James "Jamie" Trotter was a teenager who disappeared from California in 1979.
Case[]
Trotter was last seen by his mother when he left their motel room. He was supposed to take a bus to school. Initially, he was suspected to be a runaway.
A man, who would later be convicted of his abduction and murder, alerted police to a partial skeleton he "discovered." The remains were initially thought to be female and remained unidentified for years until the remains were reexamined.
Identification and case resolution[]
He was identified in October 1996, when his remains were determined to be male and the braces found with his remains were matched to him.
James Lee Crummel was convicted of his murder based only on circumstantial evidence. Crummel had a history with molesting children and ran an auto shop near Trotter's residence. He was sentenced to death in 2004. Crummel, 68, committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell of San Quentin on May 29, 2012.
Media[]
- Trotter's case was the subject of an episode of Cold Case Files
Sources[]
- Jamie Trotter at Find a Grave
- LA Times
- Article #1
- Article #2
- Article #3 (subscription required)