Murdered pregnant woman discovered at Westlake High parking lot in 1980 identified

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (KEYT) – The body of a pregnant woman stabbed to death and discovered in the parking lot of a local high school in 1980 has been identified as Maricela Rocha Parga.

"Her [Parga's] identification was the product of seven years of genealogy research, making this the toughest case ever solved by the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit organization that assists in cold case investigation nationwide.

On July 18, 1980, deputies responded to the upper parking lot of Westlake High School for the discovery of a partially-clothed woman's body stated a press release Monday from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

According to an analysis conducted at the time by the Medical Examiner's Office, the woman had multiple stab wounds and was four months pregnant at the time of her death.

Evidence collected during the investigation showed that the woman has been sexually assaulted and murdered before her body was left at the school parking lot noted the DNA Doe Project in a press release Monday.

After all existing leads were exhausted by investigators at the time, the case went cold and she remained unidentified except as Jane Doe Ventura County.

In 2011, her case was reexamined by the Cold Case Unit, the presence of DNA was identified from the gathered evidence, and a DNA profile was created and uploaded to the nationwide Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

That DNA profile came back with a hit for Wilson Chouset, an inmate already serving a life sentence for a prior conviction for a September 1980 robbery, kidnapping, and rape.

According to the DNA Doe Project, DNA evidence connected Chouset to another Jane Doe found in Kern County just four days before the discovery at Westlake High and in 2021, that woman was identified as Shirley Soosay, an indigenous woman from Alberta, Canada.

Detectives presented the information about the local case to the District Attorney's Office and in 2015, Chouset was arrested for the murder.

He was convicted in 2018 for the murder of the still-unidentified woman discovered in the Westlake High parking lot as well as the woman discovered in Kern County.

Advances in DNA technology and a partnership with the DNA Doe Project resulted in a positive identification of her remains in January 2026, as Maricela Rocha Parga.

Investigators used the DNA Doe Project's comprehensive genealogy research to find relatives that ultimately led to Parga's identification explained the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

"For seven years, I worked almost every week trying to solve the mysteries presented by this case," shared DNA Doe Project researcher Carl Koppleman. "I often wondered, after the passage of so many years, whether our Jane Doe still had living family members searching for answers."

According to the DNA Doe Project, their team of over forty volunteers worked alongside Ventura County investigators for seven years to build a family tree that included over 125,000 people.

After years of work, a couple born in the late 1800s in Zacatecas State in Mexico were identified as the woman's great grandparents and then researchers and investigators worked to track down their descendants detailed the DNA Doe Project.

On Dec. 9, 2025, they were able to speak with the great grandson of the identified couple who shared a crucial piece of information, his sister Maricela had been missing since 1980, shared the DNA Doe Project.

Maricela Rocha Parga was born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1958 and eventually moved to Los Angeles with her family shared the DNA Doe Project.

Maricela's siblings spent years looking for her following her disapperence and after being contacted by investigators, two of her siblings booked flights to California the next day where they provided DNA samples explained the DNA Doe Project.

Those samples were the final step in officially confirming Maricela's identity.

"Having spent over six years working on this case, I was honored to play a part in finally giving Ventura County Jane Doe back her name," said team leader Rebecca Somerhalder. "Our hearts go out to Maricela’s family as she is finally returned home to her loved ones, who kept her in their thoughts for all these years."