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in: California, 1984, Disappearances,
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Jesslyn Rich

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Jesslyn rich1

Jesslyn Rich

Real Name: Jesslyn Ann Rich
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Orange, California
Date: November 11, 1984

Betty thompson

Bio[]

Occupation: Prison Guard
Date of Birth: August 15, 1949
Height: 5'2" - 5'3"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Marital Status: Divorced
Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. She was wearing a lavender, short-sleeved sweater and burgundy pants, and possibly carrying a purse.

Case[]

Details: Frontera Prison, located forty-five miles south of Los Angeles, California, is one of the largest women’s penitentiaries in the United States. Its maximum-security wing houses some of California’s most dangerous female offenders. Yet it is the alleged criminal activities of some guards and administrators that has shoved Frontera into the public spotlight. During the early 1990s, former prison employees made sensational allegations of widespread drug trafficking at the prison. They tied these charges of corruption to a pair of seemingly isolated incidents – the disappearance and subsequent murder of a Frontera guard, Jesslyn Rich, in 1984, and the controversial death of a twenty-five-year-old inmate named Terry Lucas three years later.
Terry was a former housekeeper who was in prison on a parole violation. In Fall 1987, she was sent to Frontera's infirmary to be treated for a breast tumor. In November, she was found dead in the infirmary, where she was recovering from a breast cancer biopsy. To some, the incident appeared highly questionable. According to former Frontera guard Betty J. Thompson, an officer from another wing of the prison had approached Terry shortly before she died. The unauthorized visit apparently terrified Terry. According to Thompson, Terry normally came off as “tough, mean, and mouthy”, but when Terry saw the officer walking down the hall, her whole demeanor changed. She was “absolutely devastated” by his presence.
Thompson claims that the officer was determined to unlock Terry’s cell. He retreated only when Thompson threatened to report him. She said that, normally, officers back other officers; they do not back inmates. But in this particular instance, she, almost automatically, stood in front of the door and refused to let him in.
After the officer left, Thompson opened the cell and went in to talk with Terry. Terry said that the officer scared her; she said that he did that in order to keep her quiet. She then said that she knew who was involved in Jesslyn’s disappearance. She claimed to have information and evidence to back it up. Thompson was stunned by Terry’s revelation that she knew Jesslyn’s fate.
Jesslyn was a thirty-five-year-old divorced mother of two who lived in Riverside, California. She had worked as a prison guard at Frontera for two years and was hoping to be promoted to sergeant. She was well-liked by her coworkers and the inmates. While working there, she had maintained a straight-A average in criminology classes at night school. At the time of her disappearance, she had reportedly grown concerned about drug dealing inside Frontera. She was last seen on November 11, 1984, at Charlie's Wild West Saloon, a country Western bar in Orange, California, where she and a friend, Marilyn Ault, were joined by two male acquaintances.
According to Marilyn, at one point during the evening, Jesslyn suddenly sat still and looked past her to the front door. She looked at Jesslyn and noticed that her eyes looked wide and fearful. Despite this, Marilyn did not turn around and look at who was at the door. Within a few moments, Jesslyn came back into the conversation as normal. A few minutes later, at around 8:30pm, she left the table, saying that she had to go to the bathroom. Marilyn watched as Jesslyn turned the corner to go down the hallway towards the bathroom. She also noticed a man following Jesslyn towards the bathroom.
Marilyn never saw Jesslyn again. She literally vanished without a trace, leaving her newly purchased 1984 Nissan sportscar in the bar's parking lot. Her family and friends launched an all-out search. To them, it seemed harshly out of character for her to abandon her children and scrap her career aspirations. But investigators said they had no evidence to support the family’s belief that she had been kidnapped and possibly murdered.
According to Jesslyn’s brother, Gary Munz, investigators made light of the situation, calling them “distraught relatives” and suggesting that she may have just run off on a “fling” with someone. He thought that it was absurd that they would suggest that, since she had nearly a perfect work record (being late only once) and a 4.0 grade point average in night school. She was apparently making more money than before and was getting her house paid off.
Gary also noted that Jesslyn did not make any bank withdrawals prior to her disappearance, nor did she take any extra clothes or valuables when she vanished. Following it, she did not use her credit cards or bank book. Finally, she did not contact her children or other family members, which was uncharacteristic of her. Gary felt that police did not question witnesses thoroughly or follow up on leads pertaining to the case.
Gary tore apart Jesslyn’s house, searching for clues that police might have overlooked. When he sifted through her trash, he found evidence that her knowledge of illegal activities at the prison had put her life in danger. He found several pieces of paper that had been torn up into many small pieces. He picked up a few pieces and could tell that it was written in her handwriting. They appeared to be notes or letters to a friend and coworker of hers. He took them home and pieced them together.
The letter had been written to another guard at Frontera. Scrawled on the margin of the last page was Jesslyn’s haunting recital of an apparent threat she had received from another coworker, that anyone interfering with his drug activities would be “taken care of.” At the time, the letter was the only concrete evidence indicating that Jesslyn had met with foul play.
Three years later, the case had faded from public view. Then, in 1987, the mystery was suddenly thrust back onto center stage, when Terry told Thompson she knew what happened to Jesslyn. The morning after extraordinary conversation with Terry, Thompson returned to the prison infirmary. When she walked over to touch Terry, she noticed that she was dead. She went to the nurse’s station and told them about Terry. She also told them about the “coldness” of the room, that Terry was not covered, her eyes were open, and her breakfast tray had not been touched. The nurses told Thompson that they would take care of it.
Incredibly, Thompson claims that Terry’s body remained in the cell for a full three days before the county coroner’s office was called on November 24. Former officer Barbara Leon seemed to confirm Thompson's story. She claimed that on the night before Terry was removed, she checked her cell three times and noticed that she was in the same position each time. She also never covered herself with a blanket, even though it was cold that night.
According to Thompson, an official from the coroner’s office was initially mystified by what he found. She claims there were blades of grass in Terry’s hair, and multiple bruises on her face, ears, neck, and lower arms. Her right arm appeared to be broken. The official told Thompson that he believed that Terry had been murdered. He told her that he saw evidence that Terry had been suffocated with the pillow that was found underneath her broken arm.
Thompson says that after the official met with high-level prison administrators in Terry’s cell, he had a sudden change of heart. He told Thompson that they were not going to classify it as a murder and that they were not going to say that she was laying there dead for three days. He said that they were going to say that she was actually laying there only two hours, and that the cause of death was actually complications due to diabetes. The autopsy report later listed this as the cause of death; however, it did note that there was "visible evidence of trauma" on her body.
Thompson says that she refused to go along with the apparent cover-up. She maintains that one of her superiors demanded that she change her report on Terry’s death. According to her, she was subjected to threats and intimidation for six grueling hours. One high administrator said to her that “the same thing that happened to Jesslyn Rich could easily happen to [you].” At that point, she broke down and cried. She realized that she had not mentioned Terry’s confession about knowing Jesslyn’s fate. For the administrator to bring up Jesslyn, it made Thompson realize that Terry died because she knew too much about Jesslyn's disappearance.
Thompson says she finally gave in and signed a false report that was typed for her. But she added on the bottom of it that she had signed it under duress, and that the information in it was untrue. She was later told that the report was ripped up, another one was retyped with the same things from the first one, and her signature was forged on it. An inmate clerk confirmed this, claiming that she had to retype Thompson's report four times; she also witnessed one of the other officers forging Thompson's signature.
Thompson claims there were further attempts at intimidation. They began on her next shift, with an anonymous phone call. The caller said, “Thompson, if you don’t learn how to do things in the proper manner, you’ll end up dead alongside some muddy ditch.” The following day, Thompson had an unnerving encounter with one of her superiors. The superior asked if she had been receiving any threatening phone calls, giving an example of “you might be found dead in a ditch one night.” Thompson became extremely frightened, because she knew that her superior was involved in threatening her.
Thompson says the menacing calls and harassment continued for seven months. During that time, someone also began following her home from work. Finally, in June 1988, the threats turned to violence. Someone shot at her as she got out of her car and walked towards her house. She immediately called the police, who arrived there moments later. As she was filing a police report, she received a phone call from a man who said, “next time, we won’t miss.” The police officer saw how upset she was by the call and included it in his report.
In 1990, the brewing scandal at Frontera was the subject of a series of front-page special reports in the Orange County Register. The articles supported insider accounts of drug dealing and corruption. That same year, Thompson and five other guards testified before state Senate hearings on the alleged offenses at Frontera prison. Prison officials declined to be interviewed for the broadcast. However, Tip Kendall, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections, told an Unsolved Mysteries researcher, "I'm not saying the things people are alleging didn’t happen. There’s just no evidence to support them.”
Suspects: The Frontera prison guards who were allegedly involved in illegal activities are suspected in Jesslyn's disappearance and Terry's death. Two employees named as being involved were Lt. Karmen Juarez and Hal Tanner.
In October 1987, thirty-three-year-old prison guard Harold Delon Anderson was fired for forcing inmates through threats and intimidation to perform sexual acts on him. However, he was never criminally charged, despite the "overwhelming" evidence against him. Several other guards witnessed these acts; one of the guards who reported him later received harassing phone calls and intimidating anonymous notes. The guard was also held in an office and harassed by officers (similar to what happened to Thompson).
Guard Christine Lopez witnessed what appeared to be a drug deal between two inmates. When she questioned one of them, Lt. Juarez appeared and said that the inmate was "with her." Lopez later discovered that drugs were being brought to inmates on a food cart. She and other guards stopped this by searching carts thoroughly. Soon after, she became the victim of harassment: holes were punched in her radiator, the radiator hose was cut, and she received several hang-up phone calls at home. In February 1990, she quit and later sought treatment for PTSD and suicidal thoughts.
Inmate Clerk Ronni Baer reported overhearing a "very loud" argument between Tanner and Thompson the day that Terry's body was removed. Thompson claimed that Tanner, Juarez, and others intimidated and threatened her for several hours before she changed her report regarding Terry's death. Baer said that she was ordered by Juarez to type and retype the report four times. She also witnessed Juarez forging Thompson's signature.
A former inmate, Wanda Washington, alleged that she was beaten by guards and prisoners in 1988 after she reported an elaborate smuggling operation at the prison. It is not known which guards were involved in this attack or the smuggling operation.
In December 1990, Juarez was arrested and charged with attempting to dissuade a witness and preparing false documents. She pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of destroying evidence and was sentenced to two years' probation. Neither she nor any other guards have been charged in Jesslyn's or Terry's cases.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the November 4, 1992 episode.
  • Prison officials and law enforcement declined to participate in the broadcast.
  • Some sources state that Jesslyn had blond hair and hazel eyes.
  • Accounts differ as to when Jesslyn was last seen. A waitress reported that Jesslyn left the bar through the front door, carrying her purse, at around 9:30pm. However, Marilyn claimed that Jesslyn left to go to the bathroom at around 8:30pm, leaving her purse behind. Her purse later disappeared. According to Gary, several witnesses reported seeing her go out the back door.
  • For reasons unknown, updates about Jesslyn's remains being discovered and the potential identity of her killer were not included in the FilmRise release of this episode.
David ribis

David Ribis

Results: Unresolved. In June 1992, after the story was filmed, police informed Jesslyn’s family that she had, in fact, been murdered. On December 5, 1984, parts of a woman's leg, arm, and hand were found in a plastic bag in a drainage ditch adjacent to Interstate 15 in a remote corner of the desert in San Bernadino County, near Baker, California. The remains were discovered just a few weeks after Jesslyn's disappearance. They were cremated in 1985. However, the remains were not identified as hers until 1992, eight years later.
In July 1992, the Orange County Sheriff's Office identified Jesslyn's killer as David Daniel Ribis. He was a paroled ex-convict who had served time for assault and passing bad checks. He worked at Charlie's Wild West Saloon, the bar where Jesslyn was last seen alive. He had been a suspect in the case for years; he had been interviewed at least twice by police. According to Marilyn, when she arrived at the bar that night, Ribis and Jesslyn came out. They were laughing and he had his arm around her shoulder. Throughout the evening, he hung out with them and flirted with Jesslyn. They had reportedly argued that night as well.
Marilyn also said that Ribis and Jesslyn were together shortly before Jesslyn went to the bathroom. Shortly after Jesslyn left, Ribis left as well. He returned about an hour later. Later that night, an employee saw someone resembling Jesslyn laying in the back seat of Ribis's car, covered with a blanket. Before leaving, Ribis told another witness that Jesslyn was "alright" and that he was going to "take care" of her. This was the last time she was seen alive.
On October 12, 1990, Ribis died of a heart attack at the age of forty-five. However, shortly before his death, he revealed to family members that he had killed Jesslyn. In his confession, he claimed that she willingly left the saloon with him and went to his nearby apartment. An argument ensued; he then took her (either voluntarily or involuntarily) to a remote area in San Bernadino County, shot her, dismembered her, and dumped her body.
In Spring 1992, Ribis' relatives went to the police and told them about his deathbed confession. Other acquaintances later told police that he had confessed to Jesslyn's murder to them as well. A rifle, possibly used in the murder, was collected from his home. It was also reported that he had a "knack" for butchering livestock. Police stated that they found no evidence that connected Jesslyn's murder to any drug activity or her job at the prison. They also found no connection between Ribis and the prison.
However, at the time of the announcement, Jesslyn's family did not believe that Ribis was involved. They have also suspected that the remains identified as Jesslyn's might not be hers either. The remains were identified as hers based on the physical description (they were consistent with her age and physique) and Ribis's confession. Fingerprint analysis was inconclusive. Jesslyn's daughter, Leslie Grace, later claimed that the remains were never positively identified as Jesslyn's. Leslie claims that she gave police a sample of her DNA to test against the remains. It is not known what the results revealed.
In 2009, the case was officially closed, and a headstone was made for Jesslyn. However, the case has many unresolved questions, including whether or not the remains were hers and whether or not Ribis was her killer. Although investigators believe he was responsible and that the prison was not involved, her family and former co-workers believe otherwise.
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