In August of 1984, 14-year-old Claire Hough and her best friend Kim Jamer, went on a two week vacation to San Diego, California. They stayed at Claire Hough's grandparents' house. The girls spent their days hanging out on Torrey Pines Beach. One of the nights Kim and Claire snuck out of the house and headed down to the beach where groups of teenagers sat around bon fires drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. 

Kim got panicked that night she felt very uneasy. She said “Somebody could just walk right up by you without you even knowing they were there”. She got scared, had a really bad feeling, and began to cry. Claire agreed to go home that night. Kim had such a bad feeling that she warned Claire to not go out there at night anymore.

Claire’s friend Kim went back home to Rhode Island and On August 23, a night after Kim returned, She went to her bedroom and her grandparents assumed she had gone to bed. But Claire snuck back out to the beach alone.