Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 06/24/2007
- Missing From:
- Missing From Rancho Santa Margarita, California
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 10/14/1987 (37)
- Age:
- Age 19 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’3, 110 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description Blue jeans, a gray or white tank top, a black hooded jacket with a front zipper, plaid or checkered multicolored canvas Vans shoes, silver hoop earrings, white plastic thumb ring with a picture of the musician Ozzy Osbourne, and a silver-colored chain with a diamond horseshoe. Carrying a blue Jansport backpack.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Jou is of Iranian descent. Her ears are double-pierced. She had a tumor removed from her left breast several years before her disappearance, leaving a scar around the nipple. Her nickname is Mamoush.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Jou, a bright pre-med student, disappeared on June 23, 2007. She’d met a man named John Steven Burgess (also known as Sinjin Stevens) online and met him in person for the first time that day. They left together on his motorcycle for a party. At the party, Jou called a friend, saying Burgess was scaring her.
Later that night, Jou’s mom received strange text messages from Jou’s phone (“Goodnight Momy,” and “battery dead…in San Diego”). The family didn’t believe Jou sent them.
Jou never came home. She was reported missing on June 26th. Burgess was a convicted sex offender who wasn’t registered as required by law. He became a person of interest and fled to Florida, where he was arrested on drug and other charges. He was eventually extradited back to California.
He refused to help with the investigation into Jou’s disappearance. After nearly two years, police charged Burgess with involuntary manslaughter. They said Jou died from an accidental drug overdose at the party, with Burgess supplying the drugs. He confessed to this and said he dumped her body at sea.
Burgess pleaded guilty to manslaughter and concealing the death. He received a five-year sentence but was released early. He later violated parole. Jou’s body has never been found, but the evidence strongly suggests she was murdered.
- Agency:
- Orange County Sheriff’s Department 714-647-7000
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 06/24/2007