Carol Ann Riley was a 42-year-old woman and nurse from San Diego, California, who was last seen on April 5, 1986, after attending a clinic conference at her workplace, Scripps Clinic. She was reportedly seen by coworkers after the conference and later spoke with her boss by phone at about 5:30 p.m., which became the last confirmed contact anyone had with her.
She was expected to have dinner that evening with a man she knew as Robert Howard Smith, a boyfriend she had reportedly told friends she planned to end the relationship with. After that day, Carol disappeared, leaving behind unanswered questions that would stretch across nearly four decades.
In the days after Carol vanished, her car was found abandoned in a hotel parking lot in San Diego, adding to the concern that her disappearance was not voluntary. Investigators learned that the man she knew as Robert Howard Smith was actually Robert Dean Weeks, who had used false names and would later become tied to multiple violent and suspicious disappearances. According to reports, Weeks told police that Carol had canceled their date, but he left town shortly afterward and dropped from view. Detectives continued to examine him as a central figure in Carol’s disappearance, particularly as they uncovered his connections to other women and associates who had vanished under troubling circumstances.
The case became part of a larger and disturbing pattern surrounding Weeks. He was later convicted in Nevada in the murders of Patricia Weeks, his former wife, and Cynthia Jabour, though their bodies were not recovered. Reports also connected him to the disappearance of James Anthony Shaw, a former business associate. Carol’s name remained among those associated with Weeks, but he was never charged in connection with her death. He was sentenced to life in prison and died in Nevada in 1996, leaving Carol’s family and investigators without a courtroom resolution specific to her case.
For many years, Carol’s fate remained unknown, while another mystery had been unfolding miles away near Lake Mead. In 1987, human remains were found near Bonelli Landing in Mohave County, Arizona, including remains discovered in a shallow grave wrapped in a yellow blanket. Authorities could not identify the person at the time, and the case remained unresolved for decades. Later efforts to revisit the unidentified remains included forensic work and comparisons with missing-person records, and investigators eventually turned to dental evidence after other avenues failed or were unavailable.
Authorities have reported that Carol Ann Riley has been found deceased. In 2025, investigators confirmed that the unidentified Lake Mead remains belonged to Carol, resolving the identity of the woman found in Mohave County and closing the long uncertainty over what had happened to the missing San Diego nurse. Her case is now regarded as a homicide, though the exact circumstances of her death remain limited in public reporting. From the last phone call in San Diego, to the abandoned car, to the long-unidentified remains near Lake Mead, Carol’s case stands as a painful story of a woman whose life ended violently and whose name was restored only after decades of persistence by investigators.Last Seen: Apr 5, 1986
