SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Nearly 25 years later, a mother is still looking for answers to find out what happened to her 23-year-old daughter, who was found dead at the Balboa Park Golf Course on Sept. 4, 1999.
Tony Johnson, a retired senior investigator with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, said Diane Ayres was moving up in life, hoping to enter the California Conservation Corps.
Before her death, Ayres lived with her mother in South Park and would go out regularly at country line dancing bars, according to Johnson. He believes Ayres was likely heading out to a bar the night she was last seen.
"She didn't have a driver's license or a car, so she would either have to take public transit or ride with a friend,” Johnson said.
Investigators say her body was found a couple of days later, lying face down and naked, with only one sock on her left foot.
"We just recently found out we got some DNA off the sock. We're working on that now. Mixture of two, a man's DNA and her DNA,” Johnson said.
Johnson hopes the sock will help solve this case, but it is unclear why the rest of her clothes were removed. He said there was no sign of sexual assault.
Despite having other pieces of evidence, including tire tracks on the ground and fibers on Ayres’ body, Johnson said the major setback in the investigation was the fact that it took two months for Ayres’ friend to identify her.
"That cripples the investigation because the important leads and information exist in the first few days of the case,” Johnson said.
Police matched her fingerprint to Ayres’ photo identification card and tracked down her mother.
Johnson said Ayres' mother was the last known person to see her alive.
"Our heart goes out to the mom; we feel terrible about this. The only thing we can do is maybe solve the case,” Johnson said.
