Rebecca Burch

Do you know who murdered Rebecca?
In the winter of 1983, a woman named Rebecca Burch was living a quiet life by herself in an apartment in downtown San Diego, California. For weeks, no one had heard from her or seen her, a silence that grew increasingly concerning. Her home was on the 1200 block of Tenth Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in a neighborhood that, like many urban centers in the early 1980s, was a mix of residential buildings, businesses, and a transient population. The area was in transition, sitting near the city's core, a place where countless individuals could pass through unnoticed.

On January 13, 1983, the silence was broken. After not seeing or hearing from his tenant for a considerable time, Rebecca’s landlord went to her apartment at 1244 Tenth Avenue to check on her welfare. Inside, he made a devastating discovery. Rebecca was deceased, and it was immediately apparent that she had not died of natural causes. The landlord contacted the San Diego Police Department, and homicide detectives were dispatched to the scene to begin the painstaking work of uncovering what had happened.

Investigators determined that Rebecca Burch had been strangled to death. An examination of her apartment revealed a scene of disarray. While there were no signs of a forced entry, suggesting Rebecca may have known her killer or been deceived into opening her door, the interior of her home showed clear evidence of a struggle or a thorough ransacking. The motive was unclear, but robbery appeared to be a strong possibility. Detectives learned that at least two specific items were missing from the apartment: a .22 caliber revolver handgun and a Timex watch.

The initial investigation by the San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit involved processing the crime scene for evidence, interviewing neighbors, and trying to piece together the final weeks of Rebecca's life. However, despite their efforts, the trail went cold. No suspects were publicly identified, and no arrests were made. The case, like so many others from that era, was left without a resolution, a painful open wound for anyone who knew and cared for Rebecca.

Decades have passed, but the search for justice for Rebecca Burch has not been abandoned. Her case is now classified as a cold case, overseen by a dedicated unit within the San Diego Police Department that re-examines unsolved homicides. These investigators hope that the passage of time, coupled with advances in forensic technology, may one day shed new light on the evidence collected in 1983. They believe that someone, somewhere, holds a piece of information that could be the key to finally understanding what happened in that Tenth Avenue apartment.

As of today, the murder of Rebecca Burch remains unsolved. The San Diego Police Department continues to ask for the public's help. Investigators urge anyone with any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to come forward. Anonymous tips can be provided to Crime Stoppers. The police have not released a photo of Rebecca, and details about her life—her age, her family, her dreams—remain publicly unknown, but the commitment to solving her murder endures.