- A California woman took to Facebook to allege that her father is a serial killer, spurring an investigation that has so far proven inconclusive, according to authorities
- The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is sharing the timeline of Galina Trefil’s allegations — beginning from when authorities were presented with “recordings, scanned journals and other investigative materials” in early 2023 and spoke with Galina, who claimed she “specifically questioned” her father, Jon Charles Trefil, 86, about one murder in the 1970s, which she alleged he “admitted to”
- Galina further “alleged her father buried numerous people he murdered at a cabin” in the town of Comptche, Calif. — but authorities were unable to locate human remains or “any evidence” to substantiate the claims, per the MCSO
A California woman alleged on Facebook that her father is a serial killer — prompting an investigation by authorities that so far has not led to evidence connecting him to the alleged crimes.
On Monday, March 17, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office announced that it was investigating claims that a local woman, Galina Trefil, made about her father, Jon Charles Trefil, 86, just days earlier on social media.
The MCSO has since revealed that it has been investigating her claims since Jan. 30, 2023, when she first alerted local authorities of her suspicions, and has not found evidence to support the allegations.
“For so many years now I have lived a double life, carried an impossible secret,” Galina wrote on Facebook, per The Times. “Now everyone needs to know. I am the daughter of a serial killer. He wants to tell his story. He actually wants to go public with his crimes. He’s given his blessing for me to do so in his stead.”
Now, the MCSO is sharing the timeline of her allegations — beginning from when authorities were presented with “recordings, scanned journals and other investigative materials” in early 2023 and spoke with Galina, who claimed she “specifically questioned” Jon about one murder in the 1970s, which she alleged he “admitted to.”
As the MCSO noted in its news release, detectives began to research the specific case, finding “some consistencies in the information provided by Galina,” before they went through with a warrant to obtain Jon’s DNA and have the California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services compare the DNA sample to evidence items.
Jon’s DNA “did not match the unknown male contributor DNA profile from the unsolved 1970s murder investigation,” according to the MCSO, which added that the Department of Justice said Jon’s DNA profile was uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System for “routine and regular comparisons to DNA profiles uploaded from unsolved cases” — but the MCSO has not been informed of a match or potential match as of Monday, March 17.
Galina has also “alleged her father buried numerous people he murdered at a cabin” in the town of Comptche, Calif. — but authorities were unable to locate human remains or “any evidence” to substantiate the claims, per the MCSO.
The office was also unable to locate “any expressed confessions to any murders” in Jon’s diaries and journals. And while the daughter said she submitted her and her father’s DNA to “genealogical / ancestry sites,” the MCSO has not “been informed of any investigative leads from these efforts or from other agencies investigating these claims.”
Galina has also referenced “other serial killers identified by her father,” the MCSO said, adding that those “inferences were not substantiated by detectives” and that it was “unable to substantiate the claims of the other individuals alleged to be serial killers or their involvement with homicides in Mendocino County.”
“The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has and will continue to investigate crimes associated with Trefil or allegations that he was a serial killer in Mendocino County. The Sheriff’s Office has not interviewed Trefil directly regarding these allegations due to his fragile medical state and information provided by his family that he will not cooperate with law enforcement,” the MCSO noted.
Authorities added, “When legally justified and supported by probable cause, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office will continue to investigate this matter.”
The MCSO did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for updated information on Thursday, March 20.
Sheriff Matthew Kendall told the Press Democratthat the office spent “a lot of time trying to keep up” with the woman’s social media claims. Sheriff’s Capt. Quincy Cromer added that the MCSO reviewed audio recordings that the daughter submitted, noting that Jon’s voice was inaudible.
“It was very clear that leading questions were provided to him and then when he would make a sound, she would say, ‘Oh, he confesses to this,’ ” Kendall said, per the outlet. “But my detectives could not hear him say yes, no or anything else. A lot of it was just strange moans.”
Authorities are asking anyone with information pertaining to the allegations to contact the MCSO.
“When everything that is brought before us, we run it to the ground and it doesn’t turn out to be as reported, eventually we are going to get to the point where we are kind of stomping on some civil rights here, as well,” Kendall said.
