Dismembered grandma found with stab wounds in an empty field in 1981 is identified

SAN JOSE, Calif. (TCN) -- Investigators are searching for leads after identifying a woman whose remains were discovered in a field nearly 44 years ago.

According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, on July 11, 1981, San Jose Police found a dismembered torso with two religious pendants nearby. The victim had no identification, but her death was ruled a homicide from multiple stab wounds to the chest and dismemberment.

The victim remained unknown for decades. A break came in the case in 2023, when the district attorney’s office worked with Parabon NanoLabs to help identify the woman with forensic genealogy.

Parabon concluded the victim was likely Vivian Moss, who was born in Arkansas in 1927. In 2024, investigators spoke with Moss’ granddaughter, and she said her grandmother was supposed to pick her up to stay the night at her home in the 1980s. Moss allegedly failed to show up, and the granddaughter never saw her grandmother again.

The district attorney’s office announced May 27 that they concluded Moss was the victim after investigators compared the granddaughter’s DNA to crime scene evidence. Authorities said Moss went to Mt. Zion Spiritual Church and was close to their leader, Louis Narcisse, who died in 1989. Officials suspect she worked at an Oakland elementary school before she went missing.

Prosecutors have asked the public to come forward with any information about Moss and her death as they search for leads.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, "Vivian Moss was her name. My office knows it. I know it. Her family knows it. And now our community knows it. One day soon, I hope we will know the depraved person who took her life and left her in a field, hoping she would be forgotten. If her murderer is still alive, they will know that we don’t forget in Santa Clara County."

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