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Information sought in 1982 South Lake Tahoe killings

Adam Jensen
ajensen@tahoedailytribune.com

The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office has released a video detailing circumstances surrounding the slayings of two Harrah’s Lake Tahoe blackjack dealers in 1982 in hopes of reinvigorating the investigation surrounding the cold case.

Julie Schossow, 25, and Marilyn Putt, 27, disappeared from their South Lake Tahoe home around midnight Jan. 12, 1982, or in the early morning hours of Jan. 13, 1982, according to a Thursday press release from the district attorney’s office.

Putt’s body was discovered in the South Fork of the American River, one mile west of Chili Bar, on June 6 of that year.



“Her body had been weighted down with chains and binding material and the cause of death appears to be ligature strangulation, with the time of death being estimated at six to eight weeks prior to her body being found,” according to the release.

The body of Schossow was discovered in the river July 9, 1982, approximately 150 yards from where Putt’s body was found.



“She had a cord tightly wrapped around her neck two times and the coroner could not rule out the fact that she may have been bound together with Marilyn Putt,” according to the release. “The cause of death appears to be ligature strangulation, with the time of death being estimated at six to eight weeks prior to her body being found.”

Investigators believe both victims were kidnapped and held captive for approximately three months at an unknown location most likely between South Lake Tahoe and Placerville.

Putt was closely associated with several leading members of the Church of Scientology at the time of her death, and investigators ask anyone associated with the church in the South Lake Tahoe area in the late 1970s and early 1980s to contact chief investigator Robert Cosley at 530-903-8468 or robert.cosley@edcgov.us. Investigators also ask anyone who worked at Harrah’s around that time, frequented the Rendezvous Bar at Harrah’s or lived near the intersection of Los Angeles and Bellevue avenues to contact Crosely.

The district attorney’s video is available at http://tinyurl.com/hwo5l88.


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