Diana Munyon: a victim of the Green River Killer?

       

Diana Munyon (Source: State of California Department of Justice)

Diana Munyon was a teenager living in Fulton, Mississippi until she took off on an unspecified date of 1981. On May 1 of 1982, the 16-year-old made a call to her family saying that she was in Fontana, California. This was the last time that her family heard of her. The Charley Project mentions that she could have travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada, but it’s not clear whether her trip, if she indeed made it, took place before or after the call.

At some point, her case was transferred to the King County Sheriff’s Office in Washington State because of some similarities to one of the three unidentified victims of the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway. Jane Doe B-10 had been picked up by Ridgway in spring or summer of 1983 while hitchhiking at the Pacific Highway South in Washington. Her body wasn’t found until March 21 of 1984.

According to the estimations of the forensic examiner, Jane Doe was a white woman of about 15 years of age, who stood between 5’2 and 5 feet 7 inches. It’s also believed that she had been a prostitute or a runaway. Being a white female and standing at 5’4, Diana fit the description pretty well. However, it shouldn’t be assumed that this was enough of a reason to send her case to Washington, as thousands of missing women posses similar characteristics. It’s highly likely that there were other convincing reasons that led law enforcement to believe that Jane Doe and Diana were the same person.

Despite the links between the two, both women have been listed on NamUs as unidentified and missing for far longer than it takes to complete the DNA tests. Therefore, I assume that they’re two different persons or, if there’s been a match, LE is withholding the information for some reason. Nonetheless, it should be noted that Diana isn’t in this Jane Doe’s list of rule-outs.

In the best-case scenario, Diana is still out there living under another name and completely unaware that she’s being investigated as a potential identity of an unidentified victim of a serial killer.


If you have information about this case, please contact the Kings County Sheriff’s Office at 206-296-3311. 


Sources:

Good, Meaghan. 2004. “Diana Ladene Munyon.” The Charley Project. http://charleyproject.org/case/diana-ladene-munyon.

King County Sheriff’s Office. 2018. “The Green River Homicides Investigation.” King County Sheriff’s Office. Accessed March 1. https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/sheriff/about-us/enforcement/investigations/green-river.aspx.

Mulick, Stacey. 2003. “Ridgway’s Victims.” The News Tribune, November 6. http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25855165.html.

NamUs. 2012. “NamUs UP # 9927: Case Information.” NamUs. https://identifyus.org/cases/9927.

NamUs. 2012. “NamUs MP # 14231: Circumstances.” NamUs. https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/14231/0/.
 
The Doe Network. 2012. “3287DFCA - Diana Ladene Munyon.” The Doe Network. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3287dfca.html.