Pregnant woman found murdered in Thousand Oaks high school parking lot identified after 45 years

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (KABC) — A pregnant woman found stabbed to death in the parking lot of a Thousand Oaks high school has been identified 45 years after her murder.

“Jane Doe Ventura County” was murdered in July 1980. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds in the parking lot at Westlake High School. The victim was pregnant at the time she was killed.

She remained unidentified for decades until last month when DNA helped identify her as Maricela Rocha Parga. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office held a news conference Monday to announce the identification.

Parga, a resident of downtown Los Angeles, was 22 at the time of her death. She was the second oldest of nine children.

Parga’s younger sister, Alma Braden, was 10 years old when her sister disappeared. Braden was waiting for her older sister to bring home a birthday cake for her.

“I knew there was something wrong when she didn’t show up to bring that cake,” Braden said through tears.

Parga was studying to be a nurse at the time she was murdered, according to her family.

A man was convicted of Parga’s murder years before she was identified.

Thirty-three years after her murder, DNA connected Wilson Chouest to the murder of Parga, the rape and murder of a Kern County woman and the rape and robbery of a Tulare County woman in 1980.

Chouest was already in prison at the time he was connected to the three violent crimes.

In 2013, Chouest was tried for the two murders. At the time of the trial, Parga was still identified as “Jane Doe Ventura County.”

Chouest was found guilty of murder in both cases. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to the sheriff’s office.