Karen Ann Fischer was a 21-year-old University of Colorado student from Rhode Island visiting Humboldt County over Christmas break when she disappeared after a day at the coast. On January 14, 1976, she took a bus from Blue Lake to Humboldt State and hitchhiked to Clam Beach. She was last positively seen about 10:30 a.m.; her boyfriend reported her missing the following day.

On January 18 hikers found her fully clothed body at the base of the concrete cross on Trinidad Head. Her pants had been pulled down, and investigators determined she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. A man was reported to have given her a ride to Clam Beach, and witnesses later placed a male seen with her on Trinidad Head around 12:25 p.m. that day — described as about 6 feet tall, medium build, blonde or light brown hair, wearing light-colored or tan clothing. Several vehicles seen at the site, including a bright yellow 1942–1945 Army surplus Jeep, a copper or bronze station wagon, and a red sedan possibly a Toyota, were sought for identification.

No arrests were ever made and the investigation eventually stalled. The killing resembled the October 1975 rape and strangling of 19-year-old Janet Lee Bowman, raising concern about a possible serial attacker. Does anyone who was in the Trinidad Head or Clam Beach area that January remember seeing the described man or any of the vehicles that day?