Deputy Digiakomo's Search for a Stolen Vehicle in Orange County

On the evening of June 2, 1991, twenty-three-year-old Denise Huber went out to a concert in Inglewood, California with a friend. While driving home after the concert, Denise got a flat tire on the Corona del Mar Freeway, just a few miles from her home in Newport Beach. Two days later, the car was discovered abandoned and Denise was nowhere to be found.

The disappearance of Denise Huber prompted a massive search operation in southern California and garnered considerable media attention, but their efforts turned up nothing. Years later, in 1994, a woman buying paint from a handy man in Dewey, Arizona grew suspicious of the man selling her the paint and reported her hunch to local police, including the man’s license plate number. When they ran the plate, it turned out the truck had been stolen. When they searched the vehicle a week later, investigators discovered a chest freezer in the back of the vehicle. Inside, they found the answer to a case that had stalled for years.

Thank you to the talented David White for research assistance.

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