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April 9, 1954 Denver Post, Slain Girl Believed Kin of Boulderite – Nude Body Found by Students, by Leonard Larsen
A blond girl whose nude body was hurled from a car in Boulder Canyon after she was savagely beaten was tentatively identified Friday as the cousin of Mrs. Robert Inman of Boulder, wife of the assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado.

Mrs. Inman spent a half hour at the Boulder county morgue looking at the body which was found in the canyon eight miles west of the college city Thursday night by two University of Colorado students. She said she believed the victim was her cousin, Nancy Hawkins, 21, who moved to Boulder from Ohio last December.

Sheriff Art Everson of Boulder said there was "no doubt" the girl had been murdered. Coroner George Howe said the victim had been dead about five days to a week.

LONG SKULL FRACTURE
Howe put the dead girl's age at between 17 and the early 20's. He said she had been a victim of a brutal beating and that her body apparently had been brought to the scene near Boulder Falls and dumped from a car. An examination showed the girl had a long skull fracture and fractures of the ribs, arm, and jaw.

A check with Miss Hawkins' roommate, Verda Critz of 1140 College Ave. near the campus, disclosed the Hawkins girl had not been home for four or five days. Miss Critz said as near as she recalled she last saw her roommate Monday.

Mrs. Inman said the dead girl's hands and feet closely resembled those of her cousin and that the victim's shoulder-length, strawberry blond hair matched.

"I can't be sure," Mrs. Inman said. "But it could be my cousin."

BODY STRIPPED
The body had been stripped of all clothing, jewelry, and anything that could aid in identifying it. Identification was also hampered by the fact that the girl's face had been badly torn by animals. The teeth were perfect and had never been worked on, shutting off positive identification by dental charts.

Behinds the long blond hair, officers had one other slim clue to the girl's identity – an appendectomy scar. Mrs. Inman said she could not be sure whether her cousin had ever had her appendix removed. She said Miss Hawkins has no immediate family and she has not been in close touch with her since she moved to Boulder.

Dr. F.L. James, Boulder pathologist who conducted the autopsy, said there was evidence that exposure contributed to the girl's death. He said that led to the belief the victim was alive when thrown or dragged down the creek bank.

RAPE UNDETERMINED
Dr. James said he was unable to tell immediately whether the girl had been raped. He said it was also difficult to tell whether any one of her multiple injuries had caused death.

The victim was slender, 5 feet 3 inches, and about 100 pounds. Boulder police planned to try for fingerprints but said they were doubtful any useable ones could be obtained.

Two University of Colorado students, Wayne Swanson and James Andes, both 19-year-old freshmen, found the body about 6 p.m. Thursday as they were walking along Boulder Creek.

Everson started an immediate check of all missing girls in Boulder and Denver. A Pueblo mother, Mrs. Ben McDowall, called the sheriff to say her daughter, Betty, 17, had been missing since March 1 and that she was coming to Boulder to view the body. Everson said, however, that Mrs. McDowall told him her daughter had never had an appendectomy.
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