Brenda Jo Howell, 12, vanished after setting out on bicycles with a 13-year-old friend, Donald Lee Baker, on August 6, 1956, in San Gabriel Canyon near Glendora Mountain Road. A few days later Brenda’s bicycle and Donald’s jacket were found near Morris Dam, but neither child was seen again. Initial inquiries treated the pair as possible runaways; extensive searches turned up no other traces.

In 1970 convicted child murderer Mack Ray Edwards confessed to killing Brenda and Donald and led investigators to a burial site, but no remains were recovered and no charges were filed in Brenda’s case for lack of physical evidence. Brenda had been visiting her sister in Azusa when she disappeared. The investigation was reopened in 2007 as authorities revisited possible victims linked to Edwards.

Does anyone have memories of that area in 1956 or information about Brenda’s visits to Azusa that could help clarify what happened?