LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The remains of a San Diego, California, woman reported missing in 1986 have been positively identified after being found at Lake Mead years ago, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office.
Carol Ann Riley was a nurse who worked at Scripps Clinic in San Diego. At the time of her disappearance in 1986, she was dating a man known to her as Robert Howard Smith. She had a dinner date scheduled with him on the date of her disappearance and told friends that she was planning to break up with him, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).
When interviewed, Smith told police that Riley had canceled the date. Two days later, Smith left town and dropped out of sight. Detectives investigating Smith discovered that his real name was Robert Dean Weeks and had a history of going by false names. They also found out that his ex-wife, Patricia Weeks, disappeared from Clark County on April 25, 1968, a few weeks after their divorce was finalized.
Smith had also dated a real estate agent who disappeared, a woman by the name of Cynthia Jabour. She had a dinner date scheduled with him and intended to end their relationship. She was last seen on Oct. 5, 1980.
Weeks’ business associate, James Shaw, was last seen on May 5, 1971. He disappeared after arguing with Weeks, and his bloodstained vehicle was found abandoned in a Las Vegas parking lot. Their bodies were never found, MCSO said in a post on its social media page on Tuesday.
In April 1987, the investigation involving Weeks aired on the television show Unsolved Mysteries. A warrant had been issued for his arrest due to fraud and embezzlement charges from his business. As a result of viewer response, Weeks was located and arrested in Arizona.
On May 16, 1987, a person rounding up steers around Bonelli Landing at Lake Mead found a human skull on the ground. A further search resulted in the discovery of additional remains buried in a shallow grave and wrapped in a blanket. At the time, the remains were those of a female thought to be between 20 to 40 years old. Attempts to identify her were unsuccessful; however, her dental report was placed into a system, and she was listed as Jane Doe, MCSO said.
In 1988, Weeks was convicted of the murder of his wife, Patricia Weeks, and Cynthia Jabour, despite their bodies never being found. He was never charged with the murder of Riley and Shaw. He was sentenced to life in prison in Nevada and died there on September 20, 1996.
In February, investigators sent portions of the unidentified person’s clothing and the blanket in which she was wrapped to a lab in Arizona in an attempt to obtain DNA, but the efforts were unsuccessful. Investigators then learned that her skeletal remains had been cremated in 2016 and her ashes scattered at an unknown location.
On July 15, investigators were contacted by personnel at the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office after an email received indicated that a forensic odontologist from the Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit, California Department of Justice, had worked on a dental comparison of the Jane Doe victim and Riley, as a result of their comparison, they positively identified Jane Doe as Carol Ann Riley, MCSO said on Tuesday.
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