The Great Basin Murders is the name given to a series of murders of at least nine women committed between 1983 and 1997 across the states of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho. It is named after the Great Basin geographical area since most of the victims had their bodies dumped near interstate highways that traverse through it.
Most victims were teenage or adult females who were sexually assaulted then murdered – either by strangulation, stabbing, or shooting – and then abandoned on hilltops, deserted expanses, snowdrifts, or rivers. Some of their bodies were posed post-mortem. This initially led to speculation that all killings were the work of a single serial killer, who was nicknamed "The Great Basin Killer". This assertion has since been abandoned, as over the years it has been established that multiple unrelated serial killers operated in the area and that a majority of the killings were committed by different perpetrators. Of the nine murders linked to the Great Basin Murders, nearly half of the cases (Lisa Kimmell, married couple Patricia Walsh and Douglas Scott Zyskowski, Barbara Kaye Williams and Irene Vasquez) were solved with convictions of their killers. The remainder are unsolved and may be the work of one or more killers.
Murders The initial list of victims included the following nine victims: According to investigators, 23-year-old Janelle Johnson was the first victim. On February 17, 1983, Johnson was hitchhiking from Denver, Colorado to Riverton, Wyoming. She was last seen at a truck stop in Sinclair, Wyoming, at approximately 9 pm. She was found raped and murdered in Fremont County, Wyoming on March 1, 1983. After murdering her, her killer buried Johnson's corpse in a shallow grave, but storm drains soon partially eroded the grave site. While examining her body, forensic scientists found traces of seminal fluid believed to belong to the perpetrator, as well as bite marks on one of her shoulders, from which an impression was made. Johnson's killer is still unidentified, as the samples of her killer's bodily fluids became unusable for testing after the refrigerator in which they were stored broke down. The second victim was 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell, who went missing on March 25, 1988, while traveling from Denver, Colorado, to Billings, Montana. She was driving a black 1988 Honda CR-X with Montana license plates and "LIL MISS" written on it. Her relatives told law enforcement officials that shortly before her death, she had an offer for a supervisory position at a fast food restaurant, after which she planned to move to Aurora, Colorado. Eight days after her disappearance, two fishermen found her body in the North Platte River near Casper, Wyoming. A forensic examination determined that she had been raped, beaten and stabbed to death. Despite the fact that Kimmell's body was discovered eight days after her disappearance, it was established that she had been killed approximately hours before her body was found in the river, leading local authorities to believe that she was held captive by her killer. In addition to the stab wounds and bruises, the girl's body showed ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. After she was buried, a note signed "Stringfellow Hawke" was found on Kimmell's grave. Dale Wayne Eaton was convicted of her murder in 2004. Vicky Lynn Perkins, 19, went missing in March 1989. She was last seen in Portland, Oregon. Her highly decomposed body was discovered months later, on May 13, 1989, in Emery County, Utah, not far from I-70. Despite the fact that the remains were mostly skeletal, police were able to identify the victim as Perkins through fingerprints. A sheriff described Perkins as "a known prostitute" who was "working as a hooker at truck stops." On October 26, 1990, deer hunters discovered skeletal remains in Millard County, Utah. At the time, the victim could not be identified and was known under the name "Jane Doe 1" for the next 13 years. In May 2003 that forensic scientists from the University of Arizona, after comparing X-rays of the victim's jaw, were they able to identify her as 24-year-old Patricia Candace Walsh. Walsh and her 26-year-old husband Douglas Scott Zyskowski, both from Seattle, Washington, went missing shortly after leaving the city in 1989. Zyskowski's remains were discovered in January 1990 in Ozona, Texas, near I-10, and he was identified in 1992. It was later revealed in 2012 that Patricia Walsh and Douglas Zyskowski were both killed by Robert Ben Rhoades. Ermalinda Garza Sherman, 32, was found murdered in St. George, Utah, on April 2, 1991. She had been shot multiple times in the head. A forensic examination later determined that she had been severely beaten and suffered severe head trauma before her death. Forensicists estimated that Garza had been murdered about 30 minutes before her body was discovered, but no witnesses were located. On March 22, 1991, the extremely decomposed body of a young woman was found in Salt Lake City, Utah. She could not be identified at the time of her discovery, and was known as "Jane Doe 2". She was later identified as Barbara Kaye Williams.
An unidentified young woman, nicknamed "Bitter Creek Betty", was found on March 1, 1992, in the Bitter Creek stream near Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy suggested that the victim's body had been left near I-80 between mid-October 1991 and late February 1992. Her body was well-preserved due to low temperatures and heavy snow. She had dark hair and dark-colored eyes, was approximately and weighed . Her age at the time of her death is believed to have been between 24 and 32. The victim had a rose tattoo on her right breast and a Caesarean section scar on her abdomen. A gold ring was on one finger of her right hand and a gold necklace was around her neck. The victim had been brutally beaten, raped, and strangled before she died, but the cause of death was a blow to the head with an ice pick, which caused cranial trauma and severe blood loss. According to investigators, the victim fiercely resisted her attacker and likely wounded him, as traces of blood not matching her blood group were found at the crime scene. Photos of her face, tattoos and other distinctive features were published by police in local media in an attempt to identify her - soon afterwards, they were contacted by a man who stated that he had seen a woman with a similar tattoo in Tucson, Arizona, but this led nowhere. In 2022, Bitter Creek Betty was positively identified. In 2025, Cowboy State Daily released her name as Irene Vasquez; she had been last heard from by her half sister in 1990.
A motorist discovered the nude body of another unidentified young woman on November 16, 1993, near the I-80 exit for Shafter, Nevada in Elko County, Nevada. Her nicknames became the "Shafter Jane Doe" and the "Elko County Jane Doe". The coroner who conducted the autopsy established that she had been murdered five or six days prior. There was traces in her system of alcohol and marijuana. Investigators found drag marks on the ground near the crime scene, leading them to believe that she was killed elsewhere and then dumped at the I-80 exit. Analysis of the geometry of the tire tread patterns determined that her killer was traveling in a medium or large vehicle, possibly a pickup truck or van. The killer had posed her naked body on its back and by spreading the corpse's arms and legs in order to resemble a cross. Jane Doe had been beaten before she died, but the cause of death was two gunshot wounds to the chest. Forensics were able to extract only a partial right thumb fingerprint, but there has been no fingerprint database matches. The woman had all 32 teeth in her mouth, all of which were in excellent condition except for a root canal in process. Jane Doe had blond hair and brown eyes, and was about and tall. Analysis of her teeth indicated an age of 27–28 at death. She had a scar on her right shin and both earlobes were pierced, but police found no earrings at the crime scene. A Utah crime labs analysis of isotopes from her hair samples indicated that the victim had spent the last seven months of her life in Star Valley in Lincoln County, Wyoming. On June 3, 2026, the Elko County Sheriff's Office published a Facebook post indicating that in October 2025, they had identified the "Shafter Jane Doe" body as Marion Hertha Alexander. The woman had never been reported missing because she was a "free-spirited individual who became estranged from her family" and considered to be a drifter. The Sheriff's Office believed that there was sufficient evidence to charge a suspect with homicide, but the suspect died November 13, 2025 before he could be questioned or arrested.
Tonya Teske, 18, was murdered on August 15, 1997. Her fully nude corpse was discovered in Ucon, Idaho, and was identified after her photograph was spread around truck stops and public areas. A resident of Shoshoni, Wyoming, Teske was a known prostitute who had dropped out of school in 1995 and was known to travel out-of-state with her clients, most of whom were truck drivers. On August 10, several witnesses saw her leaving Shoshoni in the company of at least four men, all of whom appeared to be in their early 50s. Friends and acquaintances claimed that Teske had told them she wanted to move to Salt Lake City, Utah. Two days before her death, she had been arrested and questioned by police in Belgrade, Montana, on charges of prostitution and theft, but she was released due to lack of evidence - at the same time, she was also sought by authorities in Utah County, Utah, for forgery. During the investigation, the suspect in her murder was an Idaho truck driver who, according to witness accounts, had been seen with Teske in Billings, Montana, between August 10 and 13, and was supposedly one of the last people to see her alive. No evidence implicating him in the murder has ever surfaced, he was never charged and his name was never released to the public.
Investigation, suspects, and convictions During the investigation, police interviewed several hundred prostitutes, pimps, service station workers, and truck drivers in an effort to find witnesses to the crimes and identify the perpetrator. Over the years, several people have been identified as suspects. No suspects have been publicly identified in the murders of Johnson, Perkins, Garza or Teske.
Scott William Cox In early 1992, 28-year-old Scott William Cox, a resident of Portland, Oregon, became a suspect. In late 1991, he was arrested on charges of murdering two prostitutes in Portland in 1990 and 1991, respectively. As a truck driver, Cox, from the mid-1980s until his arrest, had visited many states across the country and was seen in places where girls and women were murdered. He was suspected of committing 20 total murders, with investigators believing that he was responsible for killing Perkins, herself a resident of Portland. After being charged with the murders of the two prostitutes, the task force gathered information about Cox's whereabouts over the previous few years through driver's timesheets, payment information from his credit cards and the owners of motels he had stayed at, but found no evidence implicating him in any of the Great Basin Murders.
Keith Hunter Jesperson In 1995, serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson became the prime suspect. Since 1990, he had killed at least eight girls and women across five states, including some of the states in which Great Basin Murder victims had been found. He was investigated for any possible involvement, but was soon ruled out.
Howell Williams