A young woman is strangled; her naked body dumped near Balboa Golf Course and the killer is still on the loose.
It's been a year and a half since a police found the body of Diane Ayers, 23, off Golf Course Drive. Ayers lived with her mother in South Park, just nine blocks away from the spot where her body was found.
Almost every weekend, Diane would go country dancing in Mission Valley and police suspect she may have met up with a stranger.
It was Labor Day weekend, 1999 on a Saturday afternoon. A group of golfers discovered the naked body of Diane Marie Ayers in the bushes off the side of the road near Balboa Golf Course. Her body was found nude, but according to pathologists, she was not sexually assaulted.
Diane was 23 years old at the time of her death, but she looked much younger. Based on evidence at the scene, police believe Diane was strangled at a different location. The killer probably drove her to the golf course area because it was dark. He then pulled in to a dirt turnout by the side of the road and dragged her body into the bushes.
She had one white sock on her left foot. Investigators never found the rest of her clothes or the blue-gray backpack that she always carried.
Diana was last seen by her mother two days before the murder. Carol Ayers says she has no idea why someone would want to hurt her daughter.
Diane used to shop at Horton Plaza and she would go country dancing in Mission Valley at a bar called "In Cahoots." She also hung out at a bar called "Snippy's" on Fern Street near her mother's home. The manager remembers Diane coming in and says she never drank alcohol. She simply ordered a soda and listened to music while waiting for her bus.
Diane did not have a driver's license and sometimes walked the streets by herself at night, returning home from a bus stop. Police say that may have been how she encountered her killer.
Diane had friends in the military and liked military people. But Carol Ayers says her daughter would never take rides with strangers. Now, a year and a half after Diane's murder her family and friends are still searching for answers.