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A college student spending the summer in San Francisco vanishes without a trace.
CASE DETAILS Eighteen-year-old Kristen Modafferi was a college honor student from North Carolina spending her summer in San Francisco. On Monday, June 23rd, 1997, she arrived for work at the Crocker Galleria mall. She had taken a job at a coffee shop to pay for a photography course at U.C. Berkeley. Griffin Cherry was her close friend:
 Kristen went missing in San Francisco At the end of her shift, Kristen left the coffee shop and was never seen again. From the start, authorities were frustrated by intriguing clues that went nowhere and a trail that led directly into the ocean. The day after Kristen vanished, her parents flew immediately to San Francisco. Kristen’s father Bob Modafferi:
Kristin’s mother, Debbie Modafferi, was determined to find her daughter:
 A bloodhound led police to the ocean As in many missing person’s cases, police had few leads to work with. One of the first pieces of the puzzle was identifying a blonde woman seen with Kristin the day she disappeared. Forty-five minutes after Kristin’s shift ended, a man who worked with her noticed them at the mall together. Officer Patrick Mahanay of the Oakland Police Department learned that this was out of character for Kristen:
Kristen’s father was determined to find the identity of the blonde woman:
 Had Kristen placed a personal ad? Police used a bloodhound to try to retrace Kristen’s route the day that she vanished. The dog immediately located her trail, but police weren’t sure if this was a route Kristen took the day she disappeared, or some other day. The dog then led them to Geary Street, heading toward Land’s End Beach. Kristen’s co-workers had said that on the day she vanished, she talked about visiting Land’s End Beach. Officer Patrick Mahanay followed the bloodhound to the trail’s end:
Kristen’s father, Bob, doubts this theory:
 Why were pages missing from the diary? But if Kristen didn’t drown, what happened to her? Seventeen days after she vanished, a man called a local news station and claimed Kristen had been murdered. Bill Magee, the assignment editor at KGO-TV, received the call:
Detectives tracked down the two women named by the caller, but determined they didn’t know Kristen and had nothing to do with her disappearance. The police asked if the women knew anyone who might hold a grudge against them and falsely implicate them in the case. Both women named the same person, a man named Ryan. Ryan told police the two women were his girlfriend’s employers, and that they had been harassing his girlfriend at work. He said he phoned in the false tip in an effort to get back at them. But the police suspected there was more to Ryan’s story. Upon investigation, they found allegations that he had abused women in the past. Their next move was to see if he had any connections to Kristen. Police then learned that Ryan met women mostly through personal ads. Earlier, they had found an ad in Kristen’s apartment they think she might have placed. Bob Modafferi:
Another clue was found at the home of Ryan’s girlfriend. Her diary was missing several pages covering the same time period Kristen had been in San Francisco. She told police that Ryan had torn out the pages. Det. Patrick Mahanay found this unusual:
Still, police say they have no clear evidence that Ryan was involved in Kristen’s disappearance. Ryan claims he passed a polygraph test given by a reputable expert:
Police have completely cleared Ryan as a suspect. With no new leads, the case is now back at square one. Update: A search of the home where Kristen briefly lived revealed the presence of human remains on the property. It is too early to know if they belong to Kristen. We will bring you more information as this story develops. Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season eleven with Robert Stack and in season seven with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu. SUBMIT A TIP |
Anonymous
This looks a lot like the Chaim Weiss case. Too many people were in that building to not have seen anything. College students often have sororities and initiations. Some get out of hand. Today they call that hazing. I mean the dogs had her going to the beach like she told her coworkers. But unfortunately dogs lose scent when a lot of water is at play. It seemed like a regular day of sightseeing before returning to her residence.
Austin
“Ryan” is actually Jon Onuma, he also has the alias “Jade Yoshino”. He has never been cleared from the case and to this day remains a person of interest.
Anonymous
The only thing suspicious is the missing diary pages. But if that is the format, the entire newspaper also lost records for the personal ads. They unfortunately didn’t have much public internet back then. Paper records often went unaccounted for.
Michael
http://abc7news.com/news/kristen-modafferi-mystery-private-investigators-shed-light-on-cold-case/2134466/
Anonymous
If you want to try to help, check out FindKristen.com and this thread on WebSleuths for discussion on theories: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?46-CA-Kristen-Modafferi-18-San-Francisco-23-June-1997 There’s been some renewed looks recently and fresh eyes are always welcomed! 🙂
mariottini
was Kristen ever found or confirmed? in tonight’s SF Gate there appears to be human remains found in Moraga Lafayette area. I lived in SF for 22 years from 1990 to 2012 and have always felt so bad for her family.
Trish
Remains have been found in her home 6 days ago.
Maria
How do you know that? I don’t remember hearing that on the news.
Anonymous
Wobbler hazing is only a 3 year max sentence in California. But they need only one witness to come forward.
Anonymous Too
It wasn’t human remains. Human Decomposition which could have come from a leaking sewage pipe was the likely result.
Anonymous
Wondering why the police didn’t question this woman who wrote the diary further–ask what exactly she wrote that might implicate Ryan, but perhaps it was a useless clue and therefore left out of this account.
Anonymous
They probably didn’t want her to lawyer up. She was being cooperating and helpful.
David
Has anybody in San Francisco or outside of San Francisco seen this woman before?
If you have, please leave a tip.
Rien
According to the post about Kristen’s disappearance in Charley Project, Ryan is really Jon Onuma, and he was really, really suspicious.
Anonymous
That was suspicious. But it is important not to discourage leads from coming forward. Even a theory should be welcomed. If he honestly thought that he shouldn’t have lied or elaborated the evidence.
Dr.Davis
Regardless of clearing him this “Ryan” (who’ abused females’)looks like a possible is all. I have seen many that were “cleared” only later -years later- was the ‘cleared’ the killer! Those’ torn diary pages’ look very suspicious. It was he who called the PD about linking KM with two girls he knew. He said it was “a murder.” Who does that? Crazy. Very suspicious he would pick her.
Many times the perp will find someway to inject himself into the case. Well Ryan did!
Anonymous
That is probably why the blonde lady never came forward. The police were all over Ryan trying to help them.