Missing Sacramento Investigator Found Dead in Vacaville

By Bay City News Service

OAKLAND (BCN) - A woman who was found dead in Vacaville on Friday has been identified as missing 50-year-old Oakland resident Sandra Coke, a federal investigator who worked in Sacramento, Oakland police said Tuesday.

Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said at a brief news conference at police headquarters Tuesday afternoon that the department is unable to more details about the case at this point.

"We're extremely limited in the amount of information we can share with the community," Watson said.

Coke had last been seen by her 15-year-old daughter when she left her home in the 600 block of Aileen Street in Oakland at around 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 4.

She was reported missing after she failed to return home that evening.

Coke's car was found parked in the 800 block of 32nd Street in Oakland on the evening of Aug. 5, and police said they found one of her two cellphones discarded along Interstate Highway 80 in Richmond.

Last Thursday, the search for Coke focused on an area near Lake Chabot behind Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo.

The next day, searchers began scouring Lagoon Valley Park in Vacaville and found a body in a rural area west of I-80, across from the park, Solano County sheriff's officials said.

Coke was an investigator for the federal public defender's office in Sacramento, and many of her colleagues participated in the search for her.

Oakland police have identified convicted sex offender Randy Alana, 56, as a person of interest in Coke's disappearance. The two had dated in the distant past, police said.

Alana is currently in custody on an unrelated parole violation.

Coke is believed to have been with Alana on the night of her disappearance, according to police.

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