The bodies of 25 men were found buried in shallow graves in peach orchards along the Feather River in Sutter County, California, in the late spring of 1971. The victims were mainly transient farm laborers whose disappearances had largely gone unnoticed; among them was Jonah R. Smallwood. The remains showed brutal injuries, often hacking and stabbing wounds to the head and chest.

Investigation focused on farm labor contractor Juan Corona. Receipts with his name were recovered from some graves, witnesses placed some victims in his vehicle, and a ledger found in his home listed several of the murdered men. Weapons, including a machete and knives consistent with the wounds, were also seized. Corona was arrested and charged in the 25 murders, convicted in 1973, had that conviction overturned in 1978, and was reconvicted in 1982 and given life sentences. He died in prison in 2019.

Smallwood’s family and the community were left to reckon with an especially violent series of killings that targeted transient workers; motive was never definitively established. Did anyone who knew Jonah R. Smallwood or his movements in 1971 ever come forward with additional information?