The disappearance of six young people whose names are now carved on one headstone at the San Joachin Catholic Cemetery in Stockton was a mystery for nearly four years. They were last seen on New Year's Eve 1963. Then, they simply vanished. Days, months, and finally years passed until the families had closure. In November 1967, police were investigating an accident involving a car that careened into the Stockton channel where Lincoln Street dead ends, when they discovered in 30 feet of water another car registered to Francisco Ortega, one of the youths who vanished years earlier. There were remains of some of the missing, but not all. Per an article in the Modesto Tribune (November 17, 1967), "the police identified the missing teen-agers as Ortega; Ernest Gayton, 18, Tracy; Fabian A. Rodriguez, 19, Tracy: his brother, Cipriano. 18; Beatrice Valencia, 18, Stockton, and Josephine Avitia, 16, Stockton."
The disappearance of six young people whose names are now carved on one headstone at the San Joachin Catholic Cemetery in Stockton was a mystery for nearly four years. They were last seen on New Year's Eve 1963. Then, they simply vanished. Days, months, and finally years passed until the families had closure. In November 1967, police were investigating an accident involving a car that careened into the Stockton channel where Lincoln Street dead ends, when they discovered in 30 feet of water another car registered to Francisco Ortega, one of the youths who vanished years earlier. There were remains of some of the missing, but not all. Per an article in the Modesto Tribune (November 17, 1967), "the police identified the missing teen-agers as Ortega; Ernest Gayton, 18, Tracy; Fabian A. Rodriguez, 19, Tracy: his brother, Cipriano. 18; Beatrice Valencia, 18, Stockton, and Josephine Avitia, 16, Stockton."
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