American Nightmares

The Bones in the Canyon: The Murder of Kerry Patterson

Denied justice for over 40 years, the family of a California teenager have never given up hope in solving her murder

The summer of 1980 was a memorable one. As a famous heatwave bore down across the country, Ted Kennedy won the presidential primary over Jimmy Carter in California, the Unabomber struck again in Illinois, and the face of news broadcasting was changed forever as Ted Turner launched CNN. “The Empire Strikes Back” was in theaters, and the likes of Paul McCartneyand Billy Joel were the songs everyone was playing. It was the dawn of a new era, including for the Patterson family in Fullerton who had just moved into their new home, having left Cerritos.

Fullerton is a small city in Orange Country, California, that, back in 1980, had a population of just over 100,000. A traditional center for agriculture, Fullerton became an industrial hub following the Second World War as veterans migrated in, expanding the city and sending the population soaring. Fullerton became home to aerospace contractors and other industries, and in 1949 Leo Fender invented the first successful electric guitar there, the Fender Telecaster.