Orange County sheriff's investigators released an updated artist's drawing of a suspected homicide victim in a 1983 cold case to generate new leads in the investigation.
Forensic artist Carl Koppelman developed the image, which shows the unidentified woman with longer hair and a top she may have been wearing at the time of her demise. It also shows the victim's distinct gold tooth.
The case began in April 1983 when children found a human skull in a culvert while frolicking around Canada and Old Trabuco roads in Lake Forest. An excavation helped investigators recover about 70 percent of the woman's remains. Investigators suspect the Black or mixed-race woman was about 18 to 24 years old and was 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-6 and had a slight build. She had a gold crown on her left lateral incisor.Investigators in 2018 explored the possibility that serial killer Samuel Little may have been involved because he targeted Black woman between 1970 and 2005 in multiple states.