Donna Jou

Nineteen-year-old Donna Jou was last seen on June 23, 2007 in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

Background
Donna was a pre-medical student at San Diego State University where she lived in the dorms during the school year. She was living with her mother, Nili Jou durig the summer, attended classes at Santiago Canyon Community College and worked at a Payless shoe store. Her family describes Donna as academically brilliant, but not street smart. She was also very naive & trusting.

Disappearance
On June 23, 2007, Donna left Nili's apartment at 5:30 in the afternoon. She was accompanied by a man named John Steven Burgess (also known as Sinjin Stevens), whom she met over the Internet. Burgess is a convicted sex offender and wasn't on the sex offender registry at the time of Donna's disappearance.

Donna attended a party at Burgess's rented house and later called a male friend, saying that she had locked herself in the bathroom because Burgess was "freaking her out" and she wanted to avoid him. The next evening on June 24, 2007, Nili received two messages on her cell phone from Donna's cell phone. The first message said: "Goodnight Momy. Love you" and the second message read: "battery dead. in san diego and be home later. love you Momy."

Donna's family believes that Donna didn't send these text messages herself because she normally wrote "u" for "you" in text messages, she didn't use the term "Mommy" and if she had used the word, Donna would have known how to spell it correctly. She never came home and was reported missing by her family on June 26, 2007 after she failed to show up for work and school.

In July of 2007, Burgess was arrested for possession of cocaine on the same day he was named a person of interest in Donna's disappearance. Burgess pled guilty to the drug charge, was sentenced to time served and was extradited back to California where he posted bail, was released from jail and returned to Florida.

Burgess was later sentenced to three years in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. In March of 2009, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with Donna's case. Burgess supplied Donna with cocaine and heroin the night of the party; she died from an accidental drug overdose. A day or two after her death, Burgess rented a boat and dispose of Donna's body far off in the Southern California shore.

Burgess was sentenced to five years in prison, but he was released in December of 2011 after serving half of his sentence. In July of 2014, he returned to prison for violating his parole.

Although Donna is presumed deceased, her case is still classified as an endangered missing person.