DONNA Gentile was just 22 when she was sucked into a murky world that ended with her brutal, unsolved death almost 40 years ago.

Donna’s naked, battered body was found 30 miles outside of San Diego in June 1985; theories about the killer ran wild and continue to do so.

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She was found with rocks in her mouth, and gravel shoved down her throat – a surefire sign the killer accused her of being a snitch.

“We will never stop looking for who did this,” cousin Anita Defrancesco told The U.S. Sun at CrimeCon in Nashville.

Just five weeks before her murder, Donna, who was not your ordinary sex worker and was in search of a better life before tragedy struck, had testified against two San Diego cops.

Officer Larry Averch and Lieutenant Carl Black had been in a relationship with her at different times.

Donna, who had been forced to leave home and head to the West Coast for a fresh start, knew the importance of keeping the authorities on their side as she worked the mean, often violent streets.

Averch was demoted after his bosses found out Donna had been taken on a ride-along in his car.

Black, head of the prostitution unit, then took a liking her.

“She was friendly with them because she wanted safety,” Anita, who’s written a book about the shocking tale, admitted. “Yes, there was sex involved, but he kept her out of jail.”

Yet, as jealousy morphed into alleged harassment by the officers, Donna was taken on as an informant and came clean, sparking a scandal that saw both Averch and Black fired.

Black was eventually reinstated after appeal, while Averch harbored resentment at the way he was treated, something he laid bare in his own book about the killing.

There was no evidence to suggest Black was involved in Donna’s death.

Both were disciplined for inappropriate behavior towards prostitutes working on the El Cajon Boulevard between May 1984 and January 1985.

While serving a brief spell in prison two months before her demise, Donna had written a chilling note to her family back in Philadelphia.

“She wrote us a letter and said, ‘Everybody’s telling me to get out of town because I’m in trouble; they’re going to kill me,’ ” Anita admitted. “Donna said her life was in danger.”

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Her prediction was eerily accurate. Just weeks after standing strong against the authorities, she was killed.

“This was the first instance of the Me Too movement,” Anita said. “Back in 1985, it was a big deal for a girl to get two cops like that fired.”

CRIPPLING FEARS

Donna wanted to stay in jail longer, writing a desperate letter to her family, as well as sending a recorded message to her attorney, which she wanted to be released by the media.

“In case I disappear somewhere or am missing, I want my lawyer to give this to the press,” Donna said.

“I have no intention of disappearing or going out of town without letting my lawyer know first. Because of the publicity that I have given a police scandal, this is the reason why I am making this.

“Someone in a uniform with a badge can still be a serious criminal. This is the only life insurance I have.”

“She was worried they were waiting for her to leave,” admitted Anita.

Her worries were warranted.

Yet as the investigation began and the San Diego PD began to pull down the shutters almost immediately, Donna’s family began to smell a rat.

“No serial killer did this,” said Anita, who has dedicated her life to the desperate search for answers and hopes to have a film commissioned about the tragedy. “I am sure the cops did something.”

“I believe her murder was a cover-up,” she continued. “Perhaps of police incompetence or something much more sinister.”

AVENUES EXPLORED

San Diego Sherriff’s department confirmed to The U.S. Sun that the investigation remains open. Detective Brent Spencer refused to divulge any sensitive details, but didn’t rule out a police cover-up.

“We are investigating every lead,” he said when asked about any possible police involvement in the shocking cold case. “We are not ruling anything out.”

The autopsy was the first in San Diego to be sealed – “It’s not unusual,” claimed Spencer – although Anita hopes new DNA technology could be used to help further the investigation.

Averch, who passed away this year, wrote a book entitled Who Killed Donna Gentile? which laid bare the viewpoint of his involvement in the scandal.

Anita, who met him in 2019 for an interview, claims Averch penned the story for “vindication”, such was his anger and desperation at being fired from the San Diego PD.

The book summary states, “On a normal street stop, she told Avrech she had a Lieutenant in her hip pocket and was tired of being harassed.”

“Suspecting corruption, Avrech befriended her to obtain more information. He would be punished again and again for simply doing his job.”

He attempts to point the finger at convicted serial killer and rapist Ronald Elliot Porter. Yet he is behind bars for life, meaning his DNA samples would be readily available for investigators.

CRIME SCENE QUESTIONS

While the search for the killer – who brushed away footprints and tire tracks from the murder scene, which could indicate a professional was at work rather than a random person – consumes Anita, the way her cousin was denigrated and demonized for simply trying to make a better life gnaws at her soul.

Donna, and many others in her situation, were referred to as NHI (No Humans Involved), a code word used by the police to imply a murder victim was “living outside polite society and was of no significance.”

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In 1992, a new task force was established to deal with a spate of prostitute murders. Donna was one of 43 cases investigated, and an artist produced a billboard with her picture alongside the acronym.

It was, tellingly, erected facing the San Diego Police Department’s HQ.

“How could they write off the murder of an innocent woman in this way?” Anita wrote in her 2015 book The Donna Gentile Story.

FIGHT FOR TRUTH

While assessing numerous cold cases in his jurisdiction, Detective Spencer stressed that everything is being done to solve a crime that has mystified San Diego for almost four decades.

Anita, meanwhile, says new leads come in “all the time” yet remains suspicious of how stringently detectives are following them up.

Her book was able to publicize the toxicology report, which showed cocaine in Donna’s system. A bite mark was discovered, as well as semen and saliva, on three separate areas of the body.

There certainly hasn’t been a lack of crime scene evidence.

“I hope new DNA technology could help us,” she said.

However, no matter what transpires, Anita doesn’t want her beloved cousin’s death to be in vain.

“My dream is that our tears will become tears of victory as more and more women speak out,” Anita said.

“I will never stop fighting for the truth.”