Ana Mercedes Zamora Diaz, 23, was found murdered on July 18, 1978, in a remote part of a salvage yard at 2426 Grove Street in Nestor. A worker discovered her badly decomposed body on the ground beneath a water truck; detectives determined she had been bludgeoned to death and, based on the position of her clothing, sexually assaulted.

Diaz had traveled from Ecuador to Tijuana in early July 1978 with a 47-year-old friend, Apolonia (Italia) Zamora Toledo, intending to be smuggled into the United States. The two missed their planned contact and instead crossed around noon on July 4, 1978, with a smuggler known as Chino El Boxeador, later identified as Jorge Alvarado Sandoval. After a Border Patrol helicopter caused the group to scatter, Toledo was arrested and eventually deported; she never saw Diaz again and no one heard from Diaz after July 4.

Sandoval denied meeting Diaz or having any involvement in her death and remains a person of interest. Detectives seek to locate and interview Apolonia Zamora Toledo, also known as Italia Toledo. Anyone with information about Diaz, her movements after July 4, or Toledo’s whereabouts is asked to come forward.