UC Davis students John Riggins and Sabrina Gonsalves fail to show up at a party
On Dec. 20, 1980, two students from the University of California at Davis, Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins, went missing. It would take more than 30 years to solve the mystery of their disappearance and finally close the case.
A police drawing, later used in evidence at trial, details just where the bodies of Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins were found. Their throats were slashed and their mouths and eyes were covered with duct tape. There were signs that Sabrina had been sexually assaulted. John had been struck on the head with something sharp, suggesting he had fought to protect her.
Police didn't realize it at the time, but inside the van was a critical piece of evidence: a red and blue quilt. It was a birthday present for Sabrina's sister which had been not only unwrapped but also soiled with semen belonging to the probable murderer.
Nearly nine years after the murders, authorities developed a theory that it was a copycat killing masterminded by David Hunt, left, half-brother of a convicted double murderer. Doug Lainer, right, was one of three suspected accomplices.
It was the quilt found in the van at the scene of the crime that saved David Hunt and Doug Lainer. Four sections stained with semen were cut away and tested for DNA, a science that didn't exist at the time of the murders. None of the DNA matched Hunt or Lainer. So they were released from prison, but not until they had served three years waiting for the trial that would never come to pass.
It would take nearly a decade of legal delays before Richard Hirschfield's murder trial began. He's seen here trying to clean up for his appearance in front of a jury. But nothing could obscure the impact of the evidence against him, starting with that DNA match. Scientists called it a "one-in-240-trillion match."
Then there was this bombshell evidence: a suicide note found in Hirschfield's brother's car beside his dead body. Joseph Hirschfield had committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning right after he learned about the DNA match from police.
The defense managed to have some of the note redacted, but the jury did see where Joseph Hirschfield wrote: "I've been living with this horror for 20 years" and "I was there." But, as you can see in this photo, he also wrote the most incriminating words possible: "Richard did commit those murders, but I was there. I didn't kill anyone but my DNA is still there."
Justice for sweethearts Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins
Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins would have been in their 50s today. Instead, they will always be remembered as two young people whose lives were extinguished just when they were on the threshold of achieving their dreams.