In 1976, 19-year-old Marliz Spannhake walked out of her boyfriend’s apartment in Chico, California—and was never seen again.
That day marked the beginning of a chilling unsolved mystery that still haunts criminal investigators till today.
Despite the disturbing evidence that led to a twisted killer, and supernatural clues that hint at where her remains might still be hidden, her case remains unsolved.
Let's get into the details
Who Was Marliz Spannhake?
Marie Elizabeth Spannhake— passionately called Marliz by her loved ones—was born on June 20, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio.
She was the third of seven children born to Ernest and Dorothea Spannhake, who raised her alongside her siblings.
Her older sister, Martha, described her as a beautiful, outgoing, and friendly person who had love for art and music.
In 1975, Marliz met John Baruth, a man six years her senior, while they worked together.
Though her mother disapproved their relationship, calling John a “hoodlum,” the two fell in love.
That December, John planned to return to California to attend Chico State University and asked Marliz to come with him.
Excited for a fresh start, she agreed.
Martha believed her sister’s true dream was to become an actress, and moving to California seemed like the perfect opportunity.
The couple settled into the Walnut Garden Apartments in Chico, where Marliz quickly found work as a part-time model at a local camera shop.
But the reality of her new life didn’t match her expectations.
In letters to Martha, Marliz admitted she didn’t like California and that it wasn’t what she had imagined.
She and John were also having relationship troubles, and with no friends or family nearby, she felt isolated.
Still, she reassured her sister that she would return home in April 1976 and enroll in college back in Ohio.
But sadly, she never made it back to Ohio.
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| Marie Elizabeth Spannhake |
The Day She Vanished
On Saturday, January 31, 1976, Marliz Spannhake and her boyfriend, John Baruth, visited a flea market at Eagles Hall on East 20th and Mulberry Streets in Chico, California.
At some point during their visit, the couple had an argument, and Marliz chose to leave on foot instead of riding back with John.
She was last seen walking alone, heading south on Mangrove Avenue around 4:00 p.m.
The distance to their Walnut Garden Apartments was roughly four miles—a long walk, but not impossible.
However, Marliz never made it home.
When John returned to their apartment, he noticed that none of Marliz’s belongings were missing—her purse, identification, and personal items were all still there.
As hours passed with no sign of her, he grew concerned.
By February 2,1976, two days after her disappearance, he officially filed a missing person report with the Chico Police Department.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a sweater, blue jeans, a white gold wrist bracelet with a gold chain, and a white gold Omega watch with a square face.
Marliz stood 5’5” with a slender build, long wavy brown hair, and striking green eyes (sometimes seen as violet or blue).
She had scars on her abdomen and right thigh.
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| Marie Elizabeth Spannhake |
The Search and Investigation That Followed
After Marliz Spannhake went missing, the Chico Police Department launched an extensive investigation.
Detectives initially focused on her boyfriend, John Baruth, as the last person to see her alive.
Investigators questioned him repeatedly and administered a polygraph test, which he passed.
With no physical evidence linking him to her disappearance, authorities eventually ruled him out as a suspect.
Marliz had only been living in Chico for two months, so there weren’t many people to question or leads to follow.
Her family flew to California to help with the search, firmly believing she wouldn’t have run away or hurt herself.
They coordinated with law enforcement to distribute missing person flyers and pursued every possible lead, but no substantial clues emerged.
The FBI became involved, expanding the investigation nationwide, yet no trace of Marliz was found.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, her family hired a private investigator and even consulted a psychic, but neither effort produced credible information.
By 1977, with no new developments, the case went cold, leaving her loved ones devastated.
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| Marie Elizabeth Spannhake |
A Shocking Confession Years Later
On November 7, 1984—eight years after Marliz Spannhake vanished—a woman named Janice Hooker walked into a church, desperate to confess a past crime to the pastor.
Detective Al Shamblin of the Red Bluff Police Department quickly responded to the church where Janice had shown up visibly upset and shaken.
In the presence of her pastor, she told Detective Al Shamblin that her husband, Cameron Hooker, had kidnapped and killed Marliz Spannhake in Chico in 1976.
Janice said that she had discovered Marliz’s identity after seeing her driver’s license during the abduction.
She told the detective she had come forward now because she could no longer live with the guilt, and feared what Cameron might do if he discovered her betrayal.
Realizing how serious the situation was, Detective Shamblin read Janice her Miranda rights, since some things she said could link her to a crime.
After consulting with the District Attorney’s office, prosecutors agreed to give Janice full immunity in return for her full cooperation in the case.
With the deal in place, Janice gave a detailed account of what had happened.
She said that on January 31, 1976, she and Cameron were driving through Chico in his blue 1970s Dodge Colt when they saw Marliz walking alone on Mangrove Avenue around 4:00 p.m.
Cameron offered her a ride, and since Janice was there too, Marliz probably felt it was safe—so she got into the car.
Janice said that once they were close to Marliz’s home and she tried to get out, Cameron suddenly turned violent.
At an intersection close to her apartment, he grabbed her wrist, held a knife to her throat, and forced her back into the car.
He then placed a wooden and Styrofoam headbox over her head—a device he had constructed to muffle screams—and handcuffed her.
Janice admitted she did nothing to intervene as they drove Marliz to their home on Oak Street in Red Bluff, about 40 miles north of Chico.
At the house, Janice claimed Cameron took Marliz to the basement, where he suspended her from the ceiling with ropes and tortured her.
Cameron then tried to cut her tongue to silence her but the procedure failed, causing severe bleeding.
He then sexually assaulted her before ultimately strangling her with a noose and hanging her body from a beam.
In the early hours of February 1, 1976, Janice said she helped Cameron wrap Marliz’s body in a blanket and load it into their car.
They drove to a remote area near Lassen Park, where Cameron dug a shallow grave and buried her.
He later burned Marliz’s clothing and personal items in a barbecue pit, keeping only her watch as a trophy before eventually destroying it.
Janice also revealed that after Marliz’s death, Cameron kidnapped another woman named Colleen Stan in 1977 and kept her captive for seven years.
On November 18, 1984, Cameron was eventually arrested, and he was sentenced to 104 years for kidnapping, torturing and raping Colleen Stan.
However, he was never charged in Marliz’s case because there wasn’t enough physical evidence connecting him to her death.
Janice, who was given immunity in return for her cooperation, led crime scene investigators to the area near Lassen Voĺcanic National Park, off Highway 44, where she and Cameron had buried Marliz.
Despite several searches in that area, investigators were unable to find Marliz’s remains.
Without a body or forensic evidence, prosecutors couldn’t move forward with homicide charges.
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| Cameron Hooker in court |
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| Colleen Stan |
Strange Supernatural Clues
In January 2000, Jodi Foster, a 33-year-old woman, moved into the same Walnut Garden Apartments unit in Chico where Marliz Spannhake had lived before her disappearance.
Shortly after moving in with her three-year-old daughter, Hannah, Jodi started experiencing strange things.
She kept having clear, vivid dreams about a young woman being kidnapped, tortured, and killed by a couple.
The dreams were so strong they disturbed her sleep and woke her up at exactly 3:37 AM. every night.
At the same time, Hannah began talking to an imaginary friend she called "Myliz"—a name very close to Spannhake's nickname, Marliz.
Hannah said she saw a young woman living in their apartment, someone Jodi couldn’t see.
She also made a sketch of how this her friend, Myliz looked like.
The way Hannah described her made Jodi uneasy, especially because Hannah didn’t know anything about Marliz or her disappearance before.
After three months of these occurrences, Jodi and Hannah moved out in April 2000.
However, about a year later, the disturbing dreams returned.
This time, Jodi began seeing specific images—the number 35.76, a capital letter A, and the number 17.
She didn't understand their significance but felt they were connected to her earlier visions.
In 2008, after reading Carla Norton's book "Perfect Victim", which detailed Cameron Hooker's crimes and Marliz's case, Jodi realized the apartment she had lived in was Marliz's former residence.
She became convinced that Hannah had been communicating with Marliz's ghost and that her dreams were recollections of Marliz's final hours.
Jodi contacted Investigator Kevin Hale in July 2008 to share her experiences.
Remarkably, he revealed that authorities were actively reopening Marliz's case that same day.
During their meeting, Jodi provided the cryptic details from her dreams, including "A 17", which Investigator Hale recognized as Highway A17.
It is a road connecting Interstate 5 and Highway 44 near the suspected burial area.
Investigator Hale said that even though he usually doesn’t believe in supernatural stories, Jodi’s information matched with facts already known in the case.
While no physical evidence has been found so far, these strange clues have helped guide the ongoing search for Marliz’s remains.
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| Jodi and her daughter Hannah at the time |
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| Hannah's drawings |
Recent Developments
In August 2021, forty-five years after Marliz Spannhake's disappearance, Jodi Foster met again with Investigator Kevin Hale to discuss the case.
Investigator Hale confirmed that authorities were actively searching a specific area for Marliz's remains based on both Janice Hooker's testimony and Jodi's information.
He said the number 35.76 that Jodi saw in her dreams, showed the distance from Cameron Hooker’s old home to the suspected burial spot.
After investigators checked a mapping software, they found out that the likely burial site was 35.77 miles northeast of the Hooker house—almost a perfect match with the number Jodi saw.
This close match strengthened the investigators’ confidence that they were looking in the right area.
While no remains have been recovered as of 2025, the case remains open and active with the Red Bluff Police Department.
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| Cameron Hooker at the time |
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| Cameron Hooker as at 2021 |
In September 2021, Cameron Hooker became eligible for parole after serving 37 years of his 104-year sentence for kidnapping and torturing Colleen Stan.
He was then moved temporarily to Alameda County Jail for mental health evaluations under California's Sexually Violent Predator Act.
According to Wikipedia, he’s still under supervision and receiving treatment at a state hospital.
He hasn’t been fully released into the public.
Marliz's sister, Martha, continues to advocate for resolution in the case.
She has expressed frustration that Cameron was never charged in her sister's disappearance but remains hopeful that Marliz's remains will eventually be found.
Investigator Hale has stated that law enforcement remains committed to pursuing all credible leads, emphasizing that cold cases are never truly closed until justice is served.
Will Marliz ever be found? Only time will tell.
But one thing is certain: her story is far from over.
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