ID ID- Donna Lemon, 20, nurse from Montana, fatally stabbed, Snake River, 5 July 1973

[dotr]

[URL='https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FEastIdahoColdCases%2Fposts%2Fin-early-july-1973-donna-lemon-was-a-19-year-old-practical-nurse-from-the-gallat%2F492224724316984%2F&psig=AOvVaw0eFdwlCL694uoZFvp9D896&ust=1626017105787000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAcQjRxqFwoTCJCLnvLn2PECFQAAAAAdAAAAABAP'][/URL]

Facebook
''Forty-seven years ago a young nurse from Montana was viciously murdered 160 miles northeast of Twin Falls. To date, no one has been held accountable for the horrific crime, and it remains one of Idaho's oldest active cold cases.


On July 9, 1973, the badly decomposed body of a 20-year-old nurse from Bozeman, Montana, was found by a passerby in some brush near the Snake River, in the city of Idaho Falls. Her name was Donna Lemon, and her story was recently shared on the Idaho Cold Cases Facebook page.

No one has been able to explain why she ended up in Idaho Falls. Its been reported that on July 5, 1973, she failed to meet a friend for a planned horseback ride in the community of Big Sky. Just days later, her green Mustang was found abandoned near the present day city's public library. Details of the case were also recently shared in a February, 2020, true crime podcast.

Its been said (but not verified) that partial DNA was found at the murder site on Milligan Road, very close to the Snake River. This type of testing of human remains wasn't introduced until a few years after the murder of Lemon. It makes me wonder that if there were DNA traces not consistent with the victim's, when was the last time someone attempted to find a match.

Google Maps; Milligan Road, Idaho Falls
Lemon was 5'7", and weighed just 110 pounds at the time of her death. So, she might have been easy prey for her murderer. There is a very good chance this pathetic individual is still alive, and is possibly in his or her early to middle sixties.

If you have any information on the July, 1973 stabbing murder of Donna Lemon, near Milligan Road in Idaho Falls, please call the tip line at (844) TIP-4040.''



Read More: UNSOLVED: Could A 1973 Nurse Killer Still Be In Southeast Idaho? | UNSOLVED: Could A 1973 Nurse Killer Still Be In Southeast Idaho?

 

[dotr]

May 19 2022

Cold Case: The Unsolved Murder of Donna Lemon

In 1973, the body of Montana resident Donna Lemon was found near the Snake River in Idaho

www.krtv.com

''It’s an unsolved mystery nearly 50 years old. On a summer night in 1973, the body of Montana resident Donna Lemon was found near the Snake River in Idaho.''

Rbbm, Very lengthy detailed article..

Unsolved Montana: Who Killed Donna Lemon?

On Monday, July 9, 1973, at approximately 7:42 p.m., the body of a young woman...

www.montanapress.net

On Monday, July 9, 1973, at approximately 7:42 p.m., the body of a young woman was discovered near the river’s greenish-bluish shoreline, a sunny, radiant sky above.

''The falling rays of the evening sun streamed through the trees off Milligan Road, lighting a wooded area of trees and bushes where, about 15 feet from the edge of the tributary and several steps from the road, a local man spotted a heavy, awkward lump in the ankle-high scrub.

Closer inspection revealed the bloody and begrimed features of a prostrate Caucasian female with light brown hair, dark frame glasses, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, and weighing about 110 pounds. Though fully clothed, the body was an unsightly mash of cuts, slashes, and bruises, emanating the metallic tang of caked blood. Her throat cut, she bled to death after the main artery in her neck was severed.

The victim was stabbed multiple times, though knife wounds on the woman’s right side “were apparently not deep enough to have mortally wounded her,” according to a later coroner’s report. No determination was rendered regarding whether she was sexually assaulted. Details were scarce, though Sheriff Blaine Skinner told the media that he believed the kill site was the location where the body was discovered. ''

''Though DNA technology was still in its embryonic stages, a partial palm print and a number of fingerprints were preserved.''

Witness accounts, however, place Donna at Stacey’s Old Faithful Bar and Steakhouse, at 300 Mill Street, in Gallatin Gateway, at between roughly 2:30 and 4 p.m. There, according to bartender Jean Holland, Donna entered the bar, ordered a single can of Olympia to go, paid with a $1 bill, received the change, and then left. This transaction, which from start to finish lasted no more than five minutes, remains the last known or confirmed public sighting of Donna Lemon. Patty Wells, a young woman from Gallatin Gateway, told police she believed she saw Donna driving east towards Highway 191. Wells did not see anyone else in the vehicle with Lemon. ''

“Her favorite thing to do was to drive up Gallatin Valley,” recalls Donna’s friend and former roommate Diana Mihalovich. “She would sit by the river and have a beer and smoke a cigarette, and contemplate life, and then head on home. Something I have thought that she might have done on the day she was last seen.”

 

[Richard]

I wonder if she might have been a victim of Ted Bundy. His first "known" or documented murder occurred in early 1974, and it is known that at least one later victim's body was found in Idaho.

The narrative summary makes it sound like her abduction and murder was likely a crime of opportunity following a chance encounter with a violent killer. Much like many of Bundy's known attacks on young women.

 

[Pipsissiway_Potts]

I don't know where to begin. This is a truly baffling case. Her sister and her friend say Donna never would have picked up a stranger. Sometimes the unexpected happens, so I'm not sure it's an absolute. They both speculated the killer was someone known to Donna. Who among her acquaintances would force her to drive them to Idaho Falls and then savagely kill her? Did she know during the entire drive this person was planning to kill her? It's a three and a half hour drive. That's a long, long time to think about being murdered. Did this person threaten her her with a weapon, but promise to let her go when they got to Idaho Falls? it's all very weird. Regardless of how maternal and caring Donna was, I don't think she willingly drove anyone, a stranger or someone known to her, three and a half hours to their destination and only have to turn and burn towards home. That's at least seven hours of her time. And then having to pack for a trip and leave the next morning. Besides, she wouldn't have left her friend wondering where she was for the horse riding. IMHO Donna's killer threatened her in some fashion, regardless of whether she knew them or not. I think also, IMHO, that this person had a compelling reason to go to Idaho Falls. That isn't just a random location. The person either had a vehicle of their own, family, friends, something was there for them.

I'm inclined to think it was someone she barely knew, who was attractive, might've flirted with her before, and flagged her down, or came upon her when she was having her beer and a cigarette. Maybe her killer had the excuse that they missed their ride, broke down, or were left in a remote location without a means of getting back into town. It's likely the person was a journeyman of sorts, having as I said before, a vehicle, family, friends in Idaho Falls, some connection to the area. Perhaps this person knew of Donna, without really knowing her, or had seen her in Bozeman, and decided she was an easy target. The ferocity of her killing doesn't necessarily mean he had anything against her personally, but perhaps women in general, for whom he'd developed a hatred. Or maybe it was motivated by sexual sadism. I don't know. This case is odd because she was killed after the end of a three and a half hour drive. If the person planned on just killing her, why not kill her in Bozeman? why go all the way to Idaho Falls? Her killer apparently didn't need her vehicle, in my opinion, moved it so he had enough time to get away before her body was discovered. Maybe he left the vehicle within walking distance of home, or from a place he could've easily hitch hiked away from the scene.

 

[Riddlesauce]

The stab wounds not being lethal shows this killer was fresh at murder IMHO. Out of desperately wanting to silence her I assume after stabing her attempting to kill her unsuccessfully he slit her throat.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Donna - this summer will be 50 years.