Unidentified Girl, Boulder, CO, 8 April 1954

[Richard]

Unidentified Girl
Date Located April 8, 1954
Location Found Boulder Creek, CO
Cause of Death Homicide

Description (Estimates)
Race: Caucasian
Age: 17- 20
Height: 5'2"
Weight: unknown
Eye Color: unknown
Hair Color: Reddish-Blonde
Clothing: none
Scars / Other: appendectomy scar

Case Details:
Two University of Colorado students found the battered woman's nude body on found April 8, 1954, near Boulder Falls, a popular tourist spot about nine miles up Boulder Canyon. She had been at the location for approximately 1 week before being discovered.
A Pathologist concluded the woman was still breathing when she was hurled down a 29-foot embankment into the creek. She had a fractured skull, a fractured jaw and numerous bruises.
She had a perfect set of teeth with no fillings or cavities. She also had an appendectomy scar. Neither her clothing nor other evidence were found, despite an extensive search of the area. Missing person reports circulating at the time, were checked out by the sheriff, without success.
A man was arrested in Oklahoma two days later driving a car with bloodstains on the back seat, as well as a ribbon bearing traces of blond hair. A few days later, he confessed to killing the owner of the car, not the woman.
Few clues have surfaced to aid in identifying the woman.

Investigating Agency Information
Boulder County Sheriff Department
Detective Ainsworth (303) 441-3650 or
(303) 441-3627

Source Information:
Rocky Mountain News and Boulder Jane Doe

Links
http://www.doenetwork.us/hot/hotcase11.html

http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=View_Article&art_date=1999_Oct_19

[Silvia]

The Associated Press will run an article on this case on or after Sunday December 12, 2004. Hopefully, the story will bring in some leads to help identify this murder victim.

[Silvia]

boulderjanedoe.com has a link to today's (Dec. 12th) AP story, as it appears in USA Today.

[Richard]

Towns reopens Jane Doe slaying probe after 50 years

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The death certificate read, "Unidentified Woman." The newspapers christened her "the unfortunate girl." The card with the red gladioli sent to her funeral was addressed "To Someone's Daughter."

Folks never quite knew what to call her, the mystery woman whose battered, nude body was found 50 years ago along a creek in Boulder Canyon. Eventually, she came to be known by the inscription on the small granite headstone placed at her grave:

"Jane Doe. April 1954. Age about 20 years."

Back then, this picturesque university town was a much different place, and murder still a rare atrocity. Jane Doe's story made headlines across Colorado and beyond, yet no one ever came forward to claim her. So the people of Boulder adopted "someone's daughter" as their own.

They donated money for a private cemetery plot rather than see her buried in a pauper's grave. Town florists sent sprays of roses and sweet peas to cover her casket, along with arrangements purchased out of the pockets of strangers. A pastor conducted a nondenominational service, and dozens came in their Sunday best to pay their respects.

Then the murder investigation turned cold, and the nameless victim was all but forgotten.

A half-century later, her remains have been unearthed and her case reopened — thanks to a curious historian who strolled by her grave and came away haunted by a question: "Who is she?"

Now a new generation is trying to find out, and perhaps solve the biggest mystery of all.

Not just who is Jane Doe. But who killed her?

Body found, but few answers

"GIRL FOUND SLAIN NEAR BOULDER!" screamed the headline in Denver's Rocky Mountain News.

It was April 9, 1954, the day before spring break was to begin for the 7,000-plus students at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The previous evening two freshmen, their exams done, had driven nine miles west of town to explore Boulder Falls, a popular picnicking spot in the heart of a canyon filled with cottonwood and pine trees.

When they spotted her remains, they first thought it was a mannequin. "We didn't think it could possibly be a human body," one of the students would tell a reporter.

She lay on some rocks next to the stream. Her body was blackened and bruised — the skull fractured, left arm and several ribs broken. She was about 5-foot-3 and 100 pounds, 17-20 years old. Her hair was strawberry blonde. The coroner estimated she had been dead up to a week, and was probably still alive when her body was dumped.

That was about all investigators would learn of their victim.

No clothes were found, and she wore no jewelry. Her face and hands were so ravaged by animals her features, even eye color, were unrecognizable and a solid fingerprint impossible to obtain. She had no cavities to compare against dental charts.

All that was left to distinguish her were three bobby pins and an appendectomy scar.

Reports of missing girls poured in immediately, overwhelming the three-man sheriff's office. A mother from Pueblo came to view the body, while letters arrived from such places as Tuttle, Okla.; Excelsior Springs, Mo.; Crooksville, Ohio.

"Am writing you in regards to the unidentified girl ..."

"I have a daughter who has been missing since Feb. 13 ..."

One included a yearbook snapshot of a smiling young woman.

"We got tips from far, far away as well as a lot of local ones. I couldn't begin to tell you how many, but I guess hundreds would cover it," recalls 85-year-old Dock Teegarden, who served as undersheriff in 1954. He spent weeks searching mountain cabins for clues and investigating leads. "All of them checked out."

The hunt for the killer also proved fruitless. Potential suspects were questioned but found to have no connection to the case. At one point, blood was found in a car with Colorado plates in Oklahoma, but the driver admitted killing someone else.

Boulder was on the verge of a population boom, but at the time of the slaying, it remained a quiet, close-knit college town, leading investigators to conclude the victim wasn't a local — or surely someone would have known something.

"There was a lot of sympathy, of course," Teegarden says. "Who was the girl? Why was she up there? A lot of people felt, 'That could've been my daughter.'"

And so, when officials announced plans to bury her at Columbia Cemetery in an unmarked pauper's grave, people came forward with donations — $1, $10, offered by a patrolman, a laundry owner, an electrician, the feed store operator and others. The $95 needed for a private plot was quickly raised.

A granite manufacturer began work on a headstone, while Howe Mortuary donated the casket and its chapel for a service.

Two weeks after she was found, about 30 people filled the funeral home pews. During the service, at each place where the minister would have said the name of the deceased, he simply paused.

The next day, a newspaper photograph showed a crowd of men in suits and women wearing dresses and pill box hats standing before a flower-strewn casket at the cemetery. The headline read: "Will This Grave Mark an Unsolved Mystery?"

Casket, case reopened

On a sunny morning this past June, a small band of folks gathered at Columbia Cemetery once more.

"Let's have a moment of silence for Jane Doe," a sheriff's lieutenant said before a backhoe scraped away the first clump of earth.

Standing on the grass, Silvia Pettem imagined the day 50 years earlier, when another cadre of Boulder citizens had assembled there. "They were burying her; we're digging her up," Pettem thought.

"But it was still a group of people who cared," she would later remark, "and wondered who she was."

Pettem has wondered more than most.

It was 1996 when she first discovered Jane Doe. A longtime Boulder historian, Pettem was part of a "Meet the Spirits" cemetery reenactment in which volunteers portray the dearly departed. Her character was a university professor, but it was Jane Doe — whose headstone she spotted nearby — who caught her eye.

Though a performer depicted the mystery woman — "Someone with a little acting flair could get into it," Pettem says — the historian found herself returning to the grave, unsatisfied with a made-up life story.

"Who is she?" she wondered.

Three years later, Pettem revived Jane Doe's tale in a history column she writes for the Boulder Daily Camera. In the newspaper's research room, in the "murders" file under "U" for Unidentified, she found a stack of brittle articles from 1954.

Pettem was hooked.

She wondered if Jane Doe could finally be identified — given today's advancements in DNA and facial reconstruction. She wrote the FBI to see what it knew of the case; the letter was returned with a note reading, "Too vague."

But Pettem, who has spent years probing records about Boulder's past, wasn't about to stop there. "A relentless sleuth of the highest order," is how the Boulder Weekly describes the 57-year-old grandmother, whose mild manner belies her Nancy Drew instincts.

In 2000, she contacted the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, but it no longer had records on the case. Over the next three years, Pettem set about building her own file.

She visited Howe Mortuary before it closed, and found the funeral record for Jane Doe and an envelope still containing cards from those who sent flowers. She contacted newspapers and purchased old photographs of the investigation and funeral. She posted a query on a genealogy Web site until a friend created a site solely dedicated to Jane.

Finally, in the fall of 2003, Pettem presented her findings to sheriff's investigators. What were the chances, she asked, of reopening the case and exhuming Jane Doe?

Sheriff Joe Pelle and his detectives were enthusiastic but said they couldn't justify spending taxpayer money on such a cold case. Pettem came up with a solution. What if, as they had 50 years earlier, the citizens of Boulder donated the costs?

On Feb. 4, 2004, Pelle held a news conference announcing his department would reopen the case if enough money could be raised to fund an investigation. Then Pettem spoke, telling the story of Jane Doe and imploring the community to pull together again "for this unknown victim."

The money flowed in — donations ranging from $5 to $1,000, more than $3,600 to date.

"I hope you will be successful," one contributor wrote. "Somewhere a family still wonders where she is."

Searching for Jane Doe

The exhumation took two days. A mortician who once worked at Howe supplied the equipment.

Jane Doe's remains have since been shipped to a lab, where forensic anthropologists recently finished reassembling the skull. Sheriff's detectives hope a facial reconstruction expert can now create a sculpture of what Jane Doe might have looked like, so they can circulate a sketch that a long-lost relative or friend might recognize.

Other forensic analysts are working to extract a DNA sample from her remains. The experts are all members of an organization Pettem tracked down earlier this year that does its work pro bono.

The private donations will be saved to pay for DNA tests, should detectives find a possible family member.

But time is running out. Sheriff's Lt. Phil West stresses that authorities can't even begin looking for Jane Doe's killer until they know who she was.

"Any siblings she might have had — they're probably in their late 60s or early 70s. If we're going to make an identification, it'd have to be now," he says. "This is our last, best chance."

Pettem understands that all too well. Now and then, she returns to the cemetery where Jane Doe first piqued her interest, and stands near her now-empty grave. What began as curiosity has evolved into a personal cause for Pettem, who just can't fathom losing a loved one and never knowing what became of that person.

"If Jane Doe were my sister or mother," she once wrote, "I would hope that someone would care enough to research her remains for me."

She still wonders, "Who is she?" Perhaps she was escaping an abusive husband or boyfriend. Perhaps she was a hitchhiker or a runaway.

Then Pettem imagines something else: The day when Jane Doe might be laid to rest for good. Instead of strangers all around, Pettem pictures an elderly brother or sister, nieces and nephews, or cousins. Some of her Boulder family, too.

"I want to be in Iowa or Tennessee or wherever she came from," the historian says wistfully, "at that burial."

And wherever that place is, Pettem envisions a new headstone to mark it.

One with Jane Doe's real name at last.

Links:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-12-11-jane-doe_x.htm

http://boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=Story

[Silvia]

Boulder Jane Doe's skull has been reassembled. Soon a drawing (facial reconstruction) will be done. When that is completed, the drawing will be aired on a special TV program on Boulder Jane Doe on "America's Most Wanted." No one has a date yet, but we're hoping January or February.

[Richard]

Were any photos taken, or X-rays made of this girl? While that would be standard procedure today, was it also the case in 1954? Also, what about finger prints, blood type, etc?

[Silvia]

These are all good questions with discouraging answers. First of all, all of the Sheriff's files from this whole decade are missing. According to newspaper reports, autopsy photos were taken but they, too, have been lost or destroyed. (They are not in the Sheriff's Office, the mortuary, the newspaper files, the historical society, the state archives, the library, etc. etc.) The victim's teeth were examined, but (according to newspaper reports) she had not had any dental work, and those records are gone, too. Also, from the newspaper reports, there was mention of the local authorities trying to get at least one fingerprint, but her body had been exposed to the elements and to animals for approximately one week, and her fingertips had been gnawed away. Nothing was said about blood type.

On the brighter side, we have had one good response to the recent publicity on this case. Twylia May Embrey (see new thread) from North Platte NE could be Boulder Jane Doe. See the website www.boulderjanedoe.com for a link to the 1/8/05 article on the Twylia/Jane connection. It will take some time, but DNA will ultimately resolve this mystery.

[WasBlind]

Were any photos taken, or X-rays made of this girl? While that would be standard procedure today, was it also the case in 1954? Also, what about finger prints, blood type, etc?

Sadly, nothing is standard procedure today. Nothing is taken but photographs, in almost all Doe cases. They are just starting to take dental impressions and/or dental x-rays, and if possible, sometimes fingerprints. Decomposition prevents that in many cases. Same with blood typing, if all you have is bones, there can be no blood sample drawn. Apparently, one or two states have finally figured out that exhumation is more costly than testing when a body is above ground.

Sadly, probably not much has changed in the past 50 years.
I have just invited someone to this thread, who just recently went through the waiting on a possible Doe match. LE had NOTHING significant, not even the blood type, even though this Doe was not decomposing, and blood was available for sample.

It is my understanding, there would not be anything taken other than preliminary photographs, on the standand Doe case. I do think more states are doing panoramic X-rays for possible dental matches, thank God. But, in order to get a dental match, the family would have to have access to their missing loved ones dental records. Many, sadly, do not have these records available.

That's why we are currently fighting for Doe laws to be changed. There is no national law other than NCIC, in so far as data being obtained at the time. Last I heard, each state is doing their own thing, and each city is doing their own thing. The bottom line is money. If a city cannot afford it, the testing isn't done.

In other words, many of our nation's loved ones are "shelved" as Does. The information, what little there is, is processed slowly according to each states individual budget. Doe's are not a priority unless someone comes forward with a probable match. Not possible, mind you, probable. The only way any money will be spent, if it there is a very good chance there is a match. If not, the family can be prepared to cough up the money for exhumation and DNA or pulp testing. IF we had set regulations in place, some sort of national guideline, a lot of time and grief would be saved. The waiting is hard enough when a loved one is missing. Multiply that by one million after a family gets a call there "might be a match to a Doe"......"can you send dental records?"

I can refer you to the persons currently pursuing this legislation, should you so desire it. It's going to take a lot to get lawmakers to hear this plea. We've been trying for as long as I can remember.

God bless all who care for the missing, and the unclaimed.
They are all someone's child. Loved and missed.

With love and HOPE, Lanie

[Silvia]

Yes, please do send on your reference to the persons currently pursuing a set of regulations for Doe victims. I would like to contact the legislators. Thanks.

[Rle7]

The life-size bust of a young woman found dead 51 years ago in Boulder Canyon was unveiled this afternoon in hopes of identifying a woman known only as Jane Doe.

The young blonde's body was exhumed last summer by forensic experts and sheriff's detectives from her grave in Boulder's historic Columbia Cemetery, and a reconstructed likeness was built from the pieces.

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_3852166,00.html

registered site

[Richard]

The life-size bust of a young woman found dead 51 years ago in Boulder Canyon was unveiled this afternoon in hopes of identifying a woman known only as Jane Doe.

The young blonde's body was exhumed last summer by forensic experts and sheriff's detectives from her grave in Boulder's historic Columbia Cemetery, and a reconstructed likeness was built from the pieces.

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_3852166,00.html

registered site
The Daily Camera has been covering this story for some time. Below are some of the stories that they have done on this case:


Sculptor gives Jane Doe a face (http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_3853563,00.html) - 77.4%
Beth Conour said lying on her stomach on the cold, hard rungs of a ladder in the rain for two days was worth it. The Boulder County Coroner's office medical investigator took off work last summer to help a local journalist to determine the identity of a young woman found murdered in Boulder Canyon a half-century ago.
released: 06/14/2005

Authorities to reveal face of Jane Doe (http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_3844895,00.html) - 81.7%
Jane Doe, the victim of one of Boulder County s most perplexing homicides, soon will have a face.
released: 06/10/2005

CNN to spotlight Jane Doe case (http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_3804410,00.html) - 79.7%
The efforts of a local historian to solve a 51-year-old Boulder murder mystery will be recognized on the CNN show "Paula Zahn Now," tentatively scheduled to air at 6 p.m. today.
released: 05/25/2005

Pettem: Progress made on Jane Doe case in past year (http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/features_columnists/article/0,1713,BDC_2476_3715838,00.html) - 77.4%
Fifty-one years ago this month, a young woman was found murdered in Boulder Canyon. Although she is still unidentified and her re-opened case is still unsolved, the Boulder County Sheriff s Office and several hardworking forensic specialists have made progress in their common goal to at least give her back her name.
released: 04/21/2005

Pettem: Boulder residents still care about Jane Doe (http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/our_town/article/0,1713,BDC_2518_2825907,00.html) - 77.4%
Exactly 50 years ago today, an unidentified young woman was laid to rest in Boulder's Columbia Cemetery. The slender victim had been stripped, severely beaten, and left to die on the banks of Boulder Creek.
released: 04/22/2004

1

[Rle7]

There was a good photo of the sculpture in my previous pst and link, but now the Daily Camera has deleted that article and photo. I live in Boulder County, so I will try to contact them today to get a photo of the sculpture back on the forum. I don't know why they would do that, unless the photo was copyrighted or something. I would think they would want national exposure of the sculpture itself to solve this 51-year-old case.

[Richard]

There was a good photo of the sculpture in my previous pst and link, but now the Daily Camera has deleted that article and photo. I live in Boulder County, so I will try to contact them today to get a photo of the sculpture back on the forum. I don't know why they would do that, unless the photo was copyrighted or something. I would think they would want national exposure of the sculpture itself to solve this 51-year-old case.
At one time, many newspaper type websites could be read and searched for free. It seems that now more and more you have to "register" or subscribe to them in order to read their articles, and then you have to "buy" articles that are over two weeks old. They also want your e-mail address to sell to on-line marketeers and solicitors.

[Silvia]

Please see www.boulderjanedoe.com
I have posted the photo, plus all TV and newspaper articles.
I will also email the photo to anyone (and any website) who wants it.
Thank you all for your interest in this case. We WILL identifiy Boulder Jane Doe.

[Richard]

Please see www.boulderjanedoe.com (http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/)
I have posted the photo, plus all TV and newspaper articles.
I will also email the photo to anyone (and any website) who wants it.
Thank you all for your interest in this case. We WILL identifiy Boulder Jane Doe.
I urge anyone to look at the bust of this girl. It is a work of art in itself. Hopefully it will lead to a resolution in this case.

Silvia, did the sculptor, Mr. Bender, use only facial bones for his reconstruction, or did he also have autopsy and crime scene photos available to him?

[Silvia]

The "bust" of Jane Doe was based only on her reconstructed skull.

[pardilia]

*bump* :)

She still hasn't been ID'd and there isn't much going on in the media now since the unveiling of the bust and finding out that she definitely is *not* Twylia May Embrey.

Seems the only way it'll get solved is if someone remembers something about a relative who lost touch with their family. :(

[shadowangel]

Here's another of my "back to the basics" questions...Is it known if her hair was naturally blonde? I talked with my Mommy-in-law, she said the "reddish blonde" or orangey color was often the result of store-bought hair-coloring products available then (or out of a peroxide bottle).

[camracrazy]

I wonder if posting her story at genealogy sites would help. I know in tracing my ancestors, I have found that sometimes they suddenly "disappear" from where they were living. Usually, you assume that means they moved or were deceased, but I don't think many genealogists would think to look at Doe sites for a missing "Aunt Jane".

Just a thought.

[shadowangel]

Okay, dug through some archives for the time period, filled up a page with notes in just one hour.....

Here are a few of the missing girls who have something in common with the Boulder Jane Doe, including time frame and physical attributes (as usual, I consider height to be within limits if only an inch or two off)...

Donna Hriesik-missing from Mt. Gilead, OH, as of 02/22/52. Miss Hriesik, age 15, stood 5'2" and weighed approximately 130. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. A friend reported that her and Donna were hitch hiking, the friend returned home while Miss Hriesik supposedly continued on to TN. I could find no further info (NFI).
Janet Sheperd-missing from McCook, NE as of 09/23/53. 17 year-old Janet disappeared after leaving home to mail a letter. Janet was reported to be 5"5' with blonde hair and blue eyes. NFI.
Dianne Butler-missing as of August 12 of '52 from Newport RI. 17 year-old Dianne, 5'4" and 110, was believed to have run away from home. She had red hair which she was known to dye and brown eyes. NFI.

[pardilia]

I'd really encourage you to post this information on the message board at the site set up for the boulder jane doe:

http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=Message_Board

I'd love to do research and stuff, but well, honestly I'm a newbie and mostly a lurker, this case has just really intrigued me. I wouldn't know the first thing about researching all this stuff. :)

I'm just a poor college student and rather swamped with school. =)

[smile22]

when u have time to research start online through doenetwork.org do search engines on the person u are researching look for message boards hook up with other sleuthers and share info. go to the local library and search in microfilm on the person usualy the bigger papers such as the ny times boston globe all have stuff on national cases and missing persons and unidentified. when i first started researching the case of janice pockett what drew me to her case was she lived in my state 45 minnuts away she was 7 some sites say 8 when she vanished riding her bike in the summer of 73. ( i was born in 81) 8 years after she vanished. shes considered a cold case they had no solid leads some guy confessed to her murder but he was crazy and sick and old and had his dates off and where he led them to where the body was no body was found. also web boards are good like they have an unsolved mystries one. alot of the case on websleuths can be found on unsolved


such as the
3 women who went missing in ok mother was visiting her son ( he lived with ex) stepdoughter and sister in law all went and never came back ex husbands family is a main suspect.

and a lot more but thats the only one i can really remember

good luck in ur sleuthing if u want pm and i can give u a listing of some good websites to start ur search

[shadowangel]

Was the area where Jane Doe was found easily accessible by car? The articles posted indicate the area was a popular picnicing spot...Would one have to park near a local highway and hike into the area, or was there parking close by?

[mysteriew]

Jane Doe, the subject of one of the city's enduring mysteries, will be featured on a national television show and during a simulated resurrection at a very old cemetery.

"America's Most Wanted" is doing a segment on Jane Doe and will come to Boulder on Oct. 23 to film the annual "Meet the Spirits" resurrection at historic Columbia Cemetery.

Thirty of Boulder's most notorious and famous dead people will be represented. Among the scholars, scalawags and shady ladies are bounty hunter Tom Horn; photographer "Rocky Mountain Joe" Sturtevant; the University of Colorado's first female professor, Mary Rippon; and prostitute Marietta Kingsley.

This June, forensics experts made public the reconstructed skull and facial features of the woman, based on an exhumation of her body and careful work by renowned forensics sculptor Frank Bender.

They hope the publicity will lead to someone finally identifying her, or even to the killer's capture.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4142318,00.html

[talelights]

See the website www.boulderjanedoe.com for further information on this case. People Magazine may have an article on Boulder Jane Doe the week of Nov. 14 and America's Most Wanted to air a segment on the Boulder Jane Doe in the near future.

Meanwhile we search for information on a Jane Doe found October 31, 1958 near Skinner Ridge Road, ten miles southwest of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. She was nicknamed "Little Miss X" and is thought to be, ten-year-old Wyoming girl, Connie Smith, missing from summer camp in Connecticut, July 1952. But these remains have not been located since 1962 when they were compared to dental records of Connie Smith and no positive identification was made.

Information on the entombment of these remains is now a mystery. They could be in Williams, AZ but information is sketchy. Newspaper clipping suggest Denver, CO, Spearfish, SD or Newcastle, WY.

If this is not Connie Smith we need to have this Jane Doe listed on a date base. Assistance is requested to locate these Jane Doe remains.

[Silvia]

Thanks for everyone's continued interest in Boulder Jane Doe. Yes, People Magazine gave us part of a page in their Nov. 14th issue but, so far, it hasn't brought in any new leads. The America's Most Wanted program is in the editing stage, no air date yet.
I am very interested in ALL Jane Does of the 1950s, and I will help in the search for the identity of "Little Miss X." I would like to know more about what was found and where. Please feel free to contact me through the message board at www.boulderjanedoe.com.

[Silvia]

This thread ("Unidentified girl, Boulder CO, 8 April 1954") is being continued under Boulder Jane Doe. It just makes more sense and is easier to find in searches. Thanks to all for your continued interest and support. For more detail on this case see www.boulderjanedoe.com.

[Richard]

This thread ("Unidentified girl, Boulder CO, 8 April 1954") is being continued under Boulder Jane Doe. It just makes more sense and is easier to find in searches. Thanks to all for your continued interest and support. For more detail on this case see www.boulderjanedoe.com. (http://www.boulderjanedoe.com.)
I'm not married to the origional title and have no objection to the change. The old title was chosen to describe the type of case, place and date. It got 1,350 hits in 15 months. Maybe the new one will get more interest generated. The case is a fascinating one.

[Richard]

What is the status of the DNA testing which was mentioned in earlier posts and newspaper articles? Was significant DNA material obtained, and have any conclusions been reached?

[Silvia]

Two DNA profiles have been done on Boulder Jane Doe. The first was nuclear and was taken from her leg bone. The second was mitochrondrial and was taken from her tooth. The second one was done under more controlled conditions and is considered more accurate. Neither, in themselves, however, tell us anything. They are a baseline profile to match to the DNA of a possible relative who we hope will come forward. It's interesting, however, that even with both DNA profiles ruling out Twylia May Embrey, just yesterday Frank Bender (who sculpted BJD's facial reconstruction) was quote by the North Platte Telegraph that he STILL believes Twylia is BJD. You can read this article on www.boulderjanedoe.com.

[talelights]

"We're looking at a serial killer from the late 1950's by the name of Harvey Glatman."

Boulder, Colorado investigators announced they may have a suspect in a 50-year old murder case, but the victim's identity still remains a mystery.

http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=Articles

[Hollow]

I found an old newspaper archive listing a 14 year old girl from Mexia Texas missing named Doris Earline Lummus. She had blonde hair blue eyes, was five foot 2 inches. Last seen wearing a blue dress, an olive drab Army "Ike" jacket and black ballerina shoes. The article was from January 7th, 1954 and they said she'd been missing since New Years Day. I don't know if she was ever located or not.

Sorry I'm posting on this thread, but I like this one better because it has all Boulder Jane Doe's info right on top.:)

[shadowangel]

I found an old newspaper archive listing a 14 year old girl from Mexia Texas missing named Doris Earline Lummus. She had blonde hair blue eyes, was five foot 2 inches. Last seen wearing a blue dress, an olive drab Army "Ike" jacket and black ballerina shoes. The article was from January 7th, 1954 and they said she'd been missing since New Years Day. I don't know if she was ever located or not.

Sorry I'm posting on this thread, but I like this one better because it has all Boulder Jane Doe's info right on top.:)
Lummus "ran away" from her husband Edward (another 14-year old TX bride?). She wrote her mother 3 weeks later from CA asking her to send some of her things, stating she was living with a friend and her husband. She filed for divorce from Edward in June. I believe Edward had been arrested for theft.

[Richard]

"We're looking at a serial killer from the late 1950's by the name of Harvey Glatman."
Boulder, Colorado investigators announced they may have a suspect in a 50-year old murder case, but the victim's identity still remains a mystery.
http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=ArticlesHarvey Glatman began his criminal in early adolescence when he was imprisoned for Robbery in 1945. He was identified at that time as someone needing psychiatric treatment.

Released from prison in 1951, Glatman opened a TV repair shop in Los Angeles and took up photography as a hobby, specializing in "glamour shots".

In 1957, he hired a model, Judy Dull, 19. On 1 August 1957, he raped, killed and photographed her. He then buried her body in the desert, where she was later found on 29 December 1957.

Other known victims of Glatman (who used the aliasses of Johnny Glynn, George Williams, and Frank Johnson) included:

- Shirley Bridgeford, 24, Raped, bound, murdered and dumped in the desert on 9 March 1958.

- Ruth Mercado, also bound, raped photographed and murdered (by garotte) in the desert in 1958.

- Lorraine Vigil who, on 27 October 1958, was taken to the desert at gunpoint. She was wounded in the leg, but managed to get the weapon away from Glatman and held him until a passing highway police officer stopped and arrested Glatman.

Glatman's home yielded photographic evidence of his crimes and he was convicted of murder in San Diego, CA in November 1958. He was executed on 18 August 1959 in San Quentin's gas chamber. A quite reasonable time between crime and punishment.

Incidently, in this case the death penalty proved to be a very effective deterrant. Harvey Glatman has not committed a single crime since 18 August 1959.

[Silvia]

I've been researching Glatman's years between 1945 and 1957. His first arrest was in Denver in May 1945. Then another in BOULDER in July 1945, for abducting a woman and forcing her at gunpoint to walk with him up Sunshine Canyon where they stayed throughout the night. (He was charged with molestation, and this will be the the subject of my history column in the Boulder Daily Camera on 4/9/06.) Then another arrest in Denver in Sept. 1945. In Nov.1945, Glatman pled guilty to the May arrest and was sentenced to the CO State Penitentiary. He was released in July 1946, went to NY, committed more crimes, and spent time at Sing Sing prison. He was paroled in 1951, returned to Denver, was under the care of a psychiatrist, and lived with his parents. In DENVER, he began hiring women as models and photographed them. He also worked as a TV repairman. In January 1957, he moved to LA and continued hiring and photographing women, but by then he also raped and then murdered them. Somewhere between 1945 and 1957 he escalated from molestation to murder, and that's why I believe it was possible that Boulder Jane Doe could have been his first victim, in 1954.

[Richard]

I've been researching Glatman's years between 1945 and 1957. .... He was paroled in 1951, returned to Denver, was under the care of a psychiatrist, and lived with his parents. In DENVER, he began hiring women as models and photographed them. He also worked as a TV repairman. ... Somewhere between 1945 and 1957 he escalated from molestation to murder, and that's why I believe it was possible that Boulder Jane Doe could have been his first victim, in 1954.
California authorities, in 1958, were mainly interested in convicting Glatman of crimes committed in California. However, they may have obtained photographs and evidence of other crimes committed elsewhere. Do you know if there might be evidence or photos still on file in California which could tie Glatman to the Boulder Jane Doe?

[Silvia]

We certainly are looking for photos of the young women Glatman photographed in Denver. We've made many inquiries, but so far have not located any of them. But we know they existed at one time, as Glatman was interrogated about them when he was arrested in CA in October 1958. But, as you say, the CA authorities were more concerned about the CA murders, so my guess is the CO photos may not have been saved.

[Richard]

We certainly are looking for photos of the young women Glatman photographed in Denver. We've made many inquiries, but so far have not located any of them. But we know they existed at one time, as Glatman was interrogated about them when he was arrested in CA in October 1958. But, as you say, the CA authorities were more concerned about the CA murders, so my guess is the CO photos may not have been saved.
I do not know what the laws are in California regarding archival of evidence in a capital murder case, but I would think that there has to be a set of specific guidelines regarding what has to be kept, and what may be disposed of. Even if other seized photos were taken from Glatman's house or office, a detailed inventory of all items would have to be maintained, along with their ultimate fate. Certainly, all evidence introduced in trial has to be kept, but it is also possible that photos NOT used to build the case against him or introduced as courtroom evidence may have been saved - for the very reason that you are seeking them.

It is most likely that Glatman kept any and all photos taken in Colorado with him, and that those were seized during the search of his possessions. After all, it is not the job of the searching police officers to make on-the-spot determinations of the identity and value of each and every photo while conducting the search. They would have taken it ALL.

If Boulder police authorities were to send a formal request to the California Department of Justice, outlining this case and suspicions about Glatman as a potential suspect, perhaps a more thorough searching of their archives might turn up something. At the very least, they should state in writing what was taken, and what became of it.

[PonderingThings]

http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/profiling/hazelwood/1.html

This is from an interview with Roy Hazelwood, FBI Profiler (referring to the case of Harvey Glatman:

An interesting note to that story is that the homicide detective assigned to that case was a guy named Pierce Brooks. He said to himself, "If he's killed this many women here, he's bound to have killed women in other places." So he went to the library and did a paper search, looking for similar killings. Then he went to his police chief in Los Angeles and said, "Look, I think we need to buy a computer, enter these kinds of cases, and see if we can't match these cases together." The chief scoffed at the idea, because a computer at that time would cost one million dollars and take up a city block. Then in the early eighties, Brooks got the Department of Justice to host a conference at Sam Houston State University, and that's when VICAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, was born. Glatman's case started that whole process. It was decided that the FBI would run it out of Quantico and in 1985, we hired Brooks to become the first director of VICAP, because it was his idea. So I got to meet him, and I said to him, "You worked the Harvey Glatman case." He was surprised. "No one knows that," he said. I told him I'd studied it. He ended up giving me the original photographs that Glatman took. It even had Brooks's initials from the day he seized them as evidence. So all those years later, from 1960 to 1985, Glatman came full cycle in my life.

[Silvia]

I'm in contact with Roy Hazelwood. I don't believe he still has these photos (I think he would have mentioned them!), but I just emailed him and asked him. Will keep you posted! Thanks.

[Silvia]

Roy Hazelwood says that the photos were only of the California victims. Too bad!

[anthrobones]

Bumping up her thread

[Richard]

Links to other WS threads concerning Boulder Jane Doe:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44628

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35695

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35662