prior to his trial and said he had no control of his violent urges toward women, a problem he said went back to his childhood. Who Killed 14-Year-Old Claire Hough, Whose Mutilated Body Was Found on Calif. Beach in 1984? SVP of Engineering: 2012: 2013: 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. Iredale represents Rebecca Brown, the widow of retired SDPD criminalist Kevin Brown who killed himself while under investigation by his former employer for the 1984 cold-case murder of 14-year-old Claire Hough after trace amounts of his sperm showed up on a retested vaginal swab in 2012. 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. Fall Guys: False Confessions and the Politics of Murder (Southern Illinois, 1998), The Ghosts of Hopewell: Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Case (Southern Illinois, 1999 ), Crimson Stain: The Shocking True Story of the Only Amish Man Ever Convicted of Homicide (Berkley True Crime, 2000), Ten Percent of Nothing: The Case of the Literary Agent from Hell (Southern Illinois, 2004), Bookslut Interview with JF on Ten Percent Book, The Writer's Quotebook: 500 Authors on Creativity, Craft, and the Writing Life (Rutgers, 2006), Forensics under Fire: Are Bad Science and Dueling Experts Corrupting Criminal Justice? Ronald Tatro never said he knew Kevin Brown. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Join Facebook to connect with Thomas Hough and others you may know. The investigators told Kevin Brown that, in 1984, the San Diego PD was working a surveillance operation in a district known for prostitution. In early August 1984, 14-year-old Claire Hough and her best friend Kim Jamer left their homes in Rhode Island for a two-week vacation in San Diego, California. Early the next morning, a man found her strangled and mutilated body on the beach. They didnt find anything. The weekend of August 12, 1978, was a prime example. She was alone, so there are no witnesses to say what happened to her on the beach that night, who she might have run into. Rebecca describes Kevin as gentle, soft spoken, nervous, shy, and one of the "good guys.". Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Mayor Bass seeks $250-million expansion of homelessness program in first State of the City speech, Column: Trump and the NRA might be right about guns and we mostly have ourselves to blame, Federal court slows a California ban on natural gas appliances, The actor, the hairstylist and the eye surgeon: Drugs and death in a Malibu beach house, Have guests in town? Barbara Nantais and Jim Alt had been introduced by Barbara's sister, Sue. June 7, 2018 / 2:05 PM According to a 2015 story in the San Diego Reader, just 6 months before Claire Hough was murdered, Tatro was a suspect in the murder of prostitute Carol Defleice on El Cajon Boulevard. Lisa R Hough is a resident of Jamestown. He was briefly investigated, but ruled out as a suspect because his injuries had been so severe and life threatening. Claires parents told investigators they found him suspicious and the authorities agreed. Check resumes and CV, news, social media profiles, places of employment, publications, public records, photos and videos, skilled experts and arrest records . A system error has occurred. Jim Alt was so severely beaten he could not be considered a suspect in Barbaras murder. View the profiles of people named Thomas Hough. A story from the San Diego Union Tribune said the jury found the affidavits to secure search warrants relied on judicial deception in minimizing the likelihood of contamination, with one juror saying, We thought (the affidavit) wasnt a fair and balanced approach to the situation.. So I thought, this guy might just be an acquaintance that you met somewhere. United States District Court, Southern District of California. Please try again later. Carbon Health is a tech-enabled healthcare company that delivers virtual care experiences. Claire learned to love the ocean early on. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. Claire Hough's attack had been similar in many ways to the attack on Barbara Nantais. When he regained consciousness, he had no memory of what had happened. However, the Tennessee Wildlife and Resources Agency took photos of the boat when it was found, and it didnt look like Tatro had fallen overboard. It was impossible that Ronald Tatro had killed Barbara Nantais, and very, very unlikely that Kevin Brown had. She got scared, had a bad feeling, and began to cry, and Claire agreed to go home. SAN DIEGO The widow of a former San Diego police crime lab employee questioned in a cold case murder on Tuesday said she feels vindicated. He managed to crawl, stagger his way back to the parking lot where his friends had parked their car, and knocked on the window. He could barely stand and he did not know where Barbara was. Brown, 62, was suspected in the murder of Claire Hough, who was strangled and found dead at Torrey Pines State Beach in 1984. For more than 30 years, police sought the killer of 14-year-old Claire Hough . Lookup the home address, phone numbers, email address for this person. She refused. This case stems from the 1984 murder of 14 year old Claire Hough. His reputation was smeared with salacious rumors about strippers and risque photo shoots which led to accusations that he had done the most unforgivable thing rape and murder a young girl. You can be for law enforcement, and also for civil liberties. Ill talk to you again in two weeks. View the map. About nine months later, in July of 2015, Rebecca Brown filed suit against the city of San Diego, Detective Lambert, and the District Attorney Investigator Sandra Oplinger, for the wrongful death of her husband. His old friend Mike Newquist would later say Kevin did meet a girl named Claire in the 80s in San Diego, but it was not Claire Hough. Nobody had seen them before. Her breast had been mutilated and her mouth was packed with sand, just like Barbara Nantais. We get our answer from an AP story published in the Palm Springs Desert Sun just three days after Kevin Browns body was found. It was a question investigators were forced to confront because Kevin Brown worked in the same lab where Claire Houghs evidence had been processed. She didnt believe him at first, but later went to the authorities with what hed said. Law enforcement officials refused to rule so many instances as co-incidence and decided to question Kevin. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. Both girls had been sexually assaulted, beaten, strangled and had their breasts mutilated. Eighty four Claire her brother and her friend Kim We went to Claires Grandparents House who lived just blocks from Torrey Pines. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. Friends who got into arguments would often ask her to adjudicate. They asked him if he had sex with or killed Claire Hough and he said, No.. He presented Kevin Brown a photo of Ronald Tatro and claimed the police officer made a note on the back of the FI card. You can always change this later in your Account settings. Claire Hough was born on September 30, 1969 in Rhode Island, USA. 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. 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. Choice. Kevin Brown had been married for over 20 years to Rebecca Brown when police came knocking. If you think back on the history of DNA, the first time most of us saw the technology used in a criminal case was as evidence against OJ Simpson in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He was paroled in 1982 and decided he needed a change of scenery. My voice was heard and his voice was heard. They had no idea that Barbara and Jim had gone to the beach to camp. 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. That investigation, however, also went nowhere. Learn more about merges. Claires autopsy revealed she had been strangled, sand stuffed in her mouth. Jim Alt, 17, was very popular at his high school in Long Beach, California. Attorneys for the Browns questioned the accuracy, some would say the honesty, of the affidavits Detective Lambert filed to secure search warrants. 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