On August 4, 1983, the body of Lora Stewart, a 44-year-old white female, was discovered in Battle Creek near Cottonwood, California. Employed as a waitress at Jerry's Restaurant on Cypress Avenue in Redding, Stewart was found nude and had been strangled to death. The circumstances surrounding her death bore similarities to other unsolved homicides in the area during that period.
At the time, authorities considered Robert Maury, a man later convicted of multiple murders in Northern California, as a potential suspect in Stewart's case. Maury's known victims included Averill D. Weeden, Belinda Jo Stark, and Dawn M. Berryhill, all of whom were found in remote areas and had been strangled. Despite the parallels between these cases and Stewart's murder, Maury was never charged in connection with her death. The lack of definitive evidence linking him to the crime left the case unresolved.
Over the years, investigators have continued to examine Stewart's case, exploring possible connections to other unsolved homicides in the region. However, without new evidence or leads, the murder of Lora Stewart remains an open case. The Redding Police Department continues to seek information from the public that could shed light on this decades-old mystery.
