CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Authorities were appealing to the public for information Tuesday, after their nine-month investigation into the death of an ex-Penthouse centerfold who was found washed up on a Camp Pendleton, Calif., beach failed to turn up any leads.
Anneka Vasta, who was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 1975, was found naked on the shoreline of a restricted area of the base in January, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Her back and neck were broken.
Military police initially thought the slender body was that of a teenager, but later identified it as Vasta.
Her car was found parked at a scenic bluff on Interstate 5, about a mile (1.5 kilometers) from where her body was discovered.
Authorities have concluded that Vasta drowned, but do not know whether she committed suicide — a possibility her family vehemently denies — or met with foul play.
Vasta’s body would not have ended up in the ocean if she jumped or fell from the bluff, investigators said, because it is too far back from the water.
“The main unanswered question that we have is how she got from her vehicle to the water,” Special Agent Rachel McGranaghan said. “We know her life ended in the water, in some circumstance, we just don’t know how.”
Vasta, a Minnesota native who moved to Los Angeles when she was 14, also appeared in the soft-porn film “Caligula” and dated Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione. Later in life, she became a nursing assistant.