Melinda “Pip” Beardsley, a 30-year-old mother originally from Michigan, was last seen on December 16, 1976, in Reno, Nevada. On that day, she was arrested for driving under the influence, which is the last confirmed record of her whereabouts. At the time, she was living in the Carson City area and had previously resided in California. Melinda was described as being close to her family, but all communication with them ceased in the mid-1970s.
For reasons that are not publicly known, she was not officially reported as a missing person until 2025.
A year after her last known sighting, on December 17, 1977, the body of an unidentified woman was discovered in a snowbank near the Highway 20-Interstate 80 interchange in Emigrant Gap, California. An autopsy revealed that the woman had been strangled to death and had also suffered head trauma. There was no evidence of sexual assault. A witness reported seeing two men in a Toyota Celica appearing to dump the body. Despite extensive efforts, including the distribution of fingerprints to law enforcement agencies across the United States and Canada, the victim remained unidentified for decades and came to be known as the 'Emigrant Gap Jane Doe.' Her remains were buried in 1978 and exhumed in 2011 in the hopes that advancements in forensic technology could provide new leads.
Decades later, a breakthrough in the case came through the collaborative efforts of several organizations. In June 2025, Melinda Beardsley's family contacted The Doe Network, an organization that assists in missing persons cases. This led to a partnership with Moxxy Forensic Investigations, a nonprofit specializing in genetic genealogy. Researchers at Moxxy found a potential link between Melinda's case and the Emigrant Gap Jane Doe. Working with the Reno Police Department, Melinda was formally listed as a missing person, which allowed for DNA comparison. In February 2026, DNA testing confirmed that the Emigrant Gap Jane Doe was indeed Melinda Beardsley. The identification brought long-awaited, though painful, answers to her family. The Placer County Sheriff's Office is now actively investigating her death as a homicide.Last Seen: Dec 16, 1976
