Then, as silence returned to Boulder's Columbia Cemetery, a winch turned, and the body of Boulder Creek's latest murder victim was lowered into its grave.

She left few traces above ground – part of a fingerprint, giving a faint possibility of eventual identification; an unsolved murder in the county's record; a murderer, apparently beyond the reach of the law; and somewhere, surely, a relative or friend even now wondering where she might be.

FOUND TWO WEEKS AGO
She was committed to the earth just two weeks after her nude, battered body was found among the rocks of Boulder Creek, some eight miles from the city.

Animals had ravaged the body. She had been dead about a week when it was found. No shred of clothing was found to aid in identifying her. Only an appendectomy scar, and a set of teeth so good they had never known a dentist's drill, offered hope of a name for the brutally beaten body.

But they proved negative clues. They helped to show the dead girl was not any of the more than 200 missing girls about whom the Boulder sheriff's office heard after the body was found.

SEARCH IS STYMIED
Search for her killer was stymied by her lack of identification. It was not even known where she had died – medical indications were that she might have been beaten elsewhere, and breathing her last as she was tumbled down the embankment to the rock-strewn creek where she was found.

It did not seem possible that a girl in her late teens could disappear without someone being concerned enough to contact the police.

But nobody offered any successful lead to identification. And, Thursday, when the long-delayed burial finally had to take place, she still was an unidentified girl.

Her death had caused little more than a ripple of excitement in Boulder, inured to violence by a series of shocking murders over the past several years.

The community sent contributions which spared her a pauper's grave. The county bore part of the expense of her burial, the Howe Mortuary the rest.

SOME SHOW THEY CARE
Her casket was banked with eight floral pieces – one from each of three Boulder florists, five from residents who wanted to do something to show they cared.

In the mortuary pews were 15 women and nine men, most of them old. Their heads bowed as the Rev. Paul Fife of Sacred Heart Church, the first clergyman to volunteer his services, stood over the casket and prayed.

"Out of the depths have we cried unto Thee, Oh Lord," he prayed with the Psalmist, "Oh, Lord, hear our prayer."

"Let the angels of the Lord receive her soul and lead her into the presence of the Lord. Let not the hand of Thy justice be heavy on her."

Half of the mourners dropped out as the hearse took her to the cemetery. Nine women and two men, besides the pallbearers, were there when Father Fife prayed over the grave for "Salvation from our enemies, and from the hands of those who hate us."

As he asked God to "let Thy mercy make her the companion of Thy holy angels in heaven," she was laid to rest.

AIRTIGHT BAG USED
Her body was in an airtight rubber bag to prevent further decomposition.

Skillful work had taken a partial fingerprint from her right thumb, the only finger not eaten away by animals. Though not a complete enough print to be classified in fingerprint files, it is on record in case of identification as some girl whose prints are available.

The plot in Columbia Cemetery her body occupies was donated by Boulder residents. So is the small granite tablet, on which are now being placed the words, "Unidentified Girl. Died April 1954."