Unidentified bodies: A tale of two Janes

[kwatson696]

In 1954, when news spread that an unidentified woman was found murdered in Boulder Canyon, the community gushed with donations for a proper funeral. Thirty people attended a service at Columbia Cemetery, and some of them wept.

Fast forward to 2006, when the remains of a woman with no identity were found near a hiking trail in Lyons. The Boulder County Sheriff's Office got a few tips after the case made headlines,

More at link:
http://dailycamera.com/news/2006/nov/13/unidentified-bodies-a-tale-of-two-janes/

[LisainWV]

here's the 54 doe's page on doenetwork...

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/433ufco.html


and her doenetwork info...


Unidentified White Female



The victim was discovered on April 8, 1954 in Boulder Creek, Colorado
Estimated Date of Death: 1 week




Vital Statistics


Estimated age: 17- 20 years old (Dob 1934 - 1937)
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'2"
Distinguishing Characteristics: Light brown hair, almost blonde with a tinge of red. Her hair did not appear to have been dyed or tinted. Appendectomy scar
Dentals: Available. She had a perfect set of teeth with no fillings or cavities.
Clothing: None. Three bobby pins were located.
DNA: Available




Case History
The victim was located on April 8, 1954, near Boulder Falls, a popular tourist spot about nine miles up Boulder Canyon.
She was dumped 300 yards downstream from the parking area of Boulder Falls, popular with both residents and tourists. Her body was thrown from the road down a very steep 29' embankment and landed on rocks on the edge of the creek. Her body was not visible from the road because the embankment was so steep. She was found when 2 college students were jumping from rock to rock in the creek.
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. Few clues have surfaced to aid in identifying the woman.

[LisainWV]

It's sad that the times have changed so that now most of us are too busy to care about someone who died without a name.

[kwatson696]

I know, very sad.



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

Harvey Glatman, a serial killer, was dubbed The Lonely Hearts Killer,by newspapers in California that followed his murders there.


Glatman was executed in September 1959 in California after he was convicted of binding, raping, photographing and murdering three women in 1957 and 1958, according to the CourtTV Crime Librarys biography of Glatman.



Glatman was arrested in Boulder in 1945 for taking a young woman into the mountains, molesting her and then releasing her.

Would'nt someone have missed her???????????

[Richard]

Positive Identification of Victim in 1954 "Jane Doe" Homicide case

MEDIA RELEASE Wednesday, October 28th, 2009


TO: Boulder County Area Media

FROM: Cmdr. Rick Brough, #303-441-3631

RE: Positive Identification of 1954 “Jane Doe” Homicide Victim
Case #04-2822


Sheriff Joe Pelle announced today that a positive identification has been made of the victim in a decades old homicide investigation.

The battered and naked body of “Jane Doe”, an unidentified female homicide victim, was found along the banks of Boulder Creek near Boulder Falls, eight miles west of Boulder, on April 8th, 1954. Despite an intensive investigation at the time, she was never identified. Her body was buried in Boulder’s Columbia Cemetery in a simple grave beneath a donated headstone that read
“Jane Doe – April 1954 - Age About 20 Years”.

In 2004, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, prompted by local Boulder historian Silvia Pettem, resurrected the investigation. With funds contributed by the community, the donated expertise of several forensic authorities, and Pettem’s able assistance as a researcher, Sheriff’s detectives made significant progress in furthering the investigation, utilizing modern investigative methods. Notably, an exhumation in 2004 and an artist’s recreation of “Jane Doe’s” face from her re-constructed skull provided a DNA profile and an image that caught the public’s attention, respectively. The case received extensive regional publicity and was featured in an episode of “America’s Most Wanted” television program. Still, “Jane Doe’s” identity eluded Sheriff’s investigators and a cadre of private volunteer researchers coordinated by Ms. Pettem.

However, late last week that all changed. The Sheriff’s Office was notified by Dr. Terry Melton, president and CEO of Mitotyping Technologies, LLC, of State College, Pennsylvania, that her lab had made a match between “Jane Doe’s” DNA profile and that of a woman who thought the unidentified murder victim might be her long-lost sister.

“Jane Doe” was positively identified as Dorothy Gay Howard, who was reported as missing from Phoenix, Arizona, in March 1954. She was 18 years old at the time of her disappearance. A photograph accompanies this media release.

Ms. Howard’s great-niece, whose identity is not being released at this time at her request, had been following “Jane Doe’s” saga on-line via Ms. Pettem’s “Jane Doe” web-site, www.boulderjanedoe.com (http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/), but did not pursue her suspicions that “Jane Doe” might be her great-aunt “Dot” as investigators had focused on another likely candidate, Katharine Farrand Dyer. However, when Ms. Dyer was discovered alive and well and living in an assisted living center in Australia last month, Dot’s great-niece came forward and proposed her great aunt as a possible candidate for a match for “Jane Doe”. She provided information about another aunt, a younger sibling of Ms. Howard’s, who in turn provided a DNA sample that was then compared against “Jane Doe’s” profile, establishing a matrilineal family match.

Ms. Pettem, who recently authored the book, “Someone’s Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe” which chronicles her quest to identify the young woman, commented, “In recent years, the search for Jane Doe’s identity has spread around the world, touching the lives of thousands of people, including me. I feel sadness for her tragic death, but relief that her family now has closure. I look forward to Dorothy’s real name on a new gravestone, and I’m proud to have played in solving this mystery”.

Sheriff Joe Pelle commended Ms. Pettem’s skills as a researcher and her persistence in pushing the investigation forward, while complimenting Sheriff’s Detective Steve Ainsworth, who has diligently pursued and documented every lead in the case. Together, they built a compelling circumstantial case for naming serial-killer Harvey Glatman (executed in California in 1959 for the murder of three other women) as Ms. Howard’s murderer. Detective Ainsworth said, “With her identification, a major piece of the puzzle has been added. I’m confident now that we will be able to find the missing links that will tie this all together”.

Ms. Howard’s surviving family members have expressed their preference that she remain interred in Boulder’s Columbia Cemetery. Ms. Pettem, with Sheriff Pelle’s cooperation, has announced a fund drive to purchase a new headstone for Ms. Howard. Donations may be made to the “Jane Doe Fund”, c/o the Boulder History Museum, 1206 Euclid Avenue, Boulder, CO 80302

This media release may be found on the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office web-site at: www.bouldersheriff.org (http://www.bouldersheriff.org/)



http://www.bouldercounty.org/newsroom/articlefiles/1880-DotHoward.GIF

Dorothy Gay Howard, age 17, circa 1953

http://www.bouldercounty.org/newsroom/articlefiles/1880-Jane%20Doe%20Press%20Conference%20Photos%20007.jpg

Forensic artist Frank Bender's recreation of Jane Doe's facial features, 2005