Murder of Shirley Soosay

Early Life and Disappearance

Shirley Ann Soosay was born in 1945 to Theresa Soosay on the Maskwacis reserve of the Samson Cree Nation in Alberta. She attended the Ermineskin Indian Residential School as an adolescent alongside her classmate Flora Northwest, where both reported experiencing abuse. At age 16, Soosay returned to the reserve but moved to Edmonton in her early twenties, where she worked in catering before later relocating to Vancouver to work as a domestic worker. Throughout her adult life, Soosay maintained regular contact with her family, particularly her mother, by sending home portions of her earnings and cards for birthdays and holidays.

She was the mother of two sons and an infant daughter, but all three children were seized by the child welfare system. Soosay was last seen by her family in 1977 when she returned to Maskwacis for the funeral of her eldest brother. Her regular correspondence with her family ceased in 1979, causing great distress to her mother Theresa. Violet Soosay-Wolf made a promise to her grandmother to search for Shirley and bring her home, initiating a personal quest that would span decades. In 2006, Soosay-Wolf tracked down both of Soosay's sons by submitting her DNA to Ancestry.com, and one of the sons returned to live on the reserve.

Discovery of the Body and Initial Investigation

On July 14, 1980, the body of an unidentified woman was found deep in an almond orchard near Highway 99 outside Delano, California. An irrigation worker discovered the remains approximately 13 rows into the orchard, a significant distance from the nearest road, with the victim having been dead for about one day. The soil around the body showed tire tracks but no footprints, suggesting she had been killed elsewhere and dumped at the scene. The victim, later identified as Shirley Soosay, had been raped and stabbed 29 times in the chest and abdomen, with defensive wounds on her arms.

She was found clothed in a pink blouse but with no personal identification, jewelry, or purse. A bottle of Michelob beer was recovered from the scene with her blood alcohol content measured at 0.3 percent. The autopsy estimated the woman was Indigenous or Hispanic, aged 30 to 35, standing 64 inches tall and weighing approximately 115 pounds, with evidence of prior pregnancy and a surgical rod in one leg. Soosay had two unique tattoos on her left arm, one reading "MOTHER, I LOVE YOU" and the other reading "LOVE YOU", SHIRLEY, Seattle". Investigators pursued leads including sending her fingerprints to Washington and Nevada and attempting to trace the origin of her tattoos, but these efforts yielded no results. With no identification made, she was buried in an anonymous grave in a California cemetery and entered official records as Kern County Jane Doe #5.

Apprehension and Conviction of Wilson Chouest

The investigation into Soosay's murder remained cold for years until DNA evidence linked it to another crime. In 2008, a DNA test identified Wilson Chouest, then 56 and already serving a life sentence for kidnapping, robbery, and rape committed in August and September 1980, as a suspect in Soosay's murder. However, Kern County authorities did not file charges at that time, reluctant to prosecute without knowing the victim's identity. A major break came in 2012 when DNA from 1980 rape kits linked Soosay's murder to the rape and stabbing of another woman found in Westlake Village, Ventura County, California, on July 18, 1980.

That victim was later identified as Maricela Rocha Parga on February 23, 2026, and following this DNA link, Soosay's case was absorbed by Ventura County investigators in 2013. With Chouest's DNA found on two victims in similar murders, prosecutors decided to proceed even though both women were still unidentified at the time. Chouest was relocated to Ventura County by court order in September 2015 and charged with three counts of murder. After a trial in Ventura County Superior Court, he was convicted on May 31, 2018, for the rape and murder of Shirley Soosay and Maricela Rocha Parga. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was also tried for the murder of Rocha Parga's unborn son but was found not guilty.

Genetic Genealogy and Identification

In July 2018, Kern County investigators, led by Coroner Division Chief Dawn Ratliff, contacted the DNA Doe Project (DDP) for assistance in identifying their Jane Doe. DNA was extracted from bloodstains on the blouse Soosay was wearing, which had been preserved in evidence storage, and the degraded DNA took nearly a year to fully reconstruct into a usable genetic profile. This profile was uploaded to the GEDmatch database in May 2019, but initial searches found no close matches until September 2019 when a user uploaded their DNA and was identified as a half-second cousin, sharing one great-grandparent with the Doe. Volunteers determined this shared ancestor was Indigenous, but tracing the lineage was hampered by a lack of Indigenous DNA in public databases and limited official documentation.

Key challenges and developments in the genetic search included the DDP volunteers determining the Jane Doe's parents likely came from Maskwacis, with other family branches traced to Saskatchewan and Manitoba. A distant DNA match, Trish Hurturbise of the Couchiching First Nation, was so moved by the case she trained to become a DDP volunteer, one of the few based in Canada. In February 2020, the DDP made a public Facebook post featuring a facial reconstruction by Carl Koppelman and details of the woman's suspected lineage, appealing for help from Indigenous communities. Violet Soosay-Wolf saw the Facebook post days later and immediately suspected it concerned her missing aunt. She submitted a new DNA sample to GEDmatch as directed, and within weeks, in February 2020, the match confirmed Kern County Jane Doe was Shirley Ann Soosay. The public announcement of Shirley Soosay's identification was made on April 23, 2021. Her case is considered one of the earliest examples of an unidentified Indigenous North American woman being identified through investigative genetic genealogy. DDP team leader Gina Wrather noted the difficulty tracing Indigenous ancestry due to a relative lack of Indigenous DNA being uploaded to databases and because Indigenous family history is often relayed orally.

Return Home and Reburial

Following the identification, Soosay's family began arrangements to have her remains exhumed from California and returned to Canada for reburial in Maskwacis. The process was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic until May 2022. On May 26, 2022, a small memorial service was held at the California cemetery where she had been buried anonymously. Staff from the cemetery and coroner's office attended, along with members of the Tule River Tribe of California, who performed a traditional ceremony involving smudging, songs, and blessings. Soosay's remains were exhumed and flown from California to Edmonton International Airport on May 27, 2022.

Upon arrival in Alberta, Shirley Soosay's remains were taken to a funeral home in Wetaskiwin for a memorial service. After the service, her remains were transported to a cemetery in Maskwacis. A wake with traditional drumming ceremonies was held before Soosay's reburial. On May 28, 2022, Shirley Soosay was interred in her final resting place at Riverside Cemetery in Maskwacis.

Case Impact and Media Coverage

The identification of Shirley Soosay and the resolution of her case have drawn attention to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Following the broadcast of her story on an episode of A&E's Cold Case Files in 2022, Violet Soosay-Wolf received correspondence from numerous Indigenous families across Canada and the United States who were also searching for missing relatives. The case has been featured in other media, including the Hulu webseries Web of Death in 2023, and a documentary film was in production as of May 2022. The notoriety of the case has been used to advocate for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.

The case demonstrated the potential and challenges of using investigative genetic genealogy for Indigenous victims. Trish Hurturbise, a distant DNA match who was inspired by the case, became a volunteer for the DNA Doe Project. Hurturbise had worked on 150 cases as of 2021. Following the broadcast of a television episode about the case, Soosay's niece Violet Soosay-Wolf received correspondence from other Indigenous families who also had missing relatives they hoped to find. Due to information provided by her killer after his sentencing, investigators theorize that Soosay had been abducted from a pub named Ruby's in Lemoore, in neighboring Kings County. That establishment has been replaced by another bar known today as The Wrecking Ball.

Questions about Murder of Shirley Soosay

Who was Shirley Soosay?

Shirley Ann Soosay was an Indigenous Canadian woman, a member of the Samson Cree Nation from Maskwacis, Alberta. Born on February 6, 1945, she was a residential school survivor who later worked in Edmonton and Vancouver. She was a mother of three children, all of whom were taken into the child welfare system. She disappeared in 1979 and was murdered in California in 1980, remaining unidentified for 40 years.

How was Shirley Soosay identified?

Shirley Soosay was identified in February 2020 through investigative genetic genealogy. The DNA Doe Project extracted DNA from bloodstains on her clothing and uploaded the profile to the GEDmatch database. A Facebook post by the DDP seeking help was seen by Soosay's niece, Violet Soosay-Wolf, who submitted her own DNA for comparison. The match confirmed the unidentified Kern County Jane Doe was Shirley Soosay.

Who killed Shirley Soosay and what was his sentence?

Shirley Soosay was murdered by Wilson Chouest. He was already serving a life sentence for other crimes when DNA linked him to Soosay's murder and the murder of Maricela Rocha Parga in 2012. Chouest was convicted on May 31, 2018, for both murders in Ventura County Superior Court. He received two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

When and where were Shirley Soosay's remains found?

Shirley Soosay's body was found on July 14, 1980, in an almond orchard outside of Delano, California, near Highway 99. An irrigation worker discovered her remains approximately 13 rows deep into the orchard, a significant distance from the nearest road. She had been dead for about one day. Soosay had been raped and stabbed 29 times in the chest and abdomen before her body was dumped at that location.

How did Shirley Soosay's family finally bring her home?

After Shirley Soosay was identified in February 2020, her family began working to have her remains exhumed and transported home to Canada. A small memorial service was held in California on May 26, 2022, before the exhumation. Her remains were flown from California to Edmonton International Airport on May 27, 2022. Following a memorial service in Wetaskiwin, she was transported to Maskwacis and reburied at Riverside Cemetery on May 28, 2022.

Why is the Shirley Soosay case significant in Canada?

Shirley Soosay's case is significant in Canada as one of the earliest examples of unidentified Indigenous North American remains being identified through investigative genetic genealogy. Her identification in February 2020 brought closure after decades and highlighted the challenges in such cases. These challenges include a relative lack of Indigenous DNA in genetic databases and the reliance on oral history over official documentation. The case has since been used to call attention to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement across Canada.

Sources and further reading

• Murder of Shirley Soosay (Wikipedia)
• Shirley Ann Soosay: Indigenous Murder Victim (aetv.com)
• Shirley Soosay's remains being returned to Samson Cree ... (cbc.ca)
• New DNA technique could bring closure for families of ... (hcn.org)

Checked by the Nosy Mag desk. Last updated 2026-10-31.