A fatal turn down the road
When we first came up the hill to our new place, we were fascinated and amused by these signs saying "Marsh Rd. Closed" because some enterprising delinquents had painted "Dead Bodies Found!" across them.
Some enterprising do-gooders tried to clean up the signs but you can still see the "ND!" at the end of this one.
I asked the landlord what was up with those signs, and he said, "oh, some murder 20 years ago — a body got dumped back there."
Lately I’ve been passing the sign on my morning walks, and going about a mile and a half down Marsh Road.
The road is quiet and scenic, with hardly any traffic. Hard to believe anything ontoward could’ve happened out here.
That’s the Calaveras Reservoir off in the distance. I’m basically down at valley floor level here.
By now you’re thinking, "get to the good stuff, what about the murder?"
OK, if you’ve seen the movie "River’s Edge" you already know about it: Co-stars Crispin Glover and Keanu Reeves are pals of this spooky, twisted teenager who flips out, raping and killing a teen-age girl and dumping her body out in the countryside. What made the movie really disturbing is what happened next: The killer goes back to his school and brags to all his friends about how he killed this girl, and he takes his friends out to view the corpse in the woods somewhere.
All this really happened, except it wasn’t in the Pacific Northwest — it was in Milpitas, the town right down the road from us. Some guy at the local high school raped and killed a teen-aged girl and dumped her body in a ravine on Marsh Road.
Here’s one of the ravines I walk past. There are lots of ravines out here so I doubt it’s anywhere near the fatal spot.
The guy who killed her really did go back to school and brag to his pals that he had done the deed, and had brought some of them out here to look at the body. It lay there for several days before it occurred to somebody to call the cops, who stopped a carload of local high school students on their way up to view the body. I suspect the perp will remain incarcerated for a very long time.
As for Marsh Road, it became a notorious party hangout for local teenagers. Sometimes things got out of hand and the locals complained.
My understanding is that a car fire — here’s the burnt spot — was the final straw: county authorities declared the road closed to the public and put in this gate so that only authorized vehicles can pass.
So that’s the story of the Marsh Road murder.
August 26th, 2004 at 11:50 pm
THAT is so interesting, Tom. I sort of feel like I just watched an investigative piece on “Court TV.” Very sad at the same time, on many accounts. Thank you for sharing.
August 28th, 2004 at 12:52 pm
Tom, I love that moon picture. How about you fix it so if I click on it a larger image pops up, say 1024 pixels wide, so I can steal it to use as a desktop image?? Your many fans would appreciate it, I am sure.
And … small correx … Crispin Glover didn’t play the killer in “River’s Edge.” Daniel Roebuck played the killer. Glover played the nutcase who wanted to protect the killer and smuggle him out of state.
Glover was excellent in the role.
John
August 28th, 2004 at 1:45 pm
John:
Here’s a big version of the moon picture.
http://tommangan.net/archives/images/bigmoon.jpg
And thanx for the correx on Glover.
May 7th, 2005 at 4:51 pm
Wow That is quite interesting last night a few of my friends decided to see if the myth really existed. It was so dark that i saw the sighn but i couldn’t read what it said so see that picture really was a great help. Driving Down Marsh Road was such a rush i was expecting all the stories i’ve heard such as: The truck following you and raming you off the road or see the girl in your rear view mirror, then again we didn’t dirve passed the bridge were it was said you can see the ghost. Gas was low and we had passed that green gate so we didn’t want to get stranded but anyhow i would like you to do some research on Albinos found near Alum Rock If your up to the task get a hold of me but then again will see. I love the article you wrote it was quite interesting sincerely luis
January 11th, 2008 at 1:11 am
he ended up killing his girlfriend. she was a cheerleader and he was a smart type of kid (nerd). he killed her so no one else could love her or date her.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:35 am
I, too have lived in Milpitas, CA since 1968. I did know the suspect. Went
to school with him. An odd fellow who was dealing with his own demons.
I do not recall in knowing the victim ( Marcy Conrad ).
I am happy to report that Marsh Road is once again open to pedestrian /
vehicle traffic. There is no longer a trespassing sign, or a green gate. But,
there is a silver gate blocking the road prior to the Calaveras Reservoir.
A house resides on the left side. From my vantage point, the dam looks
to be half full. A new one will be built in 2009 for seismic retrofit.
Regarding the small bridge with the creek underneath : is this the spot
where the victim’s body was displayed ? If not, is there an alternate ?
I drove there last week out of curiousity to see if the road was still
closed. A few days ago, there was a vehicle pursuit by the Santa Clara
County Sheriff and Milpitas Police in that area. Parties are still fugitives.
Be extra cautious when venturing at night. No street lighting, lol.
” Happy ghost hunting “
February 8th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I live a block away from the mountains where Marsh Road is located. I went there last year with my friends on the death anniversary of the girl. We took pictures and saw someething weird in one of em’. It was also creepy seeing a guy drinking by himself deep down in Marsh Road.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Crispin Glover played “Layne”, one of the group of kids, but not the murderer. Daniel Roebuck, played the murderer.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I grew up in Milpitas in the early 80’s. Marsh Road was the local “party” place. Been there many times with friends and all I can say is the final “S” turn where the small bridge goes over the “dry” creek bed is quite haunting. Even in the day I’ve felt vertigo and ill. There is really creepy things there at night like the lights hovering in the fields toward Calaveras reservoir (I’m sure only swamp gas) very spooky none-the-less. The bridge I mentioned is very near to where Marcy’s body was found (about 30 to 50 yards to the West). The road dead-ends about 150 yards after the bridge. Actually there is a one lane road that leads to a homestead or ranch house past the normally closed gate.
I had no idea the road has been blocked by the County. It seemed to really mellow out over the years compared to the 80’s. The last time I was down there (2003 or 2004) I decided to take a ride one night around 1:00 A.M. While visiting my folks who until recently lived off Piedmont and Yosemite. Needless to say that place still scared the crap outta me. It was a foggy night and as I approached the “S” curve and bridge there was something in the road. As I approached and the fog thinned there was a huge wild boar in the road barring its huge tusks. I know it was only nature, but got the hell outa there as I felt I really didn’t belong there. I can continue on a couple occasions where I’m almost positive paranormal active flared up, but I’ll leave it alone for now-
May 6th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I’ve actually gone all the way down Marsh Road and to the bridge where i guess the girl’s body was found. I was with a friend at the time and it was a sunny day. We reached the bridge we parked the car, got out and actually went under the bridge. We had to duck to go under and when we did we saw writings on the wall like witch craft symbols but anybody could of put that there to scare folks. There wasn’t any water running under the bridge just dried up leaves and big rocks. I didn’t experience any paranormal activity but another friend i knew thought he did with his car door not closing. He went down Marsh Road one night with a couple friends in a car and he said that he started seeing lights hoovering in the fields. He said nobody in the car saw the lights so he continued to drive down more and stopped to get out and smoke a cigarette but when he barely got to open his car door one of his friend’s girlfriend started getting really scared and wanted to get out of there because she knew about what happened there. He thought he had closed the car door then as he was driving back up his door opened and he tried closing it but it wasn’t closing for some reason so he tried agian and agian it wasn’t closing so he continued to drive but faster and slammed the door one more good time and it closed. Everyone thought he was joking but when they got out of that area he was telling them that it was all for real and he wasn’t messing around. He parked somewhere, got out to look at what was wrong with the door and if there was something that was keeping the door from closing but there was nothing. This is what my friend told me so I wouln’t say its a true or not a true story but when he told me this he was freaking out about it because he never experienced anything like this.
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 am
I actually went down marshroad a few months ago and had a pretty abnormal experience there, 4 friends and i decided to take a trip down to marshroad for alittle spook fun, when we entered marshroad there was already a really wierd feel. We drove all the way through down to the bridge, crossed the bridge and nothing happened we got all the way to the end where the house was, turned around and got back to the bridge. Now everyone always says you have to park your car on the bridge and turn off your engine for something to really happen. We turned off the headlights and everything, parked there for a minute. at this point i really expected something to happen. A minute has past and we turned the car back on. Nothing spooky yet. Thinking to myself “aw, nothing happened” we drove back to the exit to leave. On our way out, Half way through marshroad We spotted a car parked on the side, it was a little black car. Who was in it? only a girl she was sitting by herself in the driver seat, i right away got freaked out, As we drove by our headlights shined into her car she was sitting there just looking straight at us, her car was off and everything could it have been broken down? there was no sign of expression or anything, if she was really in need of help or anything why didnt she make a move. My friend saw her and right away got really scared and started to speed out of there. It was very unsual because, why would anyone park there by themselves at 1 in the morning? To this day i beleive it was her
June 16th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Marsh Road! my father and step mother were friends with the girl (marcy conrad)
Nice to see you did a bit of reserch i believe tho. me and my family have lived in milpitas for as long as i can remeber i am only a high school student buht now the story prety well. People say they have seen deamons and other things on marsh road when they travel up there late at night! I wouldnt noe ive only been up there during the day. Its a tragic story tho. and the dead bodies found writen on the sign is so disrespectful. just imagine hoe her family feels especially her brother! its disrespectful to all her family! And ANONYMOUS! It wasnt marcy you saw in the car…for some reason tht woman is always up there i have seen her parked there in the middle of the day! i wanted to stop but something told me she didnt want to be botherd! but she is always up there!
August 30th, 2009 at 3:57 am
BJ is correct on seeing those lights, my buddies and I have seen them several times! I’ll give some of my paranormal experiences of that spot now. I left it open from my post above. 1st, Mary Conrad’s body was NOT found at the bridge. Albeit near there, it was not there.
Okay, to the lights. Like I stated that area near the bridge was the “high school hang out” I’ve been going there from around 1980 to around 1988 regularly. The lights in question many of us have seen on many occasions. I tend to believe they may be “swamp” gas as they are in the flats towards Calaveras res. Allot of cattle and other game there and the ground can be swampy at times. But was it really swamp gas? We have seen different colors. From greens (most common) to blues, yellows and even slight reds….
One night around 2:00 A.M. it was around 1987. My buddy John and I were just leaving the bridge area. We were heading out (those that have been there know that when you leave the bridge area you head out toward the East and do that “hairpin” turn all in an incline and are now heading west again. About 150 yards after heading west is a tiny pull out (if you want to call it that). John parked. We were still at a slight incline. We sat and BS’d for about 10 minutes when John had the most fearful look on his face. He was starting to cuss and was repeating “$hit, $hit over and over again. I didn’t know what was going on when he finally said WERE MOVING!! In fact we were moving UP THE HILL. The truck was OFF! We started moving fast enough that he popped his clutch and the truck STARTED!! We got the hell outta there FAST!! Well, me being science driven I figured that we were actually going down hill and it was an optical illusion. A few days later (during the day) we went to the exact spot. Placed a baseball on the road and it went down hill (the truck should have been going backwards down the hill, but it went forward UP the hill under NO power!! Okay, now for the clincher-
About two weeks John and I decided to go back at night to the exact spot. We got there a little after midnight. This was summer and a really beautiful quiet night. We waited and waited and no movement what-so-ever. Bummer. About 12:45-ish we suddenly saw lights coming from a truck really slow. I though great “busted” Yep, it was a ranger truck. He pulled alongside John. We were facing west and he was Facing East (heading toward the bridge). I noticed it was an older truck with the California Ranger logo (seal) on it. What got me was it was an older truck around early 1970’s. The other weird thing was it just wasn’t clear (if you know what I mean) a little foggy if you will. Well, he starts talking to us like we were old buddies. Really friendly like. Now come on, what ranger would approach two guys in middle of the night pull up within 3 feet of John and just shoot the breeze. I rarely looked his way as it just didn’t feel right. I did glance here and there to join the conversation, but that was about it. John was a “socialite” so the two were just gabbing away. I kept whispering to John, “let’s get the hell out of here” but we sat for like 15 minutes just chatting away. The first thing the guy said that peaked my attention was about the lights. He said, “hey, you guys ever see the lights down there” We said “yeah”. He said “aren’t they really neat! Just don’t go near the red ones” John asked “why” He said “those are the bad ones, those are the ones were you’ll find your destiny” At this point I was”
JOHN, LET”S GET GOING!!!” But NOOOOO, John was still talking away. He then said that in fact, there was another girl murdered there in the sixties. For those that know the area about a half mile before the “s” turn to the bridge is a small wooden bridge on the South side of the road. You have to look really hard, and go slow or you will miss it. Anyhow, he says “you know that little bridge about a half mile away” John says “yeah” he said “that’s were they found her body. Many times you drive by and look in the rear view mirror, you will see her standing there” (I think this is where people are mixing the two stories up, saying Mary Conrad was found at the bridge, I’ve also heard several stories of the rear view mirror occurrence. I think these are two separate instances.) At this point I’m ready and I mean READY to leave!! Then he says “hey, you know where you’re parked?” John says “no” He says “that’s right where they found that girl’s body, right off the edge and in the ravine” (remember this was the EXACT spot that the truck went UP the hill with the engine off). I say REALLY loud now “DUDE, I have to go!! The ranger then talks a couple minutes more and says “Have a good night guys”. He starts his truck up and goes down the “S” turn. I watch the lights out my window (which is open). He then stops, turns off his engine and lights and parks right before the bridge. I’m telling John to go, but he was wit, just wait I want o see what he does. Well, 10 minutes have now passed by, once the guy shut off his engine and lights, there was no more visible contact. I can hear crickets and distant cows and that’s it. John finally says, something’s wrong here. He starts up the truck and does a “U” turn toward the bridge. I’m thinking GREAT, let’s just LEAVE!! Well, you guessed it. No truck, no ranger!! We went all the way to the dead end. Remember, I heard the engine turn off as well as his lights. If he had re started his engine we would have heard that!! Nothing, completely GONE!! This is the HONEST to god truth!! That was the last time John and I EVER went there at night again. As I mentioned on the earlier post I went there while visiting my mother one night, but never stopped drove fast there and got the hell out even faster and at that time I was in my late 30’s!! I did go there one time when I was around 40. I went middle of the day alone and had a metal detector with me. I went under the bridge that has “occult” writings and such. Anyhow, I was metal detecting under the bridge and my new batteries completely drained out. Shortly there-after I got this really strong anxiety that I had to get out of there. I mean so bad I ran to my car and flew outta there. I tell you, it is an extremely strange place! Something is there! I’m not sure what, but it’s there!!!!
I have not been there since!!!
August 31st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I apologize for the incorrect name of Marcy in the post above. I was too deep in thought and was SUPER late (early) in the morning. The name above should be Marcy and not Mary…..
Sorry-
Joe
October 21st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I grew up in San Jose all my life and still to this day. Being that we’re a neighboring city to Milpitas I also heard different versions of the killing up at Marsh Road. The main version that was told was that a ‘football’ player killed his ‘cheerleader’ girlfriend for reason I can’t recall. But that the bridge was haunted by the young lady that was murdered. If you wrote a person’s name on the bridge that you didn’t like or whatnot something bad would happen to them or they would die. Harsh, right? Also, if you drove back down Marsh road and looked in any of your mirrors you would see the ghost of the girl.
I came home from college either from winter break or the summer…2002 or 2003. I recall going up there one night with my younger sister and 2 friends from high school after a house party. We somehow got on the subject of ghosts and one of my guy friends were like, “let’s go to Marsh Road!!” And being on the excited hype we drove up there. And let me tell you, once we got up there we were freaked out. Nothing paranormal happened…but we were in complete darkness and the only light we had to see the actual road was our headlights. The road leading up to the bridge is quite narrow, and if you needed to make a U-turn you had to reverse/drive 2-3 times. Anyways, we got to the bridge and ALOT of grafitti and names were on that bridge. None of us in the car wanted to get out.
We turned the car around and drove slowly down the road. I turned around to look even though the story tells you to look at one of your rear-view mirrors…totally black and creepy. No one in the car wanted to look at any of the mirrors. Just driving up there and looking at the bridge spooked us enough.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Ah, to add to my story…I was told that there were Albinos with shotguns living in the Calaveras Hills…? lol. Seriously, ppl in high school stated that.