SAN JOSE – A woman whose dismembered remains were found in a San Jose field in 1981 has finally been identified.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office released this AI-generated image of Vivian Moss, which is based on family photos. (Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office)On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said its cold case unit used genealogy to identify the woman as Vivian Moss, who was 54 at the time of her murder.
The cold case unit and Moss’ family are hoping the identification will lead them to the woman’s killer.
“Our job is only half done,” said Deputy District Attorney and cold case unit supervisor Rob Baker. “Now that we’ve put a name to Vivian, our goal is to get justice for her and for her family.”
On July 11, 1981, San Jose police discovered the dismembered torso of a woman in a field where the Valley Transportation Authority Berryessa transit center and BART station parking structure is now located, according to the district attorney’s office.
The woman had no identification, but two religious pendants were found near her body. Her death was ruled a homicide from multiple stab wounds to the chest and dismemberment.
The district attorney’s office said it partnered with Virginia-based Parabon NanoLabs Inc. in 2023 to identify the woman. Last year, forensic genealogists at the firm hypothesized the victim was likely Moss, who was born in Arkansas in 1927.
Investigators found and interviewed Moss’ granddaughter. She told them when she was a young girl in the early 1980s, Moss was supposed to pick her up to stay the night at her home. But Moss never showed and she never saw her grandmother again.
In 2024, the district attorney’s office concluded the victim was Moss based on genealogical testing comparing the granddaughter’s DNA to crime scene evidence.
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“We’re hoping someone will come forward to help us reconstruct what was happening in Vivian’s life in the days and weeks leading up to her disappearance,” Baker said.
Formed in 2011, the cold case unit has solved more than 30 murders committed as early as 1969, according to the district attorney’s office. More than half of those cases have been solved since 2018 due to advances in DNA analysis at the district attorney crime lab.
Moss’ case is among half a dozen the unit has solved with the use of forensic genealogy.
Anyone with information about Moss or her murder can contact the cold case unit at 408-792-2466 or coldcasetips@dao.sccgov.org.
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