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Marion Berry Ouma, 25, was found dead from gunshot wounds on Jan. 3, 1979, a few miles east of Hoover Dam. The case has never been solved. (from Mohave County Sheriff's Office)
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ByMarvin Clemons/Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 6, 2024 - 6:42 pm
Updated August 7, 2024 - 9:28 am
A 25-year-old woman who was an apparent heiress to the Yellow Pages fortune was shot to death in Arizona not far from Hoover Dam in early 1979.
The case has never been solved.
Despite the passing decades, Mohave County cold case detectives are seeking the public’s help with any clues about a vehicle that was spotted near the scene, as well as anybody who might have seen the victim, who had lived in an east Las Vegas apartment for a short time, according to a news release.
Detectives determined more than a year after the Jan. 3, 1979, shooting that Marion Berry Ouma from Dayton, Ohio, was the victim. She was shot in the abdomen and the head, police said.
Ouma was described as a white female, 25, approximately 5-foot-5 and 106 pounds, with hazel eyes and brown hair that she often wore in a ponytail. At the time of her death, she was wearing green sweatpants and a dark blue short-sleeved blouse.
Detectives are also looking for a lead on the 1976-1977 powder blue Chevrolet Blazer or Ford Bronco seen in the area on the evening of Ouma’s murder.
“The (special investigations) unit has been tasked with reviewing and investigating possible leads on over 60 cold case homicides, dating back to the 1950’s,” Detective Lori Miller said in an email. “Each case file is carefully scrutinized to see if there are investigative leads for follow up, evidence that could be re-submitted for analysis and witnesses located for re-interview.”
On March 18, 1981, detectives spoke with an employee at a bank at Fourth Street and Carson Avenue in Las Vegas, the news release stated. The employee had conducted two bank transactions with the victim a few months prior to her death. Ouma had come into the bank on November 28 and December 13 to obtain money from her savings account in Ohio.
In June 1981, police discovered that the victim had arrived at the Sierra Vista Apartments, at 750 E. Sierra Vista Drive, in a cab on Nov. 4, 1978. She had rented an apartment there but was asked to vacate the property a month later for not paying her rent.
Detectives were contacted during the investigation by various newspaper reporters working in the Dayton, Ohio, area. They reported that Loren Berry, the victim’s grandfather, had died on February 10, 1980. Berry was the founder of the Yellow Pages telephone books and his estate was estimated at $500 million.
Berry had left $40 million dollars to his granddaughter, whose body had been unidentified at the time of his death.
Detectives are seeking any information on Ouma’s whereabouts between the time she was seen leaving the bank on December 13, 1978, and when her body was found January 3, 1979.
“In this case, the information about the vehicle seen in the area where the victim was found is quite specific and wasn’t addressed in the original investigation,” Miller wrote. “It is unknown if this information was ever given out to the public. In addition, the apartment building and the bank information where the victim frequented is a contained area where people lived and worked and might have seen the victim during the last days of her life. It is hoped that someone is still alive who might have knowledge of her movements and people she was associating with during that time.”
Information can be submitted to the Special Investigations Unit at 928-753-0753 ext. 4408. The reference number for the case is DR#79-022.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com.
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