A deep devotion to the music of Bob Dylan was the defining passion of Renee Shapiro’s life. So much so that the 31-year-old legally changed her name to Sarah Dylan, an homage to the singer-songwriter’s former wife. She was known to follow his tours across the country and even overseas, a familiar face to his management and security teams. In May 1992, her passion brought her to San Francisco, California, for a pair of concerts at the iconic Warfield Theater. She was last seen on her way to one of those shows, a journey from which she would never return.
For years, what happened to Sarah Dylan was a complete mystery. The first break in the case came when a skull was discovered in a rural area of Nevada County, California. It was not until 1998 that investigators were able to positively identify the remains as Sarah’s, using DNA from her biological mother to make the match. Due to the limited nature of the remains, a definitive cause of death could not be determined, but authorities classified her death as a homicide. The trail went cold again, leaving her loved ones with few answers about her final moments.
The case broke wide open more than a decade later with the 2010 arrest of Joseph Naso, a 77-year-old freelance photographer, in Reno, Nevada, on an unrelated parole violation. A search of Naso’s home and a safe deposit box uncovered a trove of disturbing evidence linking him to numerous women, including Sarah Dylan. Investigators found her passport, driver's license, and other personal belongings among his possessions. They also discovered a handwritten note from Naso that read, "May 4 1992 Monday p.m.," the date of one of the Bob Dylan concerts at the Warfield.
The most chilling discovery was what prosecutors would later call Naso's "List of 10." This handwritten list described ten different women with geographic locations. Marin County prosecutors came to believe that entry number eight, "Girl in Woodland, Nevada County," was a reference to Sarah Dylan. The evidence against Naso mounted; he had a history of photographing women, including some who appeared unconscious or deceased, and kept what one detective termed a "rape journal."
In 2011, authorities in California charged Joseph Naso with the murders of four other women: Roxene Roggasch (1977), Carmen Colon (1978), Pamela Parsons (1993), and Tracy Tafoya (1994). Because the first and last names of these victims began with the same letter, the case became known as the "Double Initial Murders." While prosecutors felt they had overwhelming evidence linking Naso to Sarah Dylan, they did not formally charge him with her murder, concerned it would delay the trial for the other four killings.
During Naso’s murder trial in Marin County in the summer of 2013, where he chose to represent himself, prosecutors presented the evidence connecting him to Sarah’s disappearance and death. They used this information to establish a pattern of predatory behavior and to strengthen their case that he was a serial killer. On August 20, 2013, a jury found Joseph Naso guilty of all four murders.
In the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutors again introduced the evidence related to Sarah Dylan and another suspected victim, Sharileea Patton. This information helped the jury make its decision, and they recommended a sentence of death. In November 2013, a judge formally sentenced Naso to death. Although her case is not officially solved by a conviction, Sarah Dylan is widely considered to be another victim of the convicted killer. As of September 2022, Joseph Naso remains on death row at California's San Quentin State Prison.
