On the morning of August 13, 1978, police officers responded to Torrey Pines State Beach where passers-by found the body of 15-year-old Barbara Nantais lying on the sand. Nantais had been strangled and beaten to death, and one of her breasts had been severed. Nantais' boyfriend, with whom she had gone to the beach the night before, was also discovered nearby suffering from a severe head wound that left him semi-conscious and with no memory of the attack. The evidence at the scene suggested that an unknown suspect attacked Nantais and her boyfriend while they were lying together on the beach.

Although this case and the case of Claire Hough (August 24, 1984) occurred six years apart, similarities in the cases suggest both were committed by the same perpetrator.