Albert Leon Hayes, 58, was one of the group of itinerant and seasonal farm laborers whose bodies were found in orchards near Yuba City in the spring of 1971. His remains were among the graves unearthed during the large-scale search of Sutter County orchards; accounts identify him as one of six victims recovered on May 27, 1971. Court papers charged that Hayes was murdered sometime between February 27 and May 13, 1971, but the exact day could not be determined because of decomposition and burial conditions.

The broader investigation uncovered 25 murdered men with a consistent pattern of head chopping or hacking injuries and stab wounds to the upper-left chest; many bodies were buried on their backs with clothing pulled over their faces. Evidence tied Juan Vallejo Corona to the orchards and to several victims, and Hayes was listed as Count XIX in the prosecution’s case against Corona. Corona was tried and convicted in the first trial, which included the Hayes count.

Does anyone have family knowledge or information about Albert Hayes, where he lived or worked before he disappeared?