Carol Lee Booth was 26 when she was last seen on March 15, 1976, in South San Francisco. She had been walking from a bus stop on El Camino Real toward her home, cutting through an area near Kaiser Hospital and Mission Road. A search followed, and on May 4, 1976 her body was discovered in a shallow grave in brush near Colma Creek, close to where she had been seen.

Booth’s killing was described as particularly brutal and was later linked by investigators to a string of five murders in San Mateo County between January and April 1976, often called the Gypsy Hill Murders. Those cases involved young women who were sexually assaulted and murdered and remained unsolved for decades. In 2014 DNA testing tied some of the murders, including Booth’s, to Rodney Halbower, who was already incarcerated for other crimes; however, authorities said there was not enough evidence at that time to formally charge him in Booth’s death. The FBI and local agencies continue to investigate these cold cases.

If anyone knew Carol, saw her on March 15, 1976, or has information about the area she was walking through, please come forward.