The boys reported their discovery to the sheriff's department, and it was determined the woman had been murdered. Though the case made local headlines, numerous leads failed to identify the victim – or catch her killer. Outraged by the brutal crime, the Boulder community took up a burial collection, and a headstone was donated that read, "Jane Doe, [April 1954], age about 20 years."

More than 50 years later, the mystery persists, and the investigation is continuing thanks to a determined historian and grandmother named Silvia Pettem. "As a mother, I can't imagine not knowing where your child is, and I can't bear the thought of a child being buried without a name," says Pettem. So she convinced the sheriff's department to reopen the case. She raised thousands of dollars to fund an exhumaton and conduct DNA tests, comparing Doe's DNA with that of possible family members.

With help from the Vidocq Society, a Philadelphia-based group of forensic specialists who donate their expertise, fragments of Jane Doe's skull were painstakingly assembled, and a reconstruction of her face was created. So far, there have been many leads, but no answers.

For more information, visit www.boulderjanedoe.com [since replaced by www.silviapettem.com], or swap theories at justicemag.com.