NEED TO KNOW
- Kay Medin, a school teacher, disappeared from her home in Northern California in 1987.
- Her case was viewed as suspicious.
- Medin’s remains were eventually found in Humboldt County and on a beach near Trinidad Head.
In 1987, on August 3, California authorities received a missing person report. Nickolas Medin returned from a business trip to find his 48-year-old wife, Kay Josephine Medin, missing from their Hyampom home.
The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office searched their property and nearby woods but found no sign of the elementary school teacher. Friends and family were interviewed, but no helpful leads surfaced. According to Mike Fridley, a cold case investigator with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Kay had not shown up at school, and her absence raised questions. All her belongings were still in the house, and her car remained parked outside.
Kay’s disappearance from her small community drew attention, and authorities deemed it suspicious. Then, on November 25, 1987, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a disturbing package containing skeletal remains along with an anonymous letter that included a map pointing to more remains.
The map led investigators to a spot near Ammon Ridge Road in Eastern Humboldt County, where they found additional remains and confirmed them to be Kay’s through dental records. The remains were not buried, and in 1988, a death certificate was issued for her.
The identity of the letter’s sender remains a mystery. Fridley noted it could have been someone who stumbled upon the scene while hunting or possibly even the killer.
The case took another turn on February 16, 1993, when Fortuna Police found a partial skull on a beach near Trinidad Head, around 150 miles from where Kay’s other remains were discovered. Despite efforts to match DNA samples with the California Missing Person DNA Database and the National Unidentified Person DNA Index, no matches were found.
In recent developments, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received funding to address unidentified human remains cases. They sent the partial skull to a private forensic lab, which in September 2024 suggested it likely belonged to Kay. After investigators obtained a DNA sample from her daughter, the California Department of Justice confirmed in May 2025 that the skull was indeed Kay’s.
Investigator Mike Fridley is currently seeking any new information that might help solve the ongoing case. “I’m hoping someone will come forward with details that could assist,” he said, noting that sometimes people may feel more comfortable sharing information as time passes.
Kay’s husband, Nickolas Medin, passed away in August 2018. Anyone with knowledge about the case is urged to contact the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-441-3024.
