About 4,000 scientists are expected to attend the meeting at the Denver Convention Center beginning today.

"Closing in on a Cold Case: Boulder Jane Doe" will be discussed by historian Silvia Pettem at a Thursday session.

Pettem said she believes circumstantial evidence points to a missing Denver woman, Katharine Farrand Dyer, as the victim. Pettem has worked with forensic scientists, law enforcement officials and others, but no one has been able to find Dyer's family to come up with DNA and confirm the victim's identity.

Her interest in the case dates to 1996 when she participated in a "Meet the Spirits" event at Boulder's Columbia Cemetery.

"A volunteer actress portrayed Jane Doe while standing next to her gravestone. On it was the inscription, 'age about 20 years,' which made an impression on me because my two daughters were 19 and 23 at the time," said Pettem.

"At first, I was intrigued by the mystery of the unidentified woman, but when I learned she was a murder victim and her killer not only took her life but also her identity, I became indignant that Jane Doe was buried without her name."

That started Pettem on her quest.

Jane Doe had been found naked and beaten at the bottom of an embankment in Boulder Canyon west of Boulder on April 8, 1954. Dyer had been reported missing March 26, 1954, to the Denver Police Department.

Dyer worked as a waitress at the Republic Drug Co. in 1948. Later she worked as an elevator operator at Evans Investment and American Furniture companies in downtown Denver. She was estranged from her husband, Jimmie Dyer.

Her body was exhumed a few years ago at Pettem's urging and a photograph of Dyer and the reassembled skull of Jane Doe were examined by a forensic anthropologist. He said he could not exclude Jane Doe as a possible match with Dyer.

Jane Doe was reburied last year and Pettem placed red gladiolas on her grave, just as someone had done in 1954.

She's written a book about the case. Called Someone's Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe, it will be released in October.

But Pettem said she is still hoping for a positive identification. She asks that anyone who knew Dyer contact Pettem through her Web site, boulderjanedoe.com.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FORENSIC SCIENCES

* Members are physicians, attorneys, dentists, toxicologists, physical anthropologists, document examiners, psychiatrists, physicists, engineers, criminalists, educators, digital evidence experts and others.

* They come from all 50 states, plus 53 other countries.

* The academy, dedicated to the application of science to the law, is committed to the promotion of education and the elevation of accuracy, precision and specificity in the forensic sciences.