Elbert J. T. Riley, a man in his mid-40s, is listed among the 25 men whose remains were recovered from shallow graves in orchards and ranchland around Marysville and Yuba City in spring 1971. Court records in the prosecution of Juan Vallejo Corona charge Riley’s killing as occurring on or about May 12, 1971. Labor contractor Byron Shannon testified he was speaking with Riley and two other men in lower Marysville when Corona arrived in a pickup, offered them work, and Riley left with Corona; Shannon said he never saw them alive again.

Riley’s body was identified among the victims whose remains showed a consistent pattern of head hacking or chopping injuries and, in many cases, stab wounds to the upper left chest. Physical evidence tied Corona’s property to several victims: human hair forcibly removed and embedded in dried mud on a post-hole digger, bloodstained knives and clothing, a shovel, rubber boots, ammunition, and papers linking Corona to men associated with his labor operation.

The strongest court evidence in Riley’s case places his last known movements on May 12, 1971 and connects that departure to the man later convicted of the orchard murders. Does anyone have memories of Riley, his work, or the Marysville area in May 1971 that could add context to his final day?