Fifty years ago, a Walnut Creek girl disappeared when she was just nine years old, but investigators are certain someone with information could still come forward.
On September 5, 1976, Lew Doty was a new beat cop with Walnut Creek Police. He took the call from dispatchers that evening when Lisa Dickinson's parents reported her missing. He went to their home to hear that Lisa had headed out on her bicycle to find a shortcut to a nearby BART station for a trip the following day.
Doty knew that the San Joaquin River ran through canals along Heather Farm Park, where Lisa was headed.
"My thought at the time was, 'OK, maybe we have a drowning victim,' " he remembered.
It was dark by the time he and other officers were combing the park for any sign of Lisa.
"I'm flashing the canal looking for a possibility that she was in the canal," he reported. "I'm walking down here and my light flashes right kind of where that oak tree is right there and I just see a reflection – just a little reflection - so I walk over and I climb kind of under the tree and there's the bicycle hidden away next to the tree, and that's when my heart sank."
I asked Doty how Lisa's disappearance rocked the Walnut Creek Community in 1976
"I think everybody was shocked because everybody thought we were in the perfect little community. Nothing could happen," he replied sadly.
KPIX film reels from that week show detectives searching all along the canal, and even asking the public for help.
On September 13, 1976, Walnut Creek Police Lieutenant Vincent Jimno held up an orange Snoopy T-shirt, explaining, "Lisa had a pair of white sandals on, navy blue cut-off shorts, single zipper in the front, two pockets, naturally cut-off appearance to the bottom, size 12, and also Lisa was wearing a unique shirt that we would like people to be aware of."
A detective's daughter posed in the same outfit to give potential witnesses a visual example. A photo of that model is still in evidence today, along with one of Lisa's bicycles against the tree where Doty found it.
"This is her bike that was recovered at Heather Farm and kind of how it was found at the scene," Lieutenant Nick Olson explained to me.
But as for fingerprints, he said only a single print has come back to match anyone.
He also pointed out that Lisa wasn't that far from home, gesturing to a large map and saying, "So this is Heather Farm Park from an aerial view. This is the neighborhood where Lisa lived at the time. And over here is Shepherd Road. And this is the general area of where the bike was recovered."
Just a block away, several people reported seeing something disturbing.
"Later on, several witnesses came forward believing they saw a young girl on a motorcycle with tape over her mouth," Olson said. "She was wearing the white sandals that she had left the house in and a motorcycle helmet."
But it was three months before police got a break, something Detective Mike Egan revealed to KPIX reporter Ben Williams on December 10, 1976:
"Two days after Lisa disappeared, we had some people who reported an incident where a young girl was seen on the back of a motorcycle in the Walnut Creek area," Egan explained. "They gave us a description. However, at that time, we were unable to connect it with Lisa's case. We just didn't have that much to work with. In the past week, we've come up with information that leads us to believe that the initial report on the motorcycle has something to do with Lisa's case."
Ben Williams reported the arrest of a Richmond man that police hoped would finally shed light on her fate:
"A court order bars police from talking about it publicly, but they say the arrest of Louis Fresquez is the biggest break in the case so far. Fresquez is charged with the rape and kidnap of two Richmond teenage girls, and there was a missing 12-year-old girl in his vehicle when he was apprehended. Police say Fresquez also owns a motorcycle."
But Fresquez refused to talk, and there wasn't enough evidence. Even though police found his motorcycle was an exact match to witness descriptions, he never admitted any connection to Lisa before he died.
Lew Doty still calls Fresquez a "strong suspect."
"We were hoping to find out where her remains were," he said. "And we actually got close at one point and it never occurred. My best guess is Tilden Park, because that's where the guys we believe are responsible used to hang out."
Lt. Nick Olson is still confident someone has the answer, telling me, "My hope for this, getting this information back out there, is that it jogs somebody's memory about they may have seen that day, or a conversation they had that might give us some new details, new leads to pursue, to finally find Lisa's body and give some peace to her family."
Lisa was an only child. Her parents are still alive and her father let us know through the police that he appreciates her story being told again. Anyone ready to share information should reach out to Lt. Olson at 925-256-3522 or olson@walnutcreekpd.com.
We have more from the archive on Lisa's case right now on YouTube: when she had been missing for about two weeks, her family made a remarkable public offer to the person who had taken her. You can watch that full statement now in our Bay Area Unsolved playlist.
