Charles Fleming was a 67-year-old drifter whose remains were recovered in a shallow grave in Sutter County orchards and later identified as one of the victims in the series of killings around Yuba City in 1971. Prosecutors charged Juan Vallejo Corona with murdering Fleming sometime between May 8 and May 11, 1971; a ledger seized from Corona’s home contained an entry reading May 11 Charles Linil Flemig, linking Fleming to May 11. Fleming’s body was discovered May 24, 1971, after ranch workers noticed a collapsed patch of ground; his remains showed the same pattern seen in other victims, including stabbing and slashing injuries and concealment in a shallow grave with clothing pulled upward toward or over the head.

Searches of Corona’s property yielded knives with human blood, a bolo knife, a post-hole digger with embedded human hairs, bloodstained boots and other items, and the green ledger listing Fleming and other victims. Fleming was charged as Count II in the prosecution that alleged a single perpetrator had killed multiple men found in the orchards. The case against Corona resulted in convictions, a later appellate reversal, and a retrial that again convicted him; Fleming’s name appears among the identified victims recovered from the orchards.

Did anyone who knew Fleming or saw transient workers in the Marysville–Yuba City area in May 1971 notice him around that time or recall contact with a labor contractor offering rides or work?