Do you know who murdered Kori JoAnne Lamaster in 1993? Kori Joanne Lamaster was a teenage girl from Pacifica, California, described by her family as once being full of life and energy. Born on October 2, 1976, she attended several local elementary schools, including Pacific Manor, Sharp Park, and Vallemar, before moving on to Oceana and Thornton High Schools. However, soon after starting high school, Kori’s life became more difficult. She began running away from home and struggling in school. Her family filed missing person reports with the Pacifica Police Department on several occasions when she disappeared. In late 1993, the 17-year-old White female ran away again, traveling to areas she was known to frequent, including Daly City, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz.
On January 29, 1994, two hikers searching for mushrooms in Pogonip Park, a wooded area near Santa Cruz, made a devastating discovery. They found the partially buried, decomposed remains of a young woman near a homeless encampment.
The victim had short brown hair, pink nail polish, and a small heart tattooed between her left thumb and index finger. An autopsy determined she had been brutally killed by blunt force trauma to the head, her skull crushed by what investigators believed was a metal pipe. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, her facial features were difficult to ascertain, and for nearly two decades, her identity remained a mystery. She became known to the community and investigators simply as "Pogonip Jane."
For years, the Santa Cruz Police Department struggled to put a name to the victim. Investigators created a clay facial reconstruction based on her skull in an attempt to identify her. Isotope analysis of her hair later indicated that she had traveled between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz before her death. The case was a priority for the original lead investigator, Sergeant Loren “Butch” Baker, who was deeply affected by his inability to solve it. In a tragic and ironic turn, Sgt. Baker and his partner, Detective Elizabeth Butler, were murdered in the line of duty in February 2013 while investigating an unrelated case. In honor of their fallen colleague, Baker's team renewed their efforts to solve the Pogonip Jane case that had haunted him for so long.
The breakthrough finally came in October 2013. Using familial DNA, a technology that had become available in California years after the murder, the state Department of Justice lab found a partial match between DNA from the victim's body and a sample submitted by Kori's biological mother. Investigators then contacted Kori's adopted sister in Washington state. In a stroke of luck, the sister found a fingerprint card from Kori's childhood. The prints on the card were a perfect match to those taken from the body during the 1994 autopsy. After 19 years, Pogonip Jane was identified as Kori Lamaster.
The family had not filed a new missing person report after Kori left in 1993 because they believed a previous report was still active. They were unaware this was not the case until many years later, which contributed to the long delay in her identification. Police noted that Kori had a troubled background and had previously run away to Santa Cruz, only to be returned home by authorities.
With her identity confirmed, the investigation shifted to finding her killer. The Santa Cruz Police Department, assisted by the FBI, focused on persons of interest who may have been with Kori before her death. Witnesses reported seeing her with a father and son, identified as Wayne and Greg White. Greg White has since died. As of late 2013, his father, Wayne White, was living in eastern Tennessee and was interviewed by detectives. While he was considered a person of interest, he was not officially named a suspect.
Kori Lamaster's murder remains unsolved. Her family and investigators continue to seek answers, appealing to anyone who knew Kori or might have seen her in late 1993 or early 1994. They ask friends or acquaintances from that time to recall any details about who she was traveling with. The Santa Cruz Police Department urges anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem after more than two decades, to come forward. Tips can be directed to the investigations unit at 831-420-5820 or submitted through the department's anonymous tip line at 831-420-5995. 
