OPELIKA, Ala. (WSFA) – The Opelika Police Department is sharing new information in a decades-old cold case just days after California law enforcement identified the body of woman who was reported missing from Lee County in 1980.
Recent DNA testing has identified the body found in Palm Desert, California, on Feb. 18, 1980, as Victoria Jean Hargrove, a woman from Opelika.
Victoria Jean Hargrove was just 29 when she disappeared from her home in Opelika. Three weeks later, her unidentified body was found in California ravine. It would take DNA and nearly 50 years to identify the body as that of Hargrove.(Source: Othram/DNASolves.com)
California authorities are investigating Hargrove’s death as a homicide, though they have not yet determined her specific cause of death.
For 46 years, the body was simply listed as “Riverside County Jane Doe (1980).”
In 2024, California’s Regional Cold Case Homicide Team exhumed the remains for genetic DNA testing, which ultimately led to Hargrove’s family members.
According to OPD, Hargrove was last seen on Jan. 28, 1980, when she told her family she was leaving town and would call when she reached her destination.
Hargrove never called and was officially reported missing days later on Feb. 4. She was just 29 years old at the time.
“Riverside County Jane Doe” was discovered by hikers in a California ravine on Feb. 18, less than three weeks after Hargrove was last seen.
Opelika investigators, at the time they opened a missing persons case, found that Hargrove was recently divorced and possibly in a relationship with a former co-worker. That unidentified co-worker was also reported missing shortly after Hargrove.
He returned to Alabama that August. At the same time, Hargrove’s red 1978 Datsun B210 was recovered at a hotel in Las Vegas, OPD said. Hargrove’s ex-husband was then notified.
Witnesses said the co-worker was seen driving the car, but Hargrove was not with him.
According to OPD, the co-worker initially denied leaving town with Vicky or being in possession of her car, but he later changed his statement. Investigators noted he later told them that Vicky had given him the car as repayment for a loan.
He also admitted to driving the car west but claimed he abandoned it in Las Vegas after realizing he did not have the proper paperwork to transfer ownership, OPD said.
Authorities recovered Victoria Jean Hargrove’s 1978 Datsun B210 at a hotel in Las Vegas(Opelika Police Department)
Law enforcement has not released any additional information about the co-worker, nor have any suspects or a motive for her death been identified.
OPD has turned over all of its case files to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Regional Cold Case Homicide Team.
Anyone with information in this case is asked to contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office at 951-955-0070 or coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org or contact Opelika police at 334-705-5220.
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