Bonnie Gamboa (1955 - 1980)

This case is featured on the TV show: Buried in the Backyard. Season 3 episode 1.

Note: the date of death for Bonnie differs slightly, depending on the source. Find A Grave lists it as December 25, 1980. Other sources list the date that her body was found: October 1st. (See Bonnie Gamboa: Obituary)

Bonnie was the youngest of 11 children. She was born in Arkansas but the family moved to Modesto CA in 1961. She married and began working in a nursing home but, according to her father-in-law, Bonnie became disappointed in how the elderly were treated there and went to (seasonal) work at a local nut packing plant before the birth of her baby.

The Gamboas were a close family: Bonnie visited her husband, Richard Alphonse Gamboa, for lunch at work (he was a cabinet maker) whenever she could and they both visited his father, Richard Sr., almost every day. Desperately wanting to expand their family circle, they tried for a baby for almost 3 years. Finally, on September 22, they had the child of their dreams - a baby boy.

After the birth, the local paper (the Modesto Bee) announced the happy event. Shortly after, the Gamboas received a call offering them a free photography session of the infant. A kind and trusting person, Bonnie accepted the offer. The supposed photographer's name was Mary Alice Wry. It turns out that the perpetrator "Mary Alice Wry" had targeted & solicited multiple families with this offer but Bonnie was the only one to accept.

On the day of the photo session, Richard Gamboa called his wife to remind her of an errand. She answered the phone and told him that the photographer was there. However, when he called about 30 minutes later, the phone wasn't answered. He became concerned and went home. Finding no one there, he went to the hospital fearing that the baby had become ill. They weren't at the hospital and he immediately called the police, and an extensive search ensued.

Four days after their disappearance, on September 29th, the police received a tip. Mary Alice Wry (5 foot 1 inch and 125 lbs and a mother of 3), who claimed to have been pregnant but who never looked pregnant, now had a small infant. When the police investigated, they found the baby (who they identified by some family traits) but not Bonnie. Two days later, the decomposed body of Bonnie Gamboa was found in a local peach orchard. The autopsy showed that she had 57 stab wounds. Mary Wry plead "not guilty." According to contemporaneous reports, Mary had a tubal ligation after her 3rd child and was unable to conceive with her new boyfriend. She therefore decided to kidnap an infant. She was convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. She died in prison sometime around 2016 -2017

According to records, Bonnie's husband Richard killed himself 8 years later. And what happened to baby Gamboa? Read a 2020 update on his life at What Happened to a Baby Kidnapped By His Mother’s Killer?