Two victims of a 1980 double homicide near Ludlow have been identified, according to officials.
Pamela Dianne Duffy, one of the victims, was identified after her biological daughter, Christine Marie Salley, hired a private investigator in April 2018. The private investigator had one goal find Salley s biological parents, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff s Department.
Salley’s DNA was sent to GEDmatch on Dec. 11, 2020. The results indicated she shared a mother-daughter relationship with one of the Ludlow victims. After receiving another sample of Salley’s DNA, the California Department of Justice Lab was able to positively identify Duffy in April.
The second victim, William Everette Lane, was also identified through Salley’s help. According to investigators, she told them that before her mother went missing, she was connected with a male who went by “Diggers Lane” and that he had served time in a Virginia prison.
Fatal crash on Highway 14 Thursday morning
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
A fatal crash between a pickup truck and a big rig on Highway 14 snarled traffic Thursday morning.
California Highway Patrol and other local agencies responded to reports of a head-on collision between a white pickup truck and a big rig on Highway 14 just south of the Highway 178 West intersection at around 6:45 a.m. Thursday.
The Kern County Coroner was dispatched at around 7:10 a.m. It was not yet clear Thursday morning how many occupants were in the pickup and how many were killed. Kern County Fire Department engines 73, 74 and 77, as well as Liberty Ambulance were also dispatched to the scene.
Navy serviceman charged with rape of Ridgecrest teen
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
A 20-year-old Navy serviceman was charged in late March with raping a minor, according to the Kern County Superior Court website. The alleged victim is a 15-year-old girl from Ridgecrest.
The Kern County court website shows that charges were filed against Matthew Paul Foxhall on March 30 for unlawful sexual intercourse, sexual penetration with a foreign object/etc. with a victim under 18 years and oral copulation with a victim under 18 years. All three charges are felonies.
The charges stem from Foxhall s arrest on March 27 by the Ridgecrest Police Department. Foxhall was later released on $125,000 bail.
Kern County reports six cases of B.1.1.7 COVID-19
Ridgecrest Daily Independent
The Kern County Department of Public Health has announced that Kern has detected six cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant throughout the county.
Similar to when the county first announced that a variant had appeared, the Kern County Public Health Department stated that there is no further information that it can provide when asked for more information regarding the variant.
The health department’s website now has a popup that shows how many of each variant the county has reported. So far, KCPHD has listed only the six B.1.1.7 cases, with no zip code given.