Despite the discovery, her case remains unsolved and is listed as a cold case with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. The almost 40-year secret is something one South Lake Tahoe resident took to his grave when he died in 2014. Due to evidence pointing to strangulation on both bodies, the unknown killer became known as the South Lake Tahoe Strangler. In 2018, four years after he died, DNA advancements and evidence finally revealed that South Lake Tahoe resident Joseph Holt was responsible for both murders. Holt had been a South Lake Tahoe resident since 1974, when he moved to the region to pursue a real estate career.