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How an Exhumation Finally Solved a Decades-old Murder
Danna Dever’s family suspected her abusive boyfriend, but meticulous forensics had to prove it.
In the spring of 1996, Danna Dever lived in the suburban community of Cordelia, California with her boyfriend Lonnie James Kerley and their young daughter Mandee. Despite the sun-soaked backdrop close to the easygoing city of San Francisco, Danna’s life was not a happy one.
Kerley had been abusive and physically violent to her throughout their lengthy relationship, which had culminated in many injuries and, lately, visits by the police. So when Danna disappeared just a few months later, her family suspected Kerley’s cruelty had finally bubbled over into murder.
However, it would be years before this could be proven and Danna could finally get the justice she deserved.
Danna goes missing
Danna Dever had been dating Lonnie James Kerley since the early 1980s and although they had a daughter together in 1986, they had never married. In August 1996, Kerley went to the police to report that his girlfriend had gone missing.
Incredibly, he had waited several weeks to inform the Fairfield Police Department that Danna had walked out of their residence on June 14th 1996 saying she “couldn’t take it any more”, and that she had not been seen since.
Kerley said Danna had left on foot with a person he did not know and had taken no belongings with her other than $3,000 that had been earmarked for their mortgage payment. He added that he suspected she was using methamphetamine.
Danna’s stepmother Susan Dever told the Mercury News she was suspicious of Kerley from the moment she learned her daughter was missing, not only because she was not a drug user,but also because she wouldn’t have left Mandee behind.
“We just knew that he had done something to her. We kept telling them ‘No, she wouldn’t have been able to just walk out.’ It wouldn’t have happened,” she recalled.
A vital lead missed
In the meantime, two ranch hands looking for a coyote just outside Rio Vista in Solano County had made a gruesome discovery. On July…
