by Richard Jennings
As detailed in the Introduction and Chronologies on this site, five of the women closest to Castaneda disappeared in the days immediately following Castaneda’s death on April 27, 1998.
The abandoned red Ford Escort belonging to one of them, Nury Alexander (aka the Blue Scout, née Patricia Partin), was found near the Panamint Dunes in Death Valley on May 2, 1998. Human remains–a headless skeleton and shreds of a pink jogging suit, a small folding knife in a pocket–were found by hikers in the area in 2003. They were suspected to be Nury’s remains, and one of the sheriffs involved in the investigation showed me a picture of the knife to see if I recognized it when he came to interview me about the find. The bones were not positively identified as Nury’s, however, until February 2006 by advanced DNA testing.
Kylie Lundahl (née Dee Ann Jo Ahlvers)
None of the other four women–Florinda Donner-Grau, Taisha Abelar, Kylie Lundahl and Talia Bey–have been seen or heard from according to any reliable accounts since the two Ford vehicles they were driving (Taisha and Florinda in Taisha’s Ford Aerostar; Kylie and Talia in Kylie’s four-door red Taurus) left the Westwood compound in April 1998. Although the four were primary beneficiaries under Castaneda’s will, the estate executor, Deborah Drooz (Castaneda’s lawyer) confirmed to Talia’s persistent brother, Luis Marquez, years after Castaneda’s death that she had not had any contact with the four and that none of them had received any of the money they would have been due under the will.
Amy Wallace and I were both convinced the four had headed east to an abandoned mine in or around Death Valley, or possibly further east in Nevada, that they had previously identified as a place they could commit suicide and ensure their remains would not be found. This is based not only on what we heard directly from Castaneda during night and Sunday sessions regarding research and plans Talia and others had made, but also on Amy’s interactions with Taisha, Florinda and Kylie in the days leading up to Castaneda’s demise and both of our dealings with Carol Tiggs and others at Cleargreen in the weeks following his death. Nury failed to join them when they headed out but followed a day or two later and ended up driving to where her red Ford Escort was subsequently found, days later.
Talia Bey (née Amalia Marquez)
In 2014, family members of Talia met Ru Marshall and a private investigator in Death Valley to search a mine located near where Nury’s remains were found for the other four missing women: Parumph Valley Times story. They were blocked from doing so by a park ranger who claimed they hadn’t followed the proper procedures.
From my trip to Death Valley in May 1998, after I learned where Nury’s car had been found and based on having heard from Castaneda about the research into abandoned mines that Talia and others had done, I felt confident–after having studied maps of the park and talked with park rangers–that there were no suitable locations where human remains were likely to be left undisturbed due to the park’s heavy traffic by sightseers and hikers. My theory at that point was, and remains, that the missing women had continued on to a much more remote location, most likely in Nevada, to carry out their group suicide.
Nonetheless, some family members of the missing women, as well as others who were involved with the group, understandably hold out hope they are still alive, albeit without having received support all these years from Castaneda’s estate. At the least, family members and others, like me, who loved and admired the women hope their remains might one day be found, to help bring some closure to this specially painful aspect of the Castaneda phenomenon. Toward that end, Ru Marshall helped family members set up a website soliciting leads and other support for locating them. Here’s the link to that site 4MissingWomen.
©️ 2024 by Richard Jennings, all rights reserved
Related Links:
