In 1998, days after the death of Carlos Castaneda - author of the multi-million copy best-seller, The Teachings of Don Juan - five women close to him supposedly vanished from a home they shared with Castaneda in Los Angeles, California.
Five years later, the bones of Patricia Partin were found in the Panamint Dunes in Death Valley. The other four are still missing.
We're brothers, sisters, children, cousins and friends of the missing women. We've heard the rumors - they went to Mexico, they committed suicide, they're in one country or another.
We have been searching for them on our own for more than 20 years, rebuffed at every turn by law enforcement and people who know more than we do.
We want to find them. And we want the truth - whatever it may be.
Panamint dunes in death valley
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Patricia Partin's car was found near the Panamint Dunes in Death Valley a week after Castaneda died. A park ranger quickly learned the name of the car's owner. In 2003, hikers found Patricia's bones in the dunes, identified by DNA in 2006.
In 2014, family members of the missing women went to Death Valley to search for the other four missing women. Parumph Valley Times story.
We know that there are rumors that the five women died in a suicide pact after Castaneda died, but the week before he died he executed a trust naming the five women as beneficiaries of the trust and gave them the right to continue running his company, Cleargreen, still in business in Los Angeles. And, we have court documents that all five women were living in Los Angeles for at least a year after they "vanished."
Here's an in-depth Salon magazine article by Robert Marshall. Robert joined family members in Death Valley years after the article.
OTHER LINKS:
Obituary of Carlos Castaneda. Instead of ascending to infinty in a ball of fire as he predicted, he died of liver failure. The Death Certificate is signed by our sister/cousin, Amalia using the name Talia Bey that Castaneda gave her, listed on the Death Certificate as his "niece." She wasn't.
Obituary of Margaret Runyan Castaneda, his first wife. She said there was no Don Juan, and that the name Don Juan came from a cheap wine they drank when they were young.
Dee Ann Ahlvers - aka Kylie Lundgren - missing since 1998
From Dee's sister:
"I just want to know... If she is alive, if she is happy, if she ever thinks of me. My sister, Dee Ann Ahlvers has been missing since 1998. Sixteen years. She disappeared from my life and seemingly from the face of the earth. She had been my sister and best friend, I was her sister and like her mother since she was 7 years old when our mother died. We were close, shared our thoughts, dreams and loves and did the best we could to figure out what this life was all about."
"Dee was an amazing person, she knew there was a purpose for her life, she wouldn't waste a moment and was always looking for the next person to challenge her. She moved to California in 1985 looking for that person to take her to the next level. She found Carlos Castaneda. Within 4 years she contacted me saying she needed to detach from all her worldly possessions and relationships in order to continue her life journey. I never heard from her again and in 1998 when Carlos Castaneda died, I learned that she disappeared. There has never been a coordinated effort to investigate what happened to her. But now there is a chance. Probably the last chance to find out if she is alive, if she is happy, if she ever thinks of me. Please join us in this effort; we will be most grateful. We just want to know."
Amalia Marquez - aka Talia Bey - missing since 1998
Amalia was a delightful person, full of life, born and raised in Puerto Rico where many family members still live.
She eventually met Castaneda and became the founder and president of Cleargreen, a Los Angeles based company selling access to Castaneda's ways.
