Cold Case Task Force shares how it identified victim of serial killers 40 years later

KCRA, CALAVERAS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, FAMILY HANDOUT, CNN

By Anahita Jafary

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    CALAVERAS COUNTY, California (KCRA) — One man’s remains were left unidentified for decades until the Calaveras County Cold Case Task Force put a name to it.

The task force is bringing closure to loved ones, one cold case at a time.

Reginald Frisby’s body was found back in 1985 in Wilseyville.

“To date, this is the oldest unidentified human remains that we’ve been able to identify,” said LT. Greg Stark of the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office.

Frisby was among other likely victims of the Wilseyville serial killers Charles Ng and Leonard Lake, but had not been identified until now—more than 40 years later.

This is all thanks to the Calaveras County Cold Case Task Force.

“Every family that has a missing person out there that haven’t got the name or what happened to their loved one, matters,” Stark said.

In 2022, the task force was able to send in part of Frisby’s remains to the California Department of Justice for DNA analysis. The DOJ obtained a DNA profile but not a match.

In 2024, the task force tried again, this time sending the remains to a private laboratory in Utah, which led to investigators finding Frisby’s mother.

“She [Frisby’s mother] had not had contact with her son, for over 40 years,” said Tim Sturm, who leads the task force.

Thinking her son left, he was never reported missing.

“She was able to at least know that her son did not voluntarily abandon his family 40 years ago and that instead he had become a victim,” Sturm said.

After lots of DNA testing, Frisby was identified.

Without advanced technology in collaboration with the Cold Case Task Force, this would not have been possible.

Sturm said using the technology for DNA testing is very expensive and as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it relies on donations.

“This case is the one that told us we are moving in the right direction to be able to locate someone who was not reported as missing and whose family has wondered for over 40 years,” Sturm said.

A crypt that was previously filled with other human remains in connection with the killings held some remains still unidentified to this day.

The task force has spent more than $200,000 in donations to re-exam remains from different cases.

An annual fundraiser is held every November to raise money for the nonprofit and bring more answers to families like Reggie Frisby’s.

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