A 15 year old girl's body is found 10 months after she vanished from a bus stop On January 1, 1971, the body of 15-year-old Cosette Ellison was found in a ravine at the foothills of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, California. She had been missing since late 1970, and her remains were discovered nude and partially buried. The case remains unsolved, though investigators suspect that Cosette may have been a victim of Philip Joseph Hughes, a convicted serial killer linked to other murders in the area during the same period.
Investigations into her death revealed disturbing similarities between Cosette's case and other unsolved murders in Contra Costa County around the time, particularly the cases of Maureen Field and Lisa Ann Beery. The location where Cosette's body was found also closely matched the dumping grounds of other victims. Despite these leads, the case remains unresolved, and there has been speculation linking her death to the Zodiac Killer, though no definitive connection has been proven.
