Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 11/10/1980
- Missing From:
- Missing From Weaverville, California
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 07/05/1973 (51)
- Age:
- Age 7 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 3’0, 43 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A brown multi-colored smock shirt, brown jeans and brown suede shoes.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Donna has a one-inch scar between the second and third toes on her right foot. She has a healed skull fracture that occured when she was two and a half months old in 1973. Donna’s upper baby teeth were in place in 1980. Her permanent lower teeth had grown in by the time of her disappearance.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Donna disappeared from Weaverville, California on November 10, 1980. She was 12 years old and had told her grandfather she was running away, though he didn’t believe her. The last time anyone saw her was near a museum at 2:30 PM. Her mom reported her missing that night.
Years later, in 2008, a man named Wayne Smith confessed to killing Donna. Smith was a neighbor who had been suspected all along but lacked enough evidence for charges. He was already in prison for life for other murders. To avoid the death penalty for another crime, he admitted to strangling Donna after she visited his house and then dumping her body in a landfill.
Police believe Smith may have killed others, but because he’s already serving a life sentence, they won’t charge him with Donna’s death and won’t try to find her body in the landfill because it’s unlikely to be found after so many years. Donna’s family held a memorial service, and her case is officially closed, even though her remains are still missing.
- Agency:
- Trinity County Sheriff’s Department 530-623-2611
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 11/10/1980